User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
UPDATED: buckle up whores
Pre Pub Date: Kerri Maniscalco really fucked me up with this one! she 👏🏽 fucking 👏🏽 delivered 👏🏽
full review will be posted on pub date; thank you to The NOVL for sending me 1 out of the 7 physical ARCs
Post Pub Date:
This shit was so motherfucking good. this book grab me by the throat and pinned me down on the floor. it hit me from the back and gave me a kiss on the forehead. it smacked my ass like a drum. it has a complete chokehold on me istg.
Daddy? Sorry! Daddy? Sorry! Daddy? I mean Wrath, sorry!
omg this demon prince is a real pussy pleaser. i fucking love him. that fucking lagoon scene? let’s just say wrath and emilia weren’t the only ones wet. 😜 if this book were a pole, i’d fucking strip on it. literally my ovaries were fucking shaking reading this masterpiece.
Emilia. i fucking love her too. she was gatekeeping, gaslighting, and girlbossing!! and i was fucking here for it. there’s so much character development in this book and i fucking loved it.
the whole fucking mystery of it all was done flawlessly. i love how kerri went about it. you're telling me the answers were right in front of our faces this entire time? unbelievable and unpredictable.
i was gasping for air in the final chapters. my knees were trembling and i couldn’t walk straight for days after reading this book. needless to say but i needed book 3 like 2 weeks ago. 💳💥💳💥💳💥💳💥💳
Rating: really liked it
holy smokes. whatever the opposite of ‘second book syndrome’ is, this is that. i enjoyed this sooo much more than
‘kingdom of the wicked,’ which i thought was amazing. and maybe its because the story has evolved into NA, instead of YA (which is definitely noticeable from the first page), but i sure loved the maturity of this.
this is giving me
‘rhapsodic’ meets
‘a kingdom of flesh and fire’ with a little bit of
‘shadow wings’ thrown in there. except for fae and shapeshifters, its witches and demons. and with this taking place in the kingdom of the wicked, the princes of hell, its very
‘city of thorns.’ the perfect october read.
i love the setting. the different kingdoms representing the different vices of the seven princes is so fascinating and is really conducive for all of the hidden secrets and magic riddles. i love how the mystery has built upon emilias sisters murder to encompass a larger investigation into her lineage and powers. but what i loved most of all is the romance. this is soooo romance heavy and the angst of the love/hate relationship between emilia and wrath is everything.
an impressively strong sequel that has taken this story into a much darker and sinful direction. i now have such high expectations for the next book.
↠ 4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
AUGUST 2nd UPDATE:
I'm hosting the first (and probably ONLY) ARC giveaway on IG! link here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSE_Yv2r-...
May 17th 2021 UPDATE
In KOTC you can expect:
*enemies to lovers
*more New Adult than Young Adult. (This definitely leaps from the slow burn romance of book one to full on spice, please do be aware of that.)
*schemes
*masked galas
*magic
*mystery
*violet horses with metal hooves
*intro to Wrath’s pets
US preorder prizes are underway, so please save receipts. UK readers, I will share any preorder prize updates as I get them. xoxo
12/4/20 -- two words to describe KINGDOM 2; sinful and steamy.
8/30/19-- let the drafting begin! xoxo
Rating: really liked it
This was definitely a character driven book and I was here for it all the way.
^^ basically Emilia in KotC *cackles*
"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."
After the betrayals and shocking revelations in
Kingdom of the Wicked, Emilia is even more determined to find her sister's murderer—no matter what bargains she must make... even if it means doing the forbidden.
With all of that, she must also deal with her conflicted feelings towards a
certain hot demon prince. Is it lust? More lies? Or something more? Either way, Emilia must not fall for his charms and demonic influence.
But I mean, who can resist a demon prince???
certainly not me 
Credit: @morganaOanagrom "I may have been foolish before, but, thank the goddess, I was learning quickly."
Okay but like
Emilia was such a queen in this book. I loved her already in KotW BUT HERE??? Her character development was spectacular sdfgdfs my love literally went📈📈 She's not as naïve as she was in the 1st book and now is soo cunning with her schemes, it makes me cackle in delight.
And after that ending??? No words will ever be able to express how hyped I am to see certain events play out. Emilia is on a very intriguing path and I definitely can't say I don't love it. For so long, Emilia's been struggling with doing what's right and avenging her sister—doing all of that
alone. With demons everywhere.
In Hell.I don't know how this girl's able to deal with all of that and not lose her mind. Emilia needs a hug🥺
"Every villain thinks themselves the hero. And vice versa. In truth, there's a little villain and hero in each of us. Depending on the circumstances."
Oh Wrath, how my love grew for you but also declined. There were so many precious and wholesome moments between Wrath and Emilia omg it made me swoooon. And then Emilia has the
audacity to say she wishes her "real life" was a romance novel- *pain* That hit hard😭
Like Wrath taking care of Emilia when she was suffering from hypothermia?? Wrath feeding Emilia chocolate-covered berries?? I'M JEALOUS.
