Ooookay, Curious One. I promised I would hit some shifter books after the last long haul of suspense, but I have to admit my first pick was not quite what I wanted. That’s what I get though, for hitting up a short series centered around dramatic High School. You could say I’m…Cursed!
Even if it was based in the good old land of Ireland. So, before I dig into this series here, I want to apologize and promise once more that I will keep reading these shifter books until I can find one that I loved!
Without further ado, let’s get started on Claire Farrell’s complete edition of Cursed: An Evans Pack Trilogy. Verity, Clarity, Adversity (a novella from Amelia’s point of view) and Purity.
I really want to begin by saying: this series wasn’t a TOTAL bust. However, it really missed the personal fulfillment mark regarding a shifter series.
We follow along with main girl Perdita (Perdy) and main boy Nathan (Nate). Perdy is the only child of her father. Her mother abandoned her when she was a baby and so she now lives with her father and grandmother. Her father is controlling in every aspect of her life. Including what she is or is not allowed to wear.
Nathan was the typical jock, new move-in that wanted to fit in with the popular crowd while Perdy was the geekish, loner who had 2 friends. Amelia is Nathan’s younger sister.
Was There a Flow to Cursed?
All in all, it wasn’t a bad series, it was simply not fully there. If you ask me. It was missing something. And the conclusions that happened were a bit random, their reactions a bit strange and all of the drama that happened, while I can appreciate the realness about it, it just didn’t seem to flow.
Almost like the series couldn’t decide on whether to be fully mythological in the shifter element or to be fully modern day in the real world. It just wasn’t working for me for the majority of the series. Especially after they threw in the magical gypsy elements.
Like I said, it just didn’t seem to flow.
The dreaming elements were a nice relief. I realize, even though my shifter repertoire is lacking, that dreams surrounding the soul mate is a relatively common occurrence. Yet, Farrell took it a step further and gave Amelia intense, realistic dreams of a past life later in the series and it was what kept the series entertaining.
How Did They Not Know ANYTING?!
I was confused why the Evans pack was so uneducated though. It didn’t fully make sense. You have like three or four generations living under the same roof and an endless array of secrets and hidden agendas that are never revealed, even when they are desperate for answers and results.
They are connected enough to other shifters to be able to pull out death certificates and evade suspicion, but they don’t know the inner workings of a general pack of shifting wolves? How? Why? When did that happen?
Did the Curse Really Drive Insanity?
Even with the curse, when we were finally given the background about it, it didn’t fully answer everything. I mean, being driven to insanity by grief isn’t a new theory, yet the insanity that they experience when they lose their soul mate comes and goes in waves of varying degree.
And when the curse guarantees the untimely death of your soul mate, how did their grandmother get to live so long? How did she escape the call of death long enough to practically raise her grandchildren? It was reiterated a handful of times that you’re met with an UNTIMELY death if you’re a soulmate. I don’t know about you, but untimely means young and under 30.
And when she DID die, her husband went insane instantly? Like, literally instantly? There was no buffer, no slow period, no progression to crazed, just instant insanity? I don’t get it. I mean, he left in the night and didn’t come back until the funeral where he used Perdy and her family as bait for the bad guys. It is just such an opposite with almost no explanation, I didn’t see it as a reasonable effect.
He Wasn’t the Only One to Lose His Soulmate
And then you discover that Uncle (Byron) lost his wife, yet he wasn’t insane beyond reason? That makes me feel it is less of a curse and more of a choice. He chose to come back down from the grief. Consciously choosing to try and love his family more. He chose to remain part of the pack. He didn’t just let loose for the remainder of his life and literally kill those around him to try and benefit.
It took time, sure, but he fought it. That alone makes the reality of a curse less potent. A curse, by definition, is lacking in choice. You are cursed to find your soul mate and then to lose your soul mate, all followed by losing your mind. That means there is no choice in the matter.
Maybe I didn’t fully understand the two curses upon them from their ancestors, but curses leave you with no options and the fact that Byron and even Nathan didn’t go insane leaves me believing that it wasn’t a curse as much as a choice.
