Hello, Everyone!
I hope that you are having a wonderful, pre-Valentines day week. I am not much of a Valentines Day person myself, but all the love in the air has put me in the mood to read a light-hearted, love-struck read. Luckily, I received a copy of By a Charm and a Curse from Netgalley, and got asked to be a part of book’s blog tour by Entangled Teen in exchange for an honest review, so I had just the book on hand to fit my mood. *I was not paid by Entangled Teen, nor am I sponsored in anyway by them. I received an ARC of By a Charm and a Curse in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.*
I will be the first to say that I am not one for romance. I much prefer a book to have an awesome friendship or sibling relationship rather than having a romance. And don’t get me started on love triangles. However, the blurb of By a Charm and a Curse reminded me of the Night Circus, so I got sucked straight in. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed myself.
First of all, I liked both of our narrators, Benjamin (Ben) and Emmaline (Emma). Emma is very snarky in the beginning and her banter with her best friend Jules reminds me of conversations that I have had with my friends. However, Emma is forced into a total 180 by the curse that is put on the Carnival Fantastic, which makes her grow quite a lot over the course of the novel. Ben, on the other hand, has been with the Carnival for so long that he is more than ready to leave. He is more level headed than Emma is and understands that the circus only continues to function because of the curse, whether he likes it or not. Yet, he is more compassionate than some of the other circus folk when it comes to the new Girl in the Box. He makes sure that the box is brand new, positioned so that she will get the most customers, and makes her trailer a little more homey before Emma moves in. Emma and Ben are destined to be together. She sees him with Gin, a performer at the circus, and it is instantly clear that they are going to end up together. (The story is not very subtle about moving their relationship along quickly either). For some reason, I didn’t mind the instalove as much as I usually do. Maybe because I accepted that this was going to be a fluffy read, and left my higher level, literary criticism hat at the door. Either way, there were several scenes that hit me right in the feels, and I think Ben and Emma are very cute together.
Secondly, I loved all the secondary characters. Other than the setting of the circus itself, I think they were my favorite part of the story. Lars, a remorseful older man that runs the ferris wheel, gave me grandfatherly vibes that made me smile. Whisky and Gin were an adorable sister pair that reminded me of my sister and I. Duncan was another one of my favorite characters. Yet, I wish he would have been a little more dimensional so he didn’t come off as the stereotypical gay friend with fashion sense. I would say that one of the faults of BaCaaC is its very one dimensional “bad guys”. There is a family of tumblers that are set up in the beginning as the clear antagonists and their motives are incredibly straightforward. If they had been more well rounded, I feel like I would have been satisfied with the cast as a whole.
Finally, the story itself. I feel like this is where By Charm and a Curse let me down the most. The story, although fun, was very predictable. It felt a bit like a basic plot structure diagram that had been covered by a love story and a circus setting. I expected a love triangle between Emma, Ben and Sidney, which I am grateful we did not get. There were also some new aspects of the circus life that were explored that were relatively interesting. While the cinematic writing style and loveable characters shone, I don’t think that the writing or story will stay with me as much as I hoped it would. However, it was a fun read.
Overall, By a Charm and a Curse is a very fluffy, fun circus read that won’t take you that long to get through. If you are looking for a new, romance filled, light hearted take on the circus genre, look no further.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5
77% out of 100%
-Jaime
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