Gifted Curse

Curse Trilogy #1

by C.M. Owens

Vampires, sex, and blood... oh my.  Araya Crush is a hybrid who constantly finds herself torn between her hybrid lover and her full blood vampire lover. With her dark secrets emerging, her life becomes all the more complicated, driving her back and forth between the men she loves. A world with blood addiction, rigid rules, and horrific consequences, they are all forced to fight for their love as much as their lives.    (Book II, Forgotten Curse. , and book III, Lifted Curse, are on Kindle now!)

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Erotica, Adult, Romance

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 3, 2013

About the author

C.M. Owens only writes romance, but she's a sub-genre whore.

She has two other pen names that she writes under.
Kristy Cunning for Reverse Harem and S.T. Abby for her darker/stabby books.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Curse Trilogy has been sitting on my Kindle for years and I’m so glad I finally read it. It’s sexy, wild and unpredictable. Destined for one who broke her heart but in love with one she never thought she could trust. Usually when there’s a love triangle in a book I can easily pick a side. I couldn’t with this crazy book. The love triangle is only the iceberg though. Under the sea there’s a war raging full blast against rogue full bloods from feeding on a vein. The humans become infected by the multitudes until they’re extinct. If humans become extinct, full bloods will starve to death.  If both species cease to exist, the hybrids will eventually fade as well since they’re the only ones incapable of bearing children…

[Zara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This must be one the first books C. M Owen wrote because it's terrible.
What happened to the author of 'The Dark Side' series or 'All The Pretty Monsters'? Or even (although I didn't like it as much) The Risk?
The writing is horrible, the plot is awful (is there a plot?) and the characters are idiots.

If you (like me) naively assumed that just because Kristy Cunning/C. M Owens is the author, this book would be automatically great then turn away now, because this book is seriously terrible and will just disappoint you.

[Kai P · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. I like the love triangle! I’m hoping another lover to add on her list. Lol seriously speaking, I like to read erotic scenes. That keeps my mind at play but this book has waaay too much of sex it started bore me. Don’t get me wrong, I like them horny and kinky but too much is too much. I like novels that kinda cliff-hangs the sex or tease readers to keep reading until they combust or something. A handful of good tease, add up a pinch of foreplay and viola! You just got yourself A craving reader. Good story, I’m curious who ends up with Araya.

[Kerry Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

ooooooooooh sexy Vampires!!!!

This is the first in the Cursed trilogy and what a start it is!!!

We meet Araya at a point where she is content with her life as an Interrogator for the United. She has a full blood fiance Brazen who she adores and she's doing her best to forget the past. Circumstances take her back when she runs into her ex-fiance who she still loves. Hale.

Hale still has a hold over her. Being her hybrid counterpart their relationship is explosive. Connected on a level only they can have she finds that resistance is futile he's coming back for her and will stop at nothing to get her back.

There is unrest when the discovery of a new breed brings painful memories rushing back for Araya. The United must hunt them down and destroy them or every other race will become extinct. Araya and Hale must work together along with Brazen tracking down the enemy.

The story goes from here and seeing as this is the first of a trilogy i fear the worst is yet to come.

This is a bit of a love triangle between Hale, Araya and Brazen. There's a fair bit of tooing and froing for Araya as she finds her feelings for both men have different values for her. Brazen is kind and caring and everything that should be right for her. I've got admit he's pretty hot! As the story goes on he actually starts to reveal more about himself which definitely takes him up a few notches! But he's not Hybrid and the connection between them is just off a little. She can never truly be herself with him as it's too dangerous for the both of them. Then we have Hale. He broke her heart many times over without giving her a reason but the connection between them is explosive. Sometimes literally! They complete each other and that's probably what i loved about them as a couple. They couldn't keep their hands off each other which sometimes i felt sure the page was gonna go up in flames!! Hot as Hale!!! OMG yes!!!!

There's a lot of danger in this book which kept me turning pages to make sure everyone survived!! There's lot's of action both outside and inside the bedroom which kept me highly entertained and I'm eager now to get onto book two to continue the story and find out what happens next! I'm lucky the series is complete and i don't have to wait to find out!

I'm not a massive paranormal fan but this dragged me in!! I'd highly recommend this to anyone even the non-paranormal readers as there's plenty to keep you reading and it doesn't over do on the explanations. Keeps it simple enough for you to follow. Loved it!!! onto book 2!