Amelia – Human, Wolf, Gypsy – Why Was She Ignored Throughout the Entire Cursed Series?
I really want to touch on the point of Amelia here. If the family was so convinced that she was the key to the curse, why did they leave her out of everything related to wolf shifters? That made NO sense! Sure, she was young, but that didn’t stop them from including Perdita in their affairs. Or the other soul mates. Or the male shifters. So, what was the real reason why Amelia was so in the dark about everything?
The entire family literally had a love and death curse placed on them and her being the key was practically brushed under the rug until the middle of the last book. That just doesn’t make any sense to me in the middle of a family that has a well-known curse on their bloodline and who know that Amelia is somehow the key. Especially when it is revealed that their grandmother comes from a line of psychics.
It leaves me speechless.
She was never included in what was happening around her and when she came to everyone who loved her with her dreams, looking like she was near death, they put her on the backburner. I don’t know, maybe I am just nitpicking here, but it just doesn’t seem like something they would have done, even with the other wolves trying to hunt them down.
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So…Are Omegas Important of Not?
I also feel like the whole Omega thing was glossed over a bit. You get a quick glimpse into the real hierarchy of an omega wolf in a wolf pack, but that obviously isn’t the case in a shifter wolf pack and after they found that information, it was said and almost never brought up again.
Amelia grew the most out of the whole lot though, if you ask me. She went from a carefree, meek, almost weak (?) little girl to a strong, passionate and determined young adult. She was the only one that really grew.
Not to mention, her story was beautiful, and heart-wrenching and I would have loved the series to be about her just as much as it was about Perdy and Nate.
Like the first book was about Perdita and Nathan finding each other and accepting each other. The second book was about Amelia and her dreams/intuition/dealing of her grandmother’s death and the final two books in Cursed were them all coming together and taking on their adversities as a unit.
Perdita – Strong, Yet Utterly Confusing!
First off, Perdy annoyed me for most of the series. I get that she had a controlling father and a manipulative grandmother, but she was written to have a good head on her shoulders. Yet, she bothered me.
It’s a great thing to stand up for yourself, especially with family, but she did it so sparingly and inconsistently that I don’t think it really did her that much good. She was ultra-supportive of all her friends and family, especially her father when he began dating, but she sometimes refused to give an inch for things that shouldn’t have mattered and then gave a mile for things that only deserved an inch.
Did that make sense?
For example. When her father was bitten. I realize she was still influenced by the whole soul mate wolf thing, but when why did she stay in the hospital for weeks and weeks? Why didn’t she demand answers and a cure from Nate’s grandfather or Byron? She literally ignored the entire family and only got upset when her dad refused to let her see and be with Nathan.
Cursed is Giving Me Emotional Whiplash Over Here…
To me, Perdy was just confusing as ever with her emotions. She was pretty real when she found out about the existence of werewolves and that she was the soul mate for Nathan, but then you flip it around and after she killed the super bad wolf guy, she entered like this depressive fugue state where she ran on autopilot and held so much guilt over not being able to save the grandmother too.
I mean, really? I can see having some guilt, but to personally blame yourself when you are the least knowledgeable HUMAN out of a whole pack of WEREWOLVES, that’s just a bit of a stretch.
And the continual battering around about each person’s guilt over the grandmother’s death was overdone. No one talked about it to resolve the issue, yet they all felt like they played the single, most debilitating role in her demise and Farrell took too much time digging into each of their feelings about it. Except for the grandfather, of course. He just disappeared off the grid and was never explored.
He should have been a second character arc, where you got to witness why the curse drove them insane and why he knew who sent the assassins. It was such a powerful play, yet nothing was done with it. The time spent on Perdy and Nathan’s feelings of remorse and confusion and hurt and angst and turmoil of every teenager out there was so focused that we lost endless possibilities within the world of the Cursed.
