Curses

How many reviews do I see where the reviewer begins “I wanted to like this one”? But, my, I wanted to like this one. It's true. A gender-swapped beauty and the beast? Not only a retelling, but a reverse retelling? Even though there were some sweet, swooning parts, and the idea is fresh for a retelling, it was littered with so many tropes and cliches that the book just ended up feeling a little more juvenile than I wanted. Maybe I went into it thinking the book would be darker since most retellings are, and it was my assumption that caught me off guard. Still 2 stars instead of 1, though, because hey, there were nice parts and I think for some readers, they may not have the same gripes I had.