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the trilogy and love the way she writes. She keeps the sex very sexual without it being too graphic. I wish there was more story and less sex. I think that about 70% of the series is sex. A bit too much but,it is a fantastic story that is written well.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this ended up being pretty good once I got past all the smolder, seduce and sizzle. I was surprised how I really enjoyed the characters once I got to know them and the world that was created seems pretty solid.

I had wished for more when it comes to Brazen's character toward the beginning of the book. He was unappealing and Hale seemed the obvious choice once he was back in the picture. But by the end Brazen had finally come out of his shell as a character and as a man really and you finally get past all the whininess he had going on to find out he's quite fierce.

Hale on the other hand has it all even if he is wildly inconsistent. He is one of those men who are good to a fault even if they end up hurting themselves in the process. He is complex and fun. I think that the choice is still obvious. If I were Araya I would still be choosing Hale internally, just waiting until he finally got his crap together and revealed all he was up to, because honestly, his secret activities would only bring the two of them closer together.

I have already stared the next book and I am excited to complete the series.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Human, Full Bloods & Hybrids, very cool twist indeed.
This story centers around a tough but emotional female lead. You learn to love her quirks and are pulling for her to win! There is a scorching hot Full Blood & equally sexy Hybrid that are trying to win her affection. They also spend the entire book trying to protect the woman they love.
I really enjoyed this book. I felt at times like I missed a prequel. I would have liked to have more back story on the reason for the 3 species.
Book number two in the series is out. I gotta find out what happens next

[ForTheLoveOfBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 2nd time reading this series. And although it is very different and there are a lot, and I do mean a lot, of grammatical errors I still love the concept of the book. I can say now versus the first time I read this first book Araya is so emotional I kind of want to smack her. She is so all over the place with carnal and emotional needs. I mean she is supposed to be this bada** boss chick but she is so just, whinny. But I still love the book and series and I’m still going to read it.

[Angela Dossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic story by CM Owens. I have re-read this story many times, and it just seems to get better and better. If you love stories with supernatural elements, along with amazing hot romance, then try this story..It's the first book in a trilogy. You will not go wrong with reading this one.

[Stephanie Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

another awesome new spin on vampires! C.M. Owens has brought vampires to a whole new level on this one!

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little on the fence about giving this a 4 star rating in lieu of a 3 star rating....it's like a 3.75 star in my book. And the reason being; it's filled to the brim with sex, blood, vampires and hybrids, a good storyline, action, and most of all ... I didn't skim through any parts. The reason I'm on the fence with my rating is that it reads somewhat monotone and there are LOTS of errors (mostly missing words).

When you're reading, the builds for each scene don't get your blood pumping OR the followup scene distracts from the previous events and kind of negates their awesomeness. Additionally, it's pretty apparent that the author had a hard time saying certain words in order to get certain 'scenes' across (example: during an intimate scene, instead of telling us what was happening, C.M. beats around the bush with words like 'my sensitive spot'...like, wtf? It sounds like a teenager was ashamed to write about someone going down on the MC, but you have no problem spelling out the intercourse scenes word for word on every other page).

General gist of the story: the MC (Araya) is a special hybrid with a 'counter' hybrid (Hale) that is basically her soulmate (i.e. the perfect one that balances her out), but he screwed up and left her hanging for work too many times and she leaves him (despite being engaged). Her new boy (fiancee), Blazen, is adorbs and loves her to bits (although he is suspect at times), but he's also a 'full blood' and therefore kind of a taboo mate for her. They all work for the United together, which places the MC back in the path of Hale and she immediately gets back with him and breaks her engagement to Blazen, but he still fights for her affections. In the end, Hale leaves for another work trip, yet again on Araya's birthday, during her party (which is exactly the way he left the first time), and she is immediately back in Blazen's arms. But we somewhat discover that Hale has been leaving to protect her from some bad guys...he just doesn't want to stress her out with the knowledge that she's basically being hunted by the people who kidnapped her previously. Either way, Blazen had continuously said 'He'll mess up again', like it was a guarantee, so I have a feeling he's in with the bad guys. Bummer. I hope I'm wrong.

Side note: the last chapter is written from Hale's POV, but not noted at the beginning of the chapter. So be ready for the change.