Friends and Family – Supportive and Manipulative
To start, Perdy’s father, throughout almost the entire series was controlling and out of line with about every interaction he had with her. He only eased up when he found out the truth behind the Evans family, and even then, I feel he only was as supportive as possible because she had been kidnapped and he was too worried for her safety to be anything but loving and comforting.
I will touch on the whole kidnapping thing here in a moment.
Tami, Tami, Tami
Tami. Oh goodness, Tami. She goes from supportive underdog to asinine biatch with the flip of the page! I got whiplash from her emotions and even after she explained away the reasonings, it still didn’t make enough sense for her to react the way she did with Amelia, Nathan, Joey and Perdy. I didn’t like her too much from the start, but she was even worse than I imagined.
I’m aware that jealousy can make people do some crazy things, but Tami just took normal and pushed it way past sensical. I was happy when she was practically written out of the Cursed Trilogy until closer to the end.
Joey was great and reasonable for the most part, but he was too trusting and let himself be manipulated too far. In a day, Tami was able to turn him against Perdy (his own cousin) with poisonous words and rumors.
And he forgave her! Did you believe that, Curious One?
Joey forgave Tami and got back together with her, even after everything she did to Perdy and Amelia. I think I was speechless for a moment after that. It was insane. Although, I do believe that happens more often than not. So, I was content with that small plotline being included. It also gave Perdy the push to stand alone and be independent.
Growth Coming Out of the Pain in Cursed
Sometimes the best ways for us to grow are to be trapped in a hole and dig ourselves back out. No one except ourselves can help in our darkest times and it was the best way for Perdy to have the opportunity to grow. Heartbreaking and cruel, yes, but Perdy came out better and more for it, so I applaud her.
I haven’t talked about Nathan yet! Oh, my goodness! What a contradicting character!
He would claim he wants more responsibility one moment and the next he would beat up a peer in school because he lost his temper. I mean, wow. He was passionate and understanding. And he did his best, but he was just a teenager and the fact that he expected to be both a teenager and an adult was frustrating to read.
Nate would impress Perdy’s father, and then the next moment he would be stuck between two rival girls at school. He would do whatever it took to be part of the top clique in his new schools, but then would turn around and take on the responsibility of his whole family. He was confusing…
Manipulation on All Fronts
Real quick, Perdy’s grandmother was manipulative and when her mom came into the picture, it was even worse. I’m both thrilled and disappointed that her mother was in for such a short amount of time. It was nice to not be distracted by even more relationship issues with her family, but at the same time, it would have been nice to know what exactly was on her mother’s mind and what exactly she wanted.
Obviously, she wanted a friendship instead of the responsibility of being an actual mother to Perdy, but there was more going on than her just wanting to flake her responsibilities. And we never got an interaction between her mother and father.
Too Many Characters Playing Too Much of a Role
I feel like I’m saying a lot about how we never got other points of view. And I’m not wanting specifically a point of view change in the writing, but maybe different perspectives explored more than they were. Each character had SO much going on inside. From the main cast of Perdy, Nate and Amelia to Nate’s Uncle Byron, cousin, grandfather all the way to Perdy’s parents and cousin Joey.
If the characters had been glossed a bit more and not focused so much on why they were the way they were it would have been easier I think to immerse myself into just Nathan, Perdita and Amelia’s little world.
With all the different characters making such major plays for page time, it felt a little chaotic. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. It felt chaotic.
Either longer books, shorter chapters, extending to a saga or something would have all been accepting counteractions to what was going on inside everyone’s minds. Especially when you enter the mind of Vin and the rival wolfpack(s).
Truly Evil? Or is it Just More Insanity?
Vin and his pack of wolves was ultra-confusing to me. In each and every story you read about wolves OR shifters, it’s ALL about the strength of the alpha. Or the alpha pair and their combined bloodline.. That strength is what determines the strength of the pack. Yet, you have an alpha of the largest pack known who is quite literally insane and only partially coherent. How does that even work?