But unfortunately, I do have to say that Wrath disgusted me at one point in the novel
iykyk and though he learned from those mistakes and went to great extent to redeem himself—apologizing and following without question orders given by Emilia, I don't 100% forgive him. It'll probably take awhile tbh, but hopefully the 3rd book will clear up all of that for me.
"Fate may deal its hand, try encouraging our path or intervene, but we are ultimately free to choose our own destiny. Never doubt that."
The new characters interactions that were in this book!! I absolutely adored it. Anir and Emilia's friendship was so sweet ugh I love them so much. The training and conversations they had together were amazingg, but Fauna and Emilia's conversations were definitely god tier - omg the things they said *wheeze*
The best interactions though were the ones between Emilia and the other Princes of Hell. I wish we could've learned and seen more of them :(( Like for a book set in Hell, they barely made much appearances and the three that we did get to see... were pretty brief, so that was a little disappointing.
Pride intrigues me so much, there's definitely more to him than meets the eye. The same goes for Envy and maybe even Gluttony sdfsfsgfs I really want to know their true motives like they're such interesting characters ughh the questions I have are killing me. Even with these princes not appearing as much as I hoped, AT LEAST I GOT TO SEE A
DRUNK ENVY. Now
that is something I'll never forget anytime soon.
Anyways next book - petition for more Princes of Hell.
"All legends contain fragments of truth."
I'm proud to say that I guessed one of the major plot twists
yes ik practically everyone guessed it too but shhh let me savor this !! THE OTHER PLOT TWIST THOUGH??? I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. AND THEN KERRI ENDING IT THAT WAY??? That is so cruel *sobbing* I flipped the page expecting there to be another page and then see
"Acknowledgements" staring back at me-
We thought the ending of KotW was cruel?? *laughs* She definitely showed us what "cruel" really is. I'm in pain knowing that we have an agonizing year ahead of us to see how this concludes.
I wish I could've given this 5 stars - especially with how excited I was for KotC - but I can't deny that I didn't love it as much as I did with KotW. And like I'm always a sucker for romance, which is exactly what this had more of than the 1st book yet I still love KotW more. I'm thinking it might be the mood I'm currently in, but this just didn't give me the same feelings I got with the first book. Of course, I definitely still enjoyed this and am so ready for the next book!
Anyways, let the suffering begin😃✌
_____
Reviews:Kingdom of the Wicked: ★★★★★Kingdom of the Cursed: ★★★★
Rating: really liked it
ARC provided by the publisher➽ 1.) Kingdom of the Wicked ★★★
"And there is nothing more dangerous than love, is there? People fight for it. They die for it. They commit acts of war and treason and all manner of sin in its name."
Whew, what a rollercoaster again!
Kingdom of the Cursed picks up immediately after the events of
Kingdom of the Wicked, and with Emilia trying to pick up the falling pieces of her life. Her main priority is to still avenge her sister and discover who was killing witches in her Italian town, but this time she is looking for clues in the land of actual heck, where she is promised to one of the seven demon rulers, and not the one she already has feelings for. Yet, Wrath escorts her back to his personal heck kingdom, and Emilia soon realizes there is much more she has to be in search of if she ever really wants to live a normal life again.
I feel like talking about my thoughts on this series is just so difficult. Let me start out by saying that this was the most easily consumable book I’ve read all year, and there wasn’t a moment I wasn’t thinking about it while not reading. The atmosphere, setting, and entire vibe is perfect, especially for the autumn time! The main character and her quests for vengeance and for her own discovery really is phenomenal. The writing is lush and descriptive and feels like its own sort of magical teleportation. And the story itself feels enthralling at every turn, and plot points are constantly being set up to leave the reader anticipating that next page, while also begging for the next book.
"When the demon responsible for Vittoria’s death finally felt the flames of my fury, I’d hopefully have burned this House of Sin to ash."
But there was just a horrible chapter that really dampened my entire reading experience and it really breaks my heart because this is one of those situations where I truly believe if publishing houses would just hire beta readers who review critically, this could have been such an easy chapter to fix. I actually believe that if chapter 17 did not happen, this could have been a five star book for me and you could have seen me holding it up as a new profile picture in 2022. But that scene just 1.) made me wanna throw up and 2.) made it so hard to root for the romance after, even though the author constantly tries to make an excuse for the behavior, but it honestly just makes it feel even worse. Also, I wouldn't make excuses for anything that happened in that chapter, but once I finished the book I realized that the “training session” was so unnecessary, at least in this book, and again it just ruined my reading enjoyment.
