REVIEW: The Man Curse by Raqiyah Mays

The Man Curse by Raqiyah Mays: With a family of women cursed to never find a man, Meena refuses to fall in line. She still believes love is out there and she will find it for herself. She just has to get past all the frogs, first.

Escaping a bad relationship, she moves her life to New York for a fantastic new career and a fantastic new love life. Only, is she able to escape the insecurities and drama from back home? With Sean, her new love, old issues rise again, and just maybe she’s stuck with the family curse too.

“And now,” Meredith asked, “because of that ass Dexter, you think you’re cursed, too?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes,” I said, staring down the empty road. “But if I am, I’m breaking this damn thing. And at the moment, Dexter is my personal curse.”

Too much is summary. Summarizing her present, her past, her feelings, her family’s feelings, and her mother’s issues. It was too much and it just didn’t attract me at all. Neither he nor her family, nor any of their choices, were likeable.

I couldn’t get past a beginning filled with so much anger, hate, and bitterness. The idea seemed so cute with a man curse, it’s a great idea. But going in immediately with the description of her mother’s rape set the tone for the story.

From what I read it’s definitely gritty and dirty, which just isn’t what I want when I’m reading romance. Pain, angst, and grunge has its place, but it was too much in The Man Curse. I couldn’t feel for any of the characters which meant I wasn’t involved in the story. I didn’t care, and I just didn’t enjoy this world.

Book Info:

DNF

Publication: November 16, 2015 | Gallery Books/ Karen Hunter Publishing |

Meena Butler’s life is nearly in order, with one exception: the family curse. Is an age-old hex holding her back from landing the man of her dreams—or will she be the first woman in her family to break free of the past and find the love of a lifetime?

Meena has heard whispers of the family curse since childhood. Seated around tables at the yearly reunion, relatives always shared stories of the Man Curse’s origins. It began with Great Grandma Anna Mae’s affair with the church pastor. After finding them in bed together, his wife hexed Anna Mae to prevent the women of her family from ever marrying, and the results are said to have lasted generations. Anna Mae and her sisters died without being wed. Grandma Fey never married. Aunt Connie has given up on men. And Meena’s mother, Deena, continually runs into dead-end relationships.

Vowing not to follow in their tracks, Meena is undeterred from achieving her dream of matrimony. After dating a string of wrong men and catching her college boyfriend Dexter cheating, she heads to New York, where she has an exciting new job at Buzz, the hottest music magazine in the business. On a professional upward track, Meena happily ignores Dexter’s pleading calls for forgiveness. Instead, she meets the popular intellectual writer, Sean. Physical attraction and common interests fuel a love affair that seems destined for marriage. But when a chance meeting with another woman ignites lingering insecurities that Sean is hiding something, Meena’s trust is shattered. With her relationship on the rocks and her confidence in the gutter, Meena’s journey toward emotional healing forces her to face the truth and wonder if she really does have the Man Curse. Or is it all in her head?