A Thieving Curse, book 1 in The Miraveld Chronicles by Selina R. Gonzalez, is a clean, new adult, high fantasy romance reimagining of Beauty and the Beast. You might not know, but I am obsessed with Beauty and the Beast retellings and this one ranks up there among the top. I was lucky enough to have beta read this story years ago and was so excited to score an ARC and see how far it has come. This book was easily 5 stars for me the first time I read it, but now it is perfection. Everything from the pacing to the world-building to the character development to the action works in perfect harmony.
This tale has everything you could ever want from this genre: enchanting characters, humor, romance, adventure, mystery, and TEARS, so many tears!
Princess Raelynn is torn between her duty to her family and kingdom and her desires to make her own life choices. She’s far from perfect, but not annoyingly flawed either. Her character is endearing and resilient, making her story all the more engaging. I loved seeing her growth throughout the book.
I’m 100% in love with Alex (and who wouldn’t be?). I appreciate that Gonzalez took care to highlight his humanity with moments of vulnerability. His character is a such a light in this story, when it could easily be one of darkness.
For some reason Gonzalez always manages to get me attached to ALL the side characters (ok maybe not the really bad ones). Without going into spoilers, there are so many loveable characters, some we are meant to love and some we love against our better judgement. I’m so glad that this has evolved into a series and I hope that I get books following at least two of the side characters.
As always with Gonzalez’s work, there are many important, over-arching themes, not the least of which is that looks may be deceiving. A Thieving Curse also touches on found family, feminism, and forgiveness/justice over vengeance.
This novel is a departure from the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, but still has many of the characteristics that fans expect with a few exciting twists along the way.
I highly recommend picking up A Thieving Curse by Selina R. Gonzalez, which is available now!
Feel free to check out my interview with the author here.
If you’re interested in any other works by Gonzalez, you can check out her author website here.
Or read my reviews of Prince of Shadow and Ash and Staff of Nightfall.
Thank you to author Selina R. Gonzalez for providing me with an early copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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