The Cursed Key by Miranda Brock and Rebecca Hamilton | I thought curses in books would be fun

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The Cursed Key by Miranda Brock, Rebecca Hamilton
The Cursed Key #1
Published by Evershade Publishing on January 14, 2020
Age Group & Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Author

A forgotten past, a dark mage, and an unyielding curse.

Another team beat free-spirited archaeologist Olivia Perez to the dig of a lifetime, and now she’s left with the choice to wait for scraps or brave a dangerous, dusty tomb in hopes of finding other priceless artifacts. Her reward? A mysterious key she has no idea is cursed. Soon, Olivia realizes she’s brought home more than just an ancient rarity.

Malevolent visions begin to plague her. Unnerved by what they reveal, she casts away the key…unknowingly placing it into the waiting hands of a dark mage bent on destruction. Only when a shifter agent from the Paranormal Intelligence and Tracking Organization arrives searching for the key does Olivia realize what a huge mistake she’s made.

Forced to team up with the ill-tempered shifter, her journey to reclaim the cursed key leads down a twisting path of dark histories, dangerous magic, and deadly obstacles. But Olivia’s efforts to take back the ancient relic before the dark mage can destroy the lives of humans, shifters, witches, and fae alike are thwarted by her own dark past…and a price steeper than what she’s willing to pay.

A copy of the book was provided for review purposes - thank you! Receiving a copy does not guarantee a positive review and therefore does not affect the opinion or content of the review.

I thought curses in books would be fun, but it turns out I didn’t exactly have a grand time with The Cursed Key by Miranda Brock and Rebecca Hamilton.

Or rather, I wish I did, but uh… I turned out to be as disappointed as I get every holiday season when I try to get deals but get nothing. Other than food… which is always a good thing, but I like stocking up on chocolate. 

The Cursed Key had all the elements that I would enjoy:

• curses!
• magic, including dark ones
• the main character does an oops
• there’s a steep price involved

But it turned out to be a huge disappointment, and I decided to call it quits at 16% mainly due to the writing. The book felt like it was sitting somewhere between the first and final draft, with every action being described in detail. Sometimes it didn’t feel necessary to include some of the details, and I felt like I was getting bogged down.

16% is really early in my opinion to DNF as there isn’t much I can formulate a review on, but it was hard for me to continue when I didn’t feel like I could focus on other aspects. Most likely a me thing, so I’m hoping others out there aren’t as bothered by the writing as I am and enjoy The Cursed Key more than I did!