A Curse Unbroken
by Cecy Robson
Published by Loveswept
Book #5 in The Weird Girls Series
The preternatural world is changing.
After a massive magical throwdown tore apart the established order, the dark elements are rebuilding their ranks unopposed. Celia Wird’s world is changing, too. She’s the mate of the pureblood were Aric, and his Warriors are honor-bound to protect her family as she and her sisters recover from unimaginable horrors. Celia hesitates to reveal the true extent of the Wird sisters’ trauma, but they aren’t the only ones keeping secrets: Aric and the werewolf Elders are tracking a stone that grants limitless power. So is a tough coven of witches. Then Misha, a master vampire with his own plans for the stone, sends Celia after it. Can she and the vamps beat both the weres and the witches to the treasure before it falls into the wrong hands? Fearing for Celia’s safety, Aric begs her to stay out of the hunt. What they don’t realize is that they’re the ones being hunted. But Celia’s ready to prove that she’s not easy prey.
Genre
Triggers
Violence, Death
A Curse Unbroken is the fifth book in the Weird Girls series, and is the final Weird Girls novel that is written in Celia's point of view. Be fearful friends ... spoilers are below, as well as my thoughts on this ... interesting close to Celia's story.
I'm going to get my initial thought of this book out of the way first thing: it was weird. I like this series. Supernatural type books are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I can stomach a bit of cheesiness. The Weird Girls series definitely has a cheese layer to it, but it's been tolerable. This one was just ... weird. There were elements I liked. I liked the romance bit of it, of course. I liked that Celia and Aric got a happy ending. I liked that this book FINALLY circles back to the sisters family, and their backfired curse turned gifts. That they get closure. It was enough to get me through the weird storyline of "Shah" ... a mystical rock that grants wishes, but has a personality.
I lost you there, didn't I?
If this were the first book, I probably wouldn't have finished it for that plot line alone. But at the fifth book, I was committed, and I do genuinely care about the characters and their stories.
So the story was a flop for me, BUT, the characters were a win. It was hard to see our core characters struggling, especially with their own inner demons. Celia and Aric's struggles were tough, after all they have been through. Their moments of clarity reminded us that they do still love one another. I predicted at the end of the last book, that since Destiny's prediction hadn't changed, that something would happen, and Celia would be able to have children, and I was happy I was right. Aric and Celia deserved their wedding and their children.
I found this book left A LOT of unanswered questions, which I assume will be answered with future books (the ones from Taran's point of view). Like, what is up with Bren and Emme? Are they sleeping together? Are they mates? I really hope so. Poor Emme needs a happy ending. And what about Gemini and Taran? It's obvious at this point they are separated. From what we know of the mating bond, Gemini can't find her deformity repulsive ... I suspect that he flinches away, and doesn't ouch her arm, more out of guilt than that. But Taran, who has always had her beauty, is insecure. I hope they are able to find their way back to each other in the future books. And we didn't get any closure on the war with the Tribe. So I assume it continues from Taran's point of view. Will there be another spin-off about Aric and Celia's children? We keep being told they will be the ones to save everyone when something big comes ... so I got to assume there will be. And what is Misha doing in Europe? He says he hasn't found a wife, but has an arrangement ... but he makes it pretty clear to Celia that he is still very much in love with her ... which makes me sad for him.
While this novel was weird, the personal issues with individual characters carried me through and made me want to finish. For the last book in Celia's point-of-view though, it didn't feel like there was any true closure with her story, unless you count that Aric and her marrying, and expecting to be closure. Which with the prophecy and the war going on, I don't. I hope to get some closure with Celia from Taran's point of view.
Celia: "Don't leave me, I can still fight."
Aric: "Don't be stubborn. I proposed to a tigress, not a mule."
Celia: "I'm ready to go back to work, too."
Aric: "You don't have to. Stay home. I'll support us."
Celia: "You mean hang out, cook for you, and wait naked at the table for your return?"
Aric: *laughs* "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."
Makawee: "Celia, we never meant to hurt you or Aric. Our only intent was to protect our sacred earth as only we as weres believed we could. But I fear our vanity may have destroyed us all."
Celia: "You think you interfered with destiny?"
Makawee: "More than that. I believe we poisoned it. And hurt our chance to destroy the dark ones."
Celia: "Where did you get this hideous excuse for clothing?"
Agnes: "Edith Anne's closet."
Great. Edith was the naughtiest of Misha's Catholic schoolgirls. I'd probably need penicillin after wearing it.
Agnes: "Celia, don't let your damn morals come between you and your mission."
Celia: "Oh, no, God forbid."
Emme: "I can't wear this. It's positively indecent."
She stopped short and practically screamed when she saw me.
Celia: "I'll trade you."
Emme: "Um. Never mind. I'm good."
Agnes: "You makes excellent whores."
Celia: "Gee, thanks, Agnes."
Tim: "We have to move - Dilip's at the club and - holy shit!"
I would have taken it as a compliment, if he hadn't salivated and his incisors hadn't lengthened.
Celia: "You're not taking a bite. That goes for Emme, too."
His fangs withdrew.
Tim: "You make a shitty whore."
Celia: "That;s not what Agnes said. Let's go."
Agnes: "We think Shah might be here, given how many have been eaten."
Emme: "Eaten?"
Agnes: "Yeah. Can you believe it? So far, we've lost two vamps and a rogue witch to something with tentacles-"
A shrill scream cut Agnes off.