--Rating - 3.75 stars - it's really good. kind of long. and not too dramatic, but still has lots of elements to keep you engaged.
--Steam - 4.5 stars - PACKED FULL!!! Like, legit pages upon pages. But some scenes are repetitive, others are lackluster, and the author seemed squeamish to talk about 'going down' and used weird, nondescript words to try and make the scene work.
--Storyline - 3.5 stars - lots of action, everything flows together well, and is well developed.
--Plot Twists - 2 stars - nothing crazy has come up yet
--Emotional Pull - 2 stars - kind of dramatic in the relationship department, but otherwise clear
--Writing - 3 stars - comfortable to read, but it wasn't noted that the POV changed from Araya to Hale in the last chapter and I was confused for a couple pages as to why the MC was being referred to as 'he'.
--Denouement - N/A because there was a cliffhanger
--Cliffhanger? - Yes
--HEA? - No, not yet at least

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is one of the authors first efforts at writing and I can say that her more recent works definitively show an improvement in writing style and plot development. I can’t believe that I’m actually saying this but, there was too much sex in place of plot. Don’t get me wrong I love erotica but I found myself turning pages to advance the story.

I like the premise of the story where a hero gets a second chance at true love. But there were too many pet peeves in grammar to let me sink fully into this story. (I know... I’m smh that I’m commenting on grammar. But I am). It was distracting in how the author uses the words smoulder, sizzles, seduces and menaces. This was repeated so often that I actually went to the Webster’s dictionary app to look it up. Menace is a noun. Menaces is the plural of that noun. It is not a verb. When you say “he menaces” are you saying instead that he “threatens”? Because then that would imply that he threatens the heroine? And that didn’t make sense actually. And when you say that “he seduces” are you implying that he was saying it seductively? (Cause it doesn’t make sense otherwise).

I would give the stories in this series a pass. I only read this because I enjoyed her later series Wild Ones and the Sterling Shore series and went back to pick other novels. Start with those ones and I think that you will enjoy those ones much more.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like how the cheating love triangle thing started, but if you pretend that didn't happen, the story was ok.

The heroine:

Araya is a badass. Her powers make her an unstoppable force. She has 2 guys thinking she is all that and a bag of chips. People respect and fear her in her work force.

In my favorite part (/s), there was a storm and people at a facility willingly ignored that children were out in it. Araya was the *only* one who cared enough to save them. -_-
She is the definition of special snowflake.

The heroes:

Hale is hella secretive and leaves her feeling shitty. Brazen seems like the better guy to me.

Brazen has secrets of his own, but none of them have caused her to get hurt yet. I have a feeling the 2nd book will be with Brazen. I'm excited to get started!

The story:

Between all the sex (my god, too much), the story was interesting. I like the idea of a mysterious new group destroying places and making a new species (?) Not much was revealed about this, so I was left wondering about them. Will definitely read the next book to see how this group and Araya's past ties in.

[TheMadHatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have loved most books by this author from her Sterling Shore series to her MindF*ck series that she wrote under a different name, so was keen to read her back catalogue. However, this book didn't work for me at all.

I couldn't connect with the story or characters and it was clear in the execution that this was an earlier book in her writing journey. I also found the chapters incredibly long and the pacing subsequently felt wrong. To invest in a chapter was a good 30 min+ of reading time. While this was not for me and I won't continue with the series, I look forward to re-reading Sterling Shore and especially MindF*ck series as they were gold.

Reading Challenge
Aussie Readers 2023 Annual A-Z "Follow the Clues" Challenge: "D" Read a book which has Dark themes
Aussie Readers 2023 Colour Challenge: "Grey" - Read a book with a title starting with G
Aussie Readers 2023 Calendar of Books Challenge: "October" - Read a book by an author with an initial starting with O

[Jassicca · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 30% into the story, I still didn't have any ideas about Araya's power. I knew she was a hybrid, but what's so special about them, how many of them, the full blood's ability and politic, etc.

It was a slow-paced story, concentrating more on Araya's love conflict. Whilst engaged to a full blood vampire, Brazen, she still couldn't let go of her ex, Hale, and when she finally got back to Hale again, they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

After that, the story went downhill, just plenty of sex scenes and less action, and I got bored. Hale's POV on the last chapter gave us a glimpse of why he left Araya the first place and the reason they broke up. This insight had pretty much sealed Brazen's fate even though he might be given a chance to be with Araya again in the next book.

