Kingdom of the Wicked

Book of the Year?
Well, whilst a lot about 2020 might suck, something that hasn't is the books I've read. As I was rating this 5 stars on goodreads (that'll give you a hint of the review to come!) I took a look at my other books read in 2020. Only one book DNF'd, one rated 3 stars and the rest 4 and above. And then to get granted this earc at 12pm on the 7th September and have it finished by 3pm the same day? Yeah, this book was good. This book was amazing. This book is in contention for my book of the year and honestly, it's got stiff competition so I'm not sure how I'm going to decide or what else may join it in the next 3 (that's alarming) months.

From the very first page (yep, I'm talking the title page), I had a feeling I'd love this book. Turn the page (or tap the screen, as the case may be) and I was then greeted by a map. I'm used to ARCs having blank pages where the map should be along with something like ‘map to come'. Not this time, and this map in particular was gorgeous. Definitely the best I'd seen in a book this year (and I'm a sucker for books with maps, just look at the background for all my IG posts.)

The First Book to Make Me Hungry
My first suggestion to you, if you're yet to read this book, is don't start it when you're hungry. I started it at 12 and hadn't had lunch. This was a mistake as I read about the glorious Italian food and wished desperately to be sharing in the food they were making as they casually discussed devils. Well, mostly casually. Also, the pre-order incentive involving pasta makes a whole lot of sense. Oh, and I've never tried cannoli and now I seriously need to. Sorry, I'm writing this review 4 hours after starting it and I still haven't eaten. My hunger is spilling out.

Brilliant Descriptions of the Everyday
Anyway, the food discussion was supposed to be a segue into discussing the writing and the way Kerri Maniscalco describes things is such a delight to read. Some descriptions are almost lyrical and the first paragraph of the prologue gave this away immediately and it continued, where relevant, throughout. A few chapters later, one very simple description stuck out to me, simply because I loved the way it was worded:

“In moments, condensation bloomed like morning dew across the glass.”

Kerri is describing a drink being poured into a glass, not exactly exciting, right? And yet such short descriptions of normal, everyday things is what drew me into this book, the world she's created and I loved every moment of it. Each time a small description like that happened, I marvelled in the enjoyment of something so simple and yet brilliant.

Characters to Love
But of course, beyond the description is the characters in this world. The three characters that stuck out most were our main point of view character, Emilia; a prince of hell, Wrath and then, perhaps unexpectedly, Emilia's grandmother, referred to as Nonna, as this story is inherently Italian.

From Good to...
“I could either be a victim or a victor.”

Emilia experiences a character arc that was glorious to read. She's a twin with her sister Vittoria and there was the classic archetype of one twin being good and the other being, I won't say evil, but rebellious. Emilia was the more well-behaved of the two, as we're introduced to Vittoria not being home in time and other things like that as the story begins. However, without saying too much, Emilia doesn't stay the pure and good one for very long and reading her path from being so good and innocent to where she ended up was one of the many highlights of this book.

A Wicked-Prince of Hell
Wrath is a Demon Prince of Hell, as his name may suggest, the princes are centred around the seven deadly sins, and we meet most of the others during the story as well, although Wrath features more centrally. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for a bad-boy with some hidden depth in fantasy books. I love the complexity, and Wrath is no exception to this.

There's definitely more to him than we truly get to meet in this book. He's clearly powerful, which I don't think we get to experience enough of, and there's something else about him that, well, I don't want to say too much, but I'm intrigued to read more of him and I'm slightly frustrated we've got to wait a while before book 2! It's the eternal problem with ARCs, the pleasure of reading early, but then the painfully long wait for the next book!

A Grandmother with Secrets
Emilia and Vittoria's grandmother is referred to as Nonna throughout. I don't recall if she was ever named beyond that, but she was a fantastic character. I enjoyed each scene with her in it. She is a fierce matriarch for the family and is hiding much throughout. Some secrets are ultimately spilled, but I don't think everything is out. She's a character with more to come and I'm looking forward to what other surprises her character will bring.

Read This Book
The summary of my review is pretty simple: Read the book! I thoroughly enjoyed every page. From the fascinating characters, to the magical story and the gorgeous writing. I don't see a reason to not read the book. Witches, Witch Hunters, Magic, Demons, Italian cooking. What more could you possibly want?

Was a bit disappointed with this one. The core concept of witches and selling your soul to the devil is fun enough, but the execution really didn't gel with me. I found the prose somewhat lazy and the foreshadowing was less hinting and more screaming in your face what was going to happen. I also really dislike it when sections of text are printed in difficult to read handwriting style print. This had that and then worsens it by darkening the background making those sections really awkward to read. The first half was really slow and I struggled to like the main character - her character development over the course of the book was difficult to believe in, particularly with the timeframe presented. The pace did pick up in the second half and I appreciated that there were some interesting twists towards the end, but overall this was a disappointing read. An interesting concept not executed in a way I enjoyed.

THE CHEMISTRY. THE BEAUTY...of BOTH the writing and the book (I got the one with gold edges and my god I'm swooning). Emilia and Wrath are PERFECT and I ship them so hard my brain hurt by the end of reading. Witches, demons, romance...my gosh what DOESN'T this book have? I know there are some mixed reviews of this book due to historical inaccuracies and whatnot, but Maniscalco edited some things too and I believe that was for the better. I REALLY enjoyed the read, the setting and sense of place, and the characters.

couldn't sleep so i finished this lol

yeah i see why people don't like it. lots of holes and stuff that needed explanation but were tossed aside at the mercy of this weird murder mystery. thankfully i was really enjoying myself from the characters and quick pacing alone, so the confusion didn't really hit until the end (or maybe it's the fact that i finished this at 2am hah)

anyway emilia has my whole heart my messy lil pigheaded girly u stay golden emilia

What a catastrophe. I can't even put into words. But you know what? I enjoyed it all: irritating main character, absence of any logic in characters' actions or plot, cliched (had to look up how this word is spelled) descriptions. There were also some YA hits: curling toes, unmistakenly male smells, lining eyes with kohl and who knows what else.

I don't really see why the books are separated in trilogy, because without next book already available, this one would've been a very disappointing read.

Oh wow, this book was extremely good! I wasn't expecting anything less from the amazing Kerri Maniscalco, but this book truly exceeded my expectations. I knew I was going to like it, but I ended up absolutely LOVING it!

This book is full of magic, a perfect witchy read. It is both light and darkness, love and hate. Is it an enemies-to-lovers book? Maybe, we don't know it yet, but I really hope we will find out in the next one. This book left be broken and SCREAMING because of that ending - no spoilers, don't worry! Just know that you've been warned: you're going to read a hell of a cliff-hanger. And it's going to break your heart.

Of course I fell in love with Emilia and her personality, she is such an amazing character. Oh, and let's not forget ALL THE FOOD mentioned in this book, all the Italian cuisine was mouth-watering and I felt like I was there, at the Sea & Vine, smelling all that great food. Kerri is incredible with her descriptions and I loved reading them, they really made me feel like I was a part of this story. And how I wish I was, especially when Wrath appeared. I mean... dark, moody, dangerous DEMON FROM HELL that's also... handsome as hell? YES, GIVE HIM TO ME! I need more of him, especially after seeing that author letter included in the October Fairyloot box... if you know, you know.

All in all, this book is a freaking gem and I suggest you go read is ASAP if you like books with a great magic system, handsome demons and amazing witches. You're in for an awesome ride!

Book was kind of a mess?

Plot:
It's a mess. Too many attempted surprises and traps that were either just incompletely flesh out or a big obvious twist.
The ending is a big blurry mess. I was utterly confused. I think the goal is to be a cliffhanger and make us read the next book, but I genuinely do not care what happens at all.
The houses could have been a really cool detail, but they were skimmed over.

Writing:
Not my cup of tea. It felt very juvenile.

Characters:
The interesting female MC died at the beginning of the book. Her twin, Emilia, didn't have a backbone. She's impulsive, reckless, and whiney. She's supposed to be a witch but basically relies on everyone around her to make the plot move forward. She has almost no power until later on in the book and just wants to cook. Her only personality traits were cooking and loving her twin.

Wrath was interesting, but the whole writing style of him “only responding in one word answers” was trite by the end.


I unfortunately purchased a few special editions of the sequel prior to reading this and I am now filled with regret. Hopefully I can find them homes with someone who will love them the way they deserve to be loved.

To be fair, I actually listened to this one as an audiobook and i hate to say it but the narration wasn't for me. This led to me not rewinding each night after going to sleep before the end of my timer (hope that makes sense- at least to anyone with audible!) so while I did finish the book technically, I missed some of it. So not a DNF but might have been had I been reading a physical copy. Again, I should note that this may be down to narrator and/or me missing something from skipping parts (although I didn't skip that much).

I've seen this book all over social media. I went into it knowing nothing about it. I was happily surprised to find out it was an story based in Italy about the 7 princes of hell and witches that make deals with them.

This book was delightful to read. It had some romance, a kick ass heroine, an alluring Prince of Hell, and a fast paced plot. For a YA book, I really felt like this book didn't pull any punches. There were consequences for people's actions and stakes to the story. The characters were well fleshed out and interesting, while the pacing was fast and fun. I recommend this book for anyone looking for an interesting, fresh read!

TW: alcohol, blood, death, gambling, gore, loss, mental manipulation, mutilation, non-consensual touching, self-harm, violence, demons, the Devil

I really didn't get on with Stalking Jack the Ripper by this author but found this book to be more up my street.

There were definitely some issues with the pacing and a few scenes just felt a bit off, and I agree with other reviews that the twists were predictable but I still really enjoyed it.

Added an extra star for Wrath alone, loved their snarky banter and him discovering cannolis.

2022: liked the book waaaaay more the second time reading it. Excited to finally read the last book

2021:
I don't know what to think of this book. I liked it, but more then once I just put I down and didn't think about the book for a few days. Finished more because i just had a little over 150 pages left.

Wasn't really into the love story, normally I would've loved it, but it just didn't get to me.

For me it was a fun and fast read but not anything special. I adored the description of the Italian food/ingredients (because I absolutely love Italy and its food) and appreciated the ambience of Sicily the author created or rather captured. 
But the main character Emilia was kind of dumb sometimes and also a little boring. I would've loved the characters to be a little more fleshed out and maybe have chapters in Wraths POV. Also it was lacking in worldbuilding and again I would've enjoyed a little bit more of the “witchy stuff”. The plot wasn't very interesting (I didn't really care) but the ending definitely got me hooked on the next book.
Nevertheless it was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it.