Kingdom of the Cursed

This book was both better and worse than the first. Somehow. I was more engaged in the first part of the Cursed Kingdom thou. At some point it got so repetitive - she kisses Wrath, they argue, she runs off, gets one new mystery (insert one long and motivational dialogue how she will solve The Mystery, that never-before-solved legend, because she is one special snowflake).

By the way, that feast in the end was a total disappointment. As with all those mysteries we encounter on our way. It is set up in a way, that we will discover something big and it really never pays off.

I will still read third book, but I do hope to be done with this series soon.

“Love and hate are both rooted in passion.”

This story is no longer holding my attention, the whole who-murdered-my-twin shtick, I don't care for it.

Overall, a whole lot of nothing happens in the sequel. Emilia ends up in hell and settles in at Wrath's court. [inserting] descriptions of lavish rooms, dresses, and foods yada, yada, yada. She does a little bit of asking around and gets exposed to a few mildly perilous situations but clues are basically handed to her. That's all folks. And the dun-dun-dun, ‘big' reveal at the end.

I was also not expecting the amount of non-PG. How old is Emilia again? And who is tagging this as YA??! Never mind that Emilia and Warth spend a lot of time with each other's naked bodily vessels, some rando demon/prince of Hell propositions her very bluntly, no euphemisms at all. There was also no build-up between her and the Prince. It's so convenient that they're betrothed to each other so they can just go at it. And isn't it just endearing how protective and caring he is despite being the king of hell and whatnot? The fact that he lies to her all the time is not a problem at all.

There's really no mystery here, at all, despite the synopsis/cover suggesting otherwise. The final reveal was quite underwhelming.

*please consider this a TW: there's depictions of sexual assault, and non consentive behavior in the book, so proceed with caution if those are topics you feel triggered by*

It's a 4.5*, soooo so so so close to a 5* I promise :')

I started noticing with KotW towards the end, specially the last scene that I started getting lost with what Kerri described and throughout KotC it happened again, multiple times. That kind of makes me angly cause i have to read a scene twice sometimes thrice before i get what's happening. Thats why it's not getting the 5* :')

Aside from that, I am so mad at the ending, I wanted the full scene goddamnit 😭

Entertaining and pure enjoyment.
There are some pacing issues with this one, but I enjoyed it a lot anyway.
The atmosphere and the world are amazing. There isn't a lot going on for a while but it kept me guessing. The revelation was very obvious from the start, but I still liked it when it came.

I'll definitely read the next one.

What a sequel! I won't go into plot to avoid spoilers. I enjoyed this addition much better than the last book. There were definitely some faults with it, which I will get into, but for pure enjoyment factor alone, I gave this 4 stars.

This book struggled with some of the plot. I felt like Emilia got her way with these Princes more than she should have. They were made out to be these super powerful, manipulative men, but Emilia was able to get what she wanted from them multiple times. She also was able to get her way quickly with other magical beings in Hell. It all felt very convenient. I also think that some of the plot was pretty predictable. However, a lot of the ending caught me off guard and made me really hype for the next book.

The romance I felt like was great. The only downside was Emilia being pretty clueless sometimes. Some of that can be chalked up to insecurities, but she really didn't see some of the signs right in front of her face. However, the steamy scenes were great and I thought all of the arguing and tension was delectable. While there were some faults throughout with the plot, the ultimate goal for me is to enjoy a book, and this book delivered on that. I listened to the whole audiobook in a day. It was exciting and fun, which is all that matters.

I will add to this review that there is a scene (chapter 17) with questionable consent in regards to magical compulsion. No sex happens, but it ultimately felt unnecessary and didn't add to the plot at all. It was uncomfortable to read. Go into this chapter with caution.

I would recommend this book to people that like a good fantasy romance. Don't go into this book wanting the most riveting plot.

TW: blood, grief, gore, violence, loss of a loved one, brief mention of rape, drugging, a lot of sexual themes and scenes, questionable consent involving magical compulsion

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars

Swipe for Synopsis⏩

Spoiler free review:

I had extremely high hopes for this book being that the series was moving from YA to NA, and I, unfortunately was a little disappointed. I felt like this was a much more character driven book rather than plot driven and not necessarily in the best way. The characters, Wrath and Emilia have certainly come a long way with their development. With the move to NA I was hoping for spice. Yes, there was some, but I guess I had high expectations that weren't met. If you want to read 400+ pages of sexual tension, then read this! I'll likely read book 3 because I'm a sucker and the author says it will be spicier and, with the way the book ended, that does seem hopeful. The story is certainly set up for an good third book for both the plot and the characters. Overall I didn't hate it I just expected more. There is some language and some sexual content I would say 18+ but nothing is graphic or explicit.

This took me so long to read compared to the first. I think the pacing and plot were all over the place in this one. I think as a series I'll still enjoy it and will read the final book but this was a bit of a slog in places.

Also to all the people saying this is “spicy”, please do yourself a favour and go sign up to KU and read some real spice!