Reviewer: Tracy Bluebeard's Curse by Regine Abel
Series: Dark Tales #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: February 15th 2017
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 82
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Series Rating:
King Eric Thorsen, also known as Bluebeard, is once more widowed. Like all the others before her, his late wife succumbed to the lure of the curse that plagues him and threatens the realm. Willing maidens gather at the castle in the hope of becoming the next Queen. However, that title comes with a steep price: the King’s new bride must first resist temptation for one year and one day, or die trying.
Eric is tired of getting married. He’s at a ball and he has to pick a new bride – his 28th bride to be exact. All of his previous brides have died as he is cursed. The bride must outlast the curse for 1 year and then it will be broken but so far the longest one has lasted only 6 months. When Eric sees Astrid he’s intrigued. She’s not his normal type but he can’t take his eyes off of her. He thinks that maybe because she’s not like the others she can break the curse.
The pair marry and Astrid seems to be doing well but soon the temptation starts to get to her. Eric has done the worst thing possible and fallen in love with Astrid. Knowing she will probably die tears him apart but he hopes she can beat the curse. Unfortunately, other people get involved and after that breaking the curse may become impossible.
Bluebeard’s Curse was a good story. It was definitely different from your average romance and had a bit of a twist that was unexpected. I wasn’t quite sure what the time period was or where it was set – seemed like an old Viking story but I wasn’t sure. Despite that the added paranormal twist/curse was a wonderful aspect to the story.
Eric and Astrid were pretty great characters although since the book was so short it really focused on the “now” and didn’t get too much into their pasts. We knew why Astrid had gone to the ball to be picked for the bride and eventually we learned of why Eric was cursed but that was about as deep into the past as we got. Their relationship was the main focus it was definitely erotic as Regine Abel wrote some pretty wicked sex scenes.
Overall I liked the book a lot. If you’re looking for a short fantasy/paranormal read that doesn’t involved vampires or werewolves then this would be a good one to pick up.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5