[Sabrina Warren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed because this had the potential to be so good. It was unique and different take on vampires but there is no world building, there isn’t even explanation on critical items like how the world came to be, what Araya’s power is, why the rebels are rebelling, why she was kidnapped, the list goes on. It was starting to watch a movie 3/4’s in.
I liked the characters- I think there was great chemistry between the love triangle but it gets lost in the back and forth and crazy I know, too much sex. (never thought I would say that). There really doesn’t need to be a sex scene every other moment, before the road trip, during the road trip, at the party, after the explosion…… the sex was repetitive and the conversations and character building followed.

Also, I have to say it- is having the male characters ‘coo’ a total turn off for anyone else?

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read The Wild Ones series and adored it. Five stars for all of them. So far I am barely into this book and I am cringing because of all the typos and grammar mistakes. I am not enjoying this because I keep waiting for the next typo...and they unfortunately keep happening. I can't believe the same author wrote this. Some people might find it ridiculous that typos affect my reading experience so much, but they do. I want to read my novel, not focus on juvenile errors!

Okay...DNF. Sorry, the main character is an idiot and a whore. My gosh, woman, have some damn dignity. Done, done, done.

[Erin Ellison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so torn on this book so I'm going with a 3. the plot for the most part is more like a sub plot due to the major love triangle and never ending vampire porn. I can tell this love triangle is going to be never ending for the remainder of the series. the plot finally gets decent the last chapter. I absolutely adore this authors other books but this one was just ok ... it's still worth the read if major smut isn't an issue. I will say if this is the first series you're reading by this author please read her other stuff. it's so much better.

[Sherry]

Dnf. I love CM Owens and I did see her brilliance in bits and pieces of this book. But overall it needed proofreading and some good editing. It read like a rough draft for a wonderful series that just wasn’t quiet there yet.

[FiFi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked the plot, but hesitant to finish the series. The words sizzle, smolder, and seduce are used so much it gets cringey. Then there’s also the winking that happens on the daily between everyone😬

[Nole4Life · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I only made it half way through the preview. The heroine is pathetic. From the beginning she is swooning over her ex and has no spine to stand up to him.

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn’t get through the first few chapters.

[Rin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexy!!!!

Vampires and hybrids vampires are very real. And there's something COMING that's stronger. It's a race to find out who's behind this new threat.

[Danii corrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book loved it xx

[StinaA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gifted Curse, is the first book in the Curse Trilogy, and it contains a new twists on vampires.

A love triangle, between one woman and two very different men. One man she's destined to be with and another man she never thought possible she could trust, not to mention, love.

"The  demons of my past, the monster inside me, and the daily struggle just to live is constantly taking it's toll on me."

The story is slow when it comes to give the reader all the details, but it's so well written. (Overlooking the many, many word errors) It's a story worth reading!!

It's a world filled with war and bloodshed, hate and jealousy between the three species. Human's, fullblood's and hybrid's. They all need each other to survive, and the tin line between it all is the military, the United, that protects.
But what happens when a new mutated virus appears? That can create a whole new species..

"Only the forgotten can carry guilt in their screams, for only they can feel guilty for needing help."

I adore Araya Crush, she's so strong, and she got one hell (or Hale, if you like) of a back bone! She's not afraid to stand up against the crowd, and protect the ones that needs her and/or her loved ones.

I usually don't like the heroines who is not "strong" enough to stay away from a man she knows she should. And all he has to do is smile, and she throws herself on him. But for some reason, it works for me in this story. Go figure!

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books with smut. This one had just too much...even for me. It left me saying get back to the storyline. It also ends with a sort of cliffhanger ending. I will finish the series (since I bought the whole thing anyway) ; but I will probably take a break in between books.

[H.B. Jasick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Triangle Alert! Usually when there is a love triangle in a story, you can usually, very easily, pick a side. I couldn't with this book! Both men were unbelievable! Hale and Brazen...why choose she should just get both! after all, sharing is caring....

Omg but the end ....grrr.

[queenbuderfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite series I've ever read! Keeps you wanting more n more!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love C.M. Owens books!!! Araya and Hale, enough said!!

[Laura Zapirtan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hale. Definitely Hale!!

Holy scorching hot as Hale hybrid!!! Forgot how good this trilogy was!!!

:༻🐞༺: Highly recommended!!! :༻🐞༺: