Reflection of a Curse

Reflection of a Curse (2022) Lissa Kasey (Romancing a Curse)

After getting the second story in this series for free last winter, I’ve been getting Lissa Kasey’s newsletter, and in the fall she started sharing chapters of this story in the news letter, and to her Patreon followers.

About six chapters in I finally started reading, and enjoyed it as much as the first book of hers I had read. This is set about a year after Recipe for a Curse.

Brand is on his way up to the manor where his friend Montana has gotten him a job, helping to design and build little houses.

Brand had jumped on the job with its proximity to Montana, even though the pay was peanuts compared to what he used to make from his influencer lifestyle. Health insurance.

After catching COVID, Brand spent months in the hospital and lost everything except his truck and his youngest dog, Hunter.

“You believe all that?”

“Lots of wild stuff happens we never expect. You believed the virus wasn’t real.”

He doesn’t understand why these people have elected to take him in on Montana’s word, but is glad they have done so, even if he doesn’t really believe he is deserving of their kindnesses.

He hated, and envied, his old self all at the same time. Years of good health with little work to maintain it. He had hardly ever gotten a cold.

To be clear, Brand’s health has been destroyed, but he also does feel ashamed of the person he had been before getting sick, and wants to become the kind of friend Montana deserves. It’s a true change, which makes it easier to deal with the fact that he got so sick because he didn’t believe in the severity of the danger.

One of the things I especially liked is how it is made clear that Brand’s recovery is glacial–and he is permanently damaged from the illness. There is no magic to make things better, only an acceptance of how things are now, and learning to live with it.

That may sound like a strange thing to like, but it’s hopeful in a realistic way. Because in life bad things happen, and we are never the same person after, but life can still be good.

I also like that you the reader–knowing this is a fantasy–are sure that Law is not human. But as the magic is hidden from people like Brand, it’s completely reasonable for him not to suspect anything. That part is very well done and quite enjoyable to watch Brand discover that magic exists in the world.

You can easily read this if you have not read the previous books (although I really like Montana’s story) and when it’s available I recommend it!

Rating: 8/10

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