I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Cursed Luck
by
Kelley Armstrong
paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition on May 4, 2021 and has 364 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon, Audibles.
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Broken, Personal Demon , Living with the Dead, Men of the Otherworld, Tales of the Otherworld, Frostbitten, Dates from Hell, Exit Strategy, Made to Be Broken, The Reckoning, Spell Bound, The Gathering, The Awakening, "Hidden", The Calling, Aftertaste, Kisses from Hell, The Rising, Omens, Wild Justice, Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions, Visions, Deceptions, The Masked Truth, City of the Lost, Empire of Night, Forest of Ruin, Betrayals, A Darkness Absolute, Indigo, Rituals, The Unquiet Past, This Fallen Prey, Stolen, Rough Justice, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, Waking the Witch, Portents, Missing, Alone in the Wild, Watcher in the Woods, Otherworld Secrets, Wherever She Goes, "The Case of the Half-Demon Spy", "Escape", Otherworld Chills, A Stranger in Town, "Bargain", Hex on the Beach, "Recruit", "Checkmate", "Framed", High Jinx, Bitten, Driven, "Forsaken", The Deepest of Secrets, "Dead Letter Days", Men of the Otherworld, The Boy Who Cried Bear
First in the Cursed Luck paranormal fantasy series revolving around Kennedy Bennett and her family. Of the Unstable Bennetts. It switches between Boston and Unstable, Massachusetts.
My Take
This is unique. A tale of curse weavers descended from the gods. And man, these gods are unique. Nothing like you’d expect. Wait’ll you read Ares’ explanation of how the gods evolved, lol. The National Enquirer all the way. As for god families . . . whoa . . . It certainly does point up the difference in how women were treated back then and the freedoms we have now. It’s still not perfect, mind you.
These Bennetts are certainly honest, in their own way.
It’s too funny. Aiden is a jerk who has no clue how to be a nice guy. Kennedy enjoys informing him of this fact over and over again. She don’t take nothing from this guy! Then again, Armstrong does manage to make risk management and statistics sound interesting. He also gets a comeuppance when he learns he’s not considered a threat by, bwa-ha-ha, unknown others!
Of course, you do have to feel sorry for Aiden. His parents are a nightmare! The way they’ve raised their kids?? I wonder if that’s how other rich people raise their kids. Ick. They also expect Kennedy to work for them in spite of their insults and actions.
As for Aiden, his parents expect him to bail Rian out of every mess he gets into. And he is irresponsible, even while he’s angry that Aiden is always bailing him out. I think he needs to sit back and reflect on how he could/should change.
Still Kennedy sees something in Aiden . . .?
Armstrong uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Kennedy’s perspective, so we know everything she experiences, feels, and thinks, and there’s a major realization in here that explains that flight.
It’s a jumble of arrogant people demanding services, kidnapping when they choose.
Armstrong creates an interesting history for Unstable. It’s a nice switch-up from Salem! As for uncursing or creating luck, there has to be a balance, which makes for some interesting problems.
It’s a fun, cozy story filled with action, betrayals, ancient history, and the “truth” about gods and goddesses
The Story
Kennedy Bennett comes from a long line of curse weavers. For centuries, her family has plied their trade in Unstable, Massachusetts, a quirky small town that’s welcomed paranormal practitioners since the dawn of spiritualism. Kennedy has recently struck out on her own, opening an antiques shop in Boston, where her speciality is uncursing and reselling hexed objects.
Then Aiden Connolly walks into her life with an offer she really should refuse. The scion of a wealthy family of luck workers, Aiden has a scheme to get his hands on the most famous cursed object of all: the mythical Necklace of Harmonia. He’s not the only one after the necklace, though. And he’s not the only one looking for a curse weaver to fix it. Kennedy’s sisters are kidnapped, she finds herself plunged into the underbelly of the magical world where even Aidan soon finds himself in over his head.
Turns out Rian owes a debt to someone in the magical black market, and it’s why Aiden has to get that necklace. And his parents expect that he’ll bail his brother out yet again.
The Characters
Kennedy Bennett is an expert in the joker’s jinx from a family of curse weavers who live in Unstable, Massachusetts. Kennedy has an antique shop in Boston that’s filled only with formerly cursed items. Elohssa “Ellie“, the thirteenth cat in a litter, is her black cat who does not like kibble.
The ginger-haired Aiden Connolly is from old Boston money, went to Harvard, and is kind of a jerk. The company he started in high school sells insurance. He’s also a luck worker descended from Fortuna, a Roman goddess. His parents, even worse jerks, are Liam and Marion née O’Sullivan Connolly. Rian is their useless younger son. The bullying Travis is one of the men who works for Marion. Their gran calls luck “fairy dust”.
Unstable, Massachusetts
. . . is a tolerant village upstate that relies on tourism. Tolerant of spiritual anything.
Kennedy’s sisters, Turani “Ani” and Hope own Unhex Me Here in Unstable. All three sisters are principled and honest.Their mom died of cancer; their father, a small-town doctor, was in a car accident three years ago. Mom’s mother is Yiayia.
Jonathan King is the gorgeous local librarian and Ani’s best friend. Miss Clara is also a librarian with memory issues. Mrs Salazar is a neighbor who is the queen bee is the community. Mrs Salazar’s niece is the police chief. Mrs Madami has a custard shop.
The arae are . . .
. . . a group of humans with gifts, including immortality, i.e., gods.
Vanessa Apsley is a dream-shaper, divorced, and with her own money. And she shapes one heckuva dream for Kennedy . . . whoa . . . Aiden is in it too! Seems part of her dream dealing is matchmaking. Marius Archer is an arms dealer and is Vanessa’s off-again, on-again lover. Carson is one of his men. Hector Voden of Voden Group, which is into construction, is Vanessa’s ex-husband, a real jerk. Lars is one of Hector’s men.
Havoc is a capo masquerading as a godfather, and she hates Vanessa. She is one really nasty piece of work.
That is, Vanessa is Aphrodite (Venus), Marius is Mars (Ares), and Hector is Hephaestus (Vulcan). Venus and Ares’ first child was Harmonia who married Cadmus, and whose wedding gift from Hephaestus was a necklace, the Necklace of Harmonia, the most famous cursed object in history, the wearing of which gives both benefit and disaster. Semele was Harmonia and Cadmus’ daughter. Besides the 97-year-old Josephine Hill-Cabot, other owners of the necklace included Queen Jocasta, Jack Astor before he set foot on the Titanic; Benjamin Guggenheim who also died on the Titanic; and, Joe Kennedy Sr. Officer Bradford makes a traffic stop. Lesley-Ann Morrison is another curse weaver with little talent. Misanthrope has cast a malice.
George Hill-Cabot, Josephine’s son, is married to Brianne.
A lover’s lament is an ex-hex. The joker’s jinx is a curse that should be fun, maybe a little bit wicked, but never cruel. Roger Thornton recommended Connolly to Kennedy. Erin Concord is a fake name with clues. Tiffany was a fellow classmate of Aiden’s and an even worse jerk in sophomore year. In high school. Michael Fassbender had been a previous fantasy.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of blues from the very, very deep to the lighthearted blues. In profile with her head turned to us is Kennedy with her long black hair, an all-knowing smile and a deep purple tank top, her right hand holding the all-important Magic 8 Ball. Behind her is a dark cloudy sky with halos of light blues behind her head. There are swirls of grass green on either side of her. Just above her elbow is the title in an embossed white with silver shadowing. Below that is an info blurb in white, as is the author’s name below that.
The title is Kennedy and Aiden with their combined Cursed Luck.
