Cursed by Jennifer Chance
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been a huge fan of this series, but, admittedly missed reading the two previous books. I received a copy from Barclay Publicity in exchange for an honest review. Although there were a couple of references to things I missed, the story still flowed well and was still engaging. Countess Edeena and her two slightly younger sisters have taken a vacation from the home in Garonnia to visit a family property in South Carolina. It was a property that her mother loved and their father insists be sold. I found this interesting given Edeena is in charge of her mother's holdings and the home was part of her mother's properties and not a property from her father, Silas' side of things. I did not get a good feel for why the property was being sold given they did not need the money, and the daughters and the cousin currently living there, love the property.

Silas, and apparently the entire kingdom of Garonnia are an extremely superstitious lot and apparently the Saleri side of the family has been cursed for over 100 years and Silas has specifically groomed Edeena to be the one to break the curse. Where the curse came from was a bit foggy and maybe to come in a future book or when I get a chance to re-read it and all of its predecessors (I love to re-read great books) I will pick up on where the curse came from. The Saleri's, though they are nobility, could have been the ruling family of Garonnia and Silas firmly believes it is the curse that has kept the cousins in charge of the land and the Saleri's at their feet and never ruling. Edeena has everything planned and knows her duty and plans to do it so that he sisters are not forced into trying to break the curse. There are bunch of rules that must be followed, one of which is that the person has to marry royalty or nobility. Another is that the person must bring the Saleris back together as a family. What is clear is that this particular rule was interpreted incorrectly and the person can marry someone who carries themselves with noble deportment and they have to bring the family back together.

Prince is really not a prince, but, happens to carry himself as a noble would so he picked up the nickname Prince as a child. He comes from a huge Greek family that loves hanging out together and a mom that loves being involved in her adult children's lives. Vince owns a security company and has taken on the security of Edeema and her sisters while they are in the U.S., a job that carries him back to Garonnia to see to her safety and as it should be, her happiness. If he can, he would like to protect her from herself as she digs in to break the curse even if it is to her own detriment. I have to admit that I fell for the trap laid by the author where I waited for a miraculous announcement that Vince really was a prince, because, hello, I love contemporary royal love stories. You will just have to read the story to know if this is what happens. I have never visited South Carolina, but, Jennifer Chance writes a story that describes its beauty and things that makes the reader want to go and check it out for themselves. Cursed not only does a great job with scenery but also with character development and a bit of family mystery. I loved the ending, and you will too.