Agnes: "Make that three vamps. So, if you see any tentacles when you get to your location, run like hell. I don't know what this thing is, but damn, it's hungry."
Taran: "That's your advice to us? Run like hell?"
Agnes: "Unless you prefer to be eaten."
Celia: "You're not coming with us?"
Pilot: "Nope. Like it or not, you need me to fly your asses out of here. Can't do that if I'm eaten."
Celia: "Fine. But just so you're aware, if you leave us behind, Misha will know. We're besties. You're not. He'll find you, rip off your arms, then feed you to something scarier than that creature with tentacles. Toodles."
Taran: "If my sister ends up on YouTube, I swear to Christ I'll set your ass on fire."
Agnes: "Damn, you're bitchy."
Taran: "Sweetheart, you haven't seen how bitchy or murderous I can be."
Aric: "What do you mean, she's not herself? Is she hurt? You said she wasn't hurt!"
Celia: *laughs and rolls eyes* "Someone's cranky again."
Aric: "Baby, about what I said before you left the hotel. It was crazy and I'm not sure where it came from."
Celia: "Kay."
I unbuckled my seat belt and straddled him, needing another taste of him.
Celia: "You smell so good."
I trailed my tongue along the curve of his neck until I reached his earlobe and tugged. Aric grunted loudly.
Emme: "Celia. What are you doing?"
The car jerked to the side as Bren exploded with laughter. Aric clasped my wrists when I reached into his ants.
Aric: "Celia, baby, st-stop."
Celia: "I don't want to. And I know you don't want me to, either."
I ground my hips against his lap, arching my back so my breasts skimmed against his face and my nipples swept over his lips. Aric grunted, turned his head and bit back a low growl when my hips rocked faster. Bren continued laughing. Emme panicked and called Martin.
Emme: "Martin - It's Emme Wird. Celia is trying to have relations with Aric."
Martin: "I beg your pardon?"
Emme: "Celia's trying to have sex with Aric!"
Martin: "What? Ah, ah, tell him to - tell him to resist."
Emme: "Aric, you have to resist her."
Aric held my hips, my wrists, trying to stop me. I welcomed his challenge with more hip swivels and tongue sweeps than he was prepared for.
Aric: "I can't. It's still Celia."
Celia: "Did I do naked cartwheels in front of the vamps and everyone we know? Oh my God! I did, didn't I?"
Aric: "Try not to worry too much about it. Everyone there realized you weren't yourself."
Celia: "Kill me. Just kill me."
Bran: "Aw, hell. She's got Taran's blood, too. You don't think she's going to start exploding things with fire like she did last time?"
Celia: "Only if you make me mad."
I didn't kill her, though my tigress tried to convince me it would be one less evil entity besmirching the world. Instead I did what any decent being with werewolf blood coursing in her veins would have done. I dropped my shorts and mooned her.
Celia: "Smoke this." I said, slapping my ass.
Celia: "Take your fangs and shove them up your ass. And if you so much as lick the air around me, I'll throw you out the damn window."
Agnes: "Just when I think you couldn't be more of a freak you surprise me."
Celia: "I aim to please, Agnes."
Celia: "Listen to me, Misha. One day, you will be one of the most powerful beings in existence. One day, others will beg for your mercy. You will have strength, and wealth, and power. So much power no one will dare hurt you. And if anyone is foolish enough to try, I will be there to stop them."
Misha: "I used what I've learned to share the darkness of my own past."
Celia: "But why?"
Misha: "Because of who you are. I knew that in sharing my suffering, you would abandon your own to come to my aid."
Emme: "Liam's hurt. We have to help him. I - I can't leave him ..."
Celia: "He's already gone, honey. And where he is, I swear to you he's whole."
Makawee: "What did you wish for?"
Celia: "Makawee, I'm telling the truth, I didn't ask Shah for anything."
Her stare traveled down the length of my body before returning to fix on my face.
Makawee: "May I?"
I hesitated before nodding, unclear and wary of her intentions. She placed her hand tenderly over my belly, barely grazing the surface of my blouse. Her gentle smile widened the longer her hand remained in place.
Makawee: "You may not have asked him, Celia, but in exchange for showing Shah kindness, he gave you what you most wanted."
Aric's grip to me hip tightened, otherwise he failed to move. I couldn't move at all. Makawee nodded.
Makawee: "You're pregnant, Celia. You're carrying Aric's child."
Aric: "The first words I ever spoke to you were in the form of a question. I asked you what you were. You growled at me and made it clear that you didn't owe me an explanation."
Those in attendance busted out laughing.
Bren: "Not my Celia."
Aric: "What you should have told me was that you were my sun that rises in the morning and the moon that makes me howl at night, That you were more than I ever wanted, needed, or desired in a mate. That you would take my heart every time you'd leave my side, and that your smile would bring me to my knees. That's what you should have told me, because that's precisely what I've known from the first moment I saw your beautiful face. I love you, Celia. And I will love you for eternity."
Celia: "You weren't supposed to love me. You were never supposed to come into my life. Demons, weres, vampires, and traitors aside, you have turned my world upside down from the first moment I met your gaze. You catch me when I fall, and have risen with me from the ashes of death and despair. With a touch of your fingers, the scent of your being, a look from your eyes, I am whole. You weren't supposed to love me, but I am blessed because you do. I love you, Aric, and I will love you for eternity."
Check out the prequel novellas, and the rest of the Weird Girls series below!
(If picture has no link, it's because the review hasn't been posted yet. Stay tuned!)