Book Review: From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper

From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper
Length: 368 Pages
Genres: Contemporary Romance and Fantasy
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

A special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

I previously had the good luck to get an ARC of the first book in the series, Payback's a Witch, by Lana Harper, and I gave it a whopping five stars! It was witchy and funny and sexy, so obviously I jumped at the chance to get my hands on the sequel! Unfortunately, I didn't like this one quite as much.

Isidora "Issa" Avramov comes from a long line of badass, darkly-inclined witches, but has her own softer side as well, one that yearns to design her own ready-to-wear, sustainable fashion. She also loves animals, and at eighteen she worked at a shelter. Unfortunately for her, goody-two-shoes and green magic expert Rowan Thorn also worked there and certainly lived up to his name--he was a thorn in Issa's backside the whole time she was there, until finally she snapped and served up some magical retribution.

Now, Issa and Rowan see each other as enemies, just as their families have for generations. But when a necromantic curse--the Avramov family's specialty--is cast on a Thorn, leaving the girl weak and with hardly any magic, they must come together to get to the bottom of who could have the motive and means to create such deadly magic. And even more shocking, Issa thinks she might like Rowan. Like Rowan.

I was really excited to sink my teeth into this book, mostly because the Avramov's were the most fascinating of the families to me, and the heroine, Isidora, is Talia's little sister (Talia was my favorite part of Payback's a Witch!). Rowan started off a bit one-dimensional, something a lot of the characters outside of the protagonist face, and just when I thought he was getting a bit more depth, I felt he went right back to his old ways (which is pretty much perfect, might I add). They had a cute relationship, and I liked how much they talked things out to resolve conflict. Unfortunately, I ended up feeling like the mystery and history of Thistle Grove was just overall more exciting than the romance in this installment.

But please, if you loved the first one, give this one a go as well. If anything, it'll produce some laughter and sunshine for your day, along with a lot of snark and spells!