Yeah, his insanity led to some manipulative choices. The whole kidnapping of the one wolf’s daughters is a perfect example. The whole, “We kidnap and threaten to kill your children so that you work for me works”. Obviously. But if that happened to every wolf in the pack, wouldn’t the majority be able to overthrow so easily that it would be almost laughable?
The beta in Vin’s pack was obviously the true Alpha, but she let Vin take the command and heat and everything? I just want to know why. And again, we never got into their characters more than simply knowing what they were doing.
So…Who Are the Bad Guys in Cursed?
It was revealed almost last minute why Vin was so crazed and it only half makes sense. It’s just, there was so much potential with the Cursed series and it has kind of failed my expectations.
Vin’s pack was THEE “bad guy” for the entire series. But did we learn anything about them until the last third of the last Cursed book? Did we get a true explanation? To me, it was as if we were told “here’s your bad guy. The end!”
The Killing, The Funeral, and Being Kidnapped
So much happened to Perdy in the course of the series that would have broken anyone with less strength. She killed a man, an evil man, but still a man.
At the funeral, her father was attacked. She had to deal with her mother’s untimely and manipulative return. Her grandmother’s fear. Her father’s inability to accept what she wanted to do.
Getting kidnapped threw a wrench in her plans. And she took on the protection of two younger girls who had also been kidnapped.
For how much she annoyed me and for how much I wish the series was more than what it ended up being, I do think she was a good character. She didn’t grow as much as Amelia and she wasn’t as well-rounded as she should have been, but she was still a strong female lead.
How About That Ending for Cursed?
Four years later, the entire family seemed to be doing much better.
The Evans Pack welcomed Vin’s pack with open arms if they wanted to join. Ryan’s girls were blossoming. Perdy and Nate had found their place together. Byron started a dog obedience school and the entire town was welcoming them, accepting them as part of the community. Even Perdy’s father remarried to Erin and had a new baby (Robbie) to keep them all busy.
It was picturesque and perfect.
How did you feel about that? I realize they lost a lot along the way and it was a relief that it was four years down the road, not just a couple months, but I still would have liked a bit more of a conclusion with their grandfather than just a package with his and their grandmother’s ashes.
Further explanation into all the secrets would have been nice. And their cousin was a bit too aggressive. It’s almost as if he was going to be a big plot twist/betrayal, but that thread of storyline was altered in the middle of creation.
I’m sure if a second series were on its way it would have to focus on him and how he finds his soul mate and how the girl calms his anger and soothes his soul. I don’t know, Curious One.
Adversity is Top Choice!
In the end, I can certainly say that my favorite of the 3 novels and single short is the short. Adversity just held a lot more depth and pulled me in. There was less emotional drama and more of the true grit I love to immerse myself in when it comes to urban fantasy books.
It helped that it included the smallest bit of magic and some of those pesky dreams that I seem to be obsessed with. I wouldn’t advise only reading Adversity though. You definitely should read the entire series if you can handle it so that you realize why Adversity is the best part of the Cursed series.
About the Author of Cursed
Claire Farrell has (had?) a blog called Doing it Write Now, but I couldn’t find a current, 2020-2021 updated host or location. I did a google search and a couple links I tried sent me to potential virus threat pages.
I don’t want to include a link that will give you issues or download a virus onto your system, Curious One, so I will just leave it at the wiki and goodreads research level. She does have a goodreads page and it includes all her book to date. As far as I could tell at least. Cursed is the first series I have read of hers.
So many of Farrell’s books both look and sound so amazing! She has two series, Ava Delaney and Chaos that both have more than three books and that makes me want to give her another shot. Her writing was really excellent and easy to follow, it just didn’t seem like she had flow for this particular series.
I’m not giving up though, so don’t worry! I will find an amazing shifter book to dig into, I promise! Maybe I should investigate something other than wolves. They have bears and foxes and big cats out there, right? Dragons even? Hmmm…maybe I will do some exploring before making the choice for my next discussion.
It’s about time for another book…
Check out Claire Farrell at Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads!
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