For the sake of the rest of this review, I’m just going to ignore this chapter. But in my review of
Kingdom of the Wicked , I said how this series is the first series in so many years to remind me of those fantasy series I read when I was younger and truly could not put the books down, and I would look forward to their next installments being released months and months in advance, while trying to devour to story when it hit my kindle at midnight!
And this story was extra reminiscent of those feelings because this second book takes a very large jump in the adult or new adult fantasy genre. This book is very steamy, and Emilia and Wrath have very sexy thoughts on the brain 24/7. This author also makes full use of this series being about demons inspired off the seven deadly sins, and this story uses very public displays to showcase this. (I do scream at Emilia not knowing about oral sex though, especially when she claims to have read such naughty romance books in her past though!)
Overall, again, this is just a hard one for me to review and rate. I will for sure read book three and see how it all wraps up, because I am actually unhingedly invested in everything, especially with how this second book closes! I really loved all the new developments with Emilia’s powers and with all the witches and the history of witches, actually. I loved a lot of the side characters we were introduced to too, and maybe one demon prince will actually pull a Rhysand, which would be insane but I’d really welcome it at this point. I also want to see all of the different lands and castles of hell, too, because so far every exploration has felt magical and so exciting! I do apologize for this review being all over the place; middle books are always a bit more difficult for me to review, especially ones where I am trying to pretend an entire chapter didn’t happen. I’m going to be very curious what everyone thinks of this book once it releases!
"Not all stories end happily, Emilia"
Trigger + Content Warnings: a lot of blood descriptions + depictions, grief, gore, violence, mention of loss of a loved one, brief mention of the topic of rape, drugging, a lot of sexual themes and scenes, and a full warning that chapter 17 has very questionable physical consent involving mind control powers using magical compulsion - truly full dubcon vibes but sex does not ultimately happen, but it is just a very uncomfortable scene that actually made me nauseous, so please use caution while reading.
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Buddy read with Maëlys & Lea! ❤
Rating: really liked it
[10/10/21: edited rating from three to two bcos the more i think about this book... the more annoyed i get at the lack of
everything. also, the more im reminded of chapter seventeen the more grossed out and pissed i feel.]
In this hatred we were united.
buckle up, bitches. we’re about to go for a ride😎what did we learn from this book?
that nina zenik and matthias helvar are the superior enemies to lovers who are travelling on a dangerous excursion together. no one does it like them and can’t believe these two bitches here had the audacity to try.
*****
the superfluous language was something i enjoyed in the last book bcos the author’s writing style really is beautiful, but from the first chapter here it pissed me off💀 mainly bcos Emilia said the
same shit just in a different font... over and over again. her thoughts and feelings towards Wrath were repeated over and over, just saying the same thing of him being treacherous and how he betrayed her to describing in lengthy detail the landscape of hell— again, she said the same thing within the same paragraph but used different synonyms and it grated on me sooooo much. it was like she purposefully used big words to flex but when actually paired all together, the sentences were clumsy. they just didn’t flow and i was metaphorically tripping over my tongue.
this was all in the first chapter... scattered throughout, just dropped in even though Emilia had said the same shit just slightly differently several paragraphs ago:
exhibit a)
Wrath, the mighty demon of war and betrayer of my soul, shifted.
exhibit b)
He’d turned on me the second it suited his needs. He was a selfish creature. Just like Nonna had warned.
exhibit c)
A monster among beasts. I could never allow myself to forget what he was. One of the Wicked. The immortal beings who stole souls for the devil, and the selfish midnight creatures my grandmother warned my twin and me to hide from our whole lives.
exhibit d)
Wrong or not, I wanted to hurt him the way his deception had gutted me.
exhibit e)
If I recalled correctly, delivery of my soul to Pride granted him freedom from the underworld. Something he once said he prized above all else.
How exceptionally marvelous for him. His stay was over just as mine was beginning. And all he had to do was betray me to secure his heart’s greatest desire.
exhibit f)
Holding his intense stare, I nodded back, thankful for his treachery. It was the last time I’d fall for his lies. With any luck, though, it would be the start of him and his wicked brothers falling for mine.
(and don’t get me started on the phrase “prideful hubris”🤡 that shit bugged me so much).
take a shot for every time Emilia says the words “selfish” or “betrayed” or any word that would come up in a thesaurus if you generate the words “selfish” and “betrayed”.
i also think it annoyed me more than maybe it would others bcos in the previous book, Wrath’s betrayal was so mediocre for me. i just shrugged like “okay🤪” and moved along bcos it didn’t feel that gut-wrenching bcos their relationship felt so basic, underdeveloped and surface-level.
idk, she just didn’t have to keep repeating the same shit. just one well-executed inner monologue expressing her feelings, her betrayal and how it was impacting her would have sufficed just fine. it just felt too clumsy and rambling, like there was no clear direction, you know?
and i love vivid descriptions in writing. not all readers do— for some it can bog down the story and be distracting and normally that never happens for me, but it did here. so it wasn’t a great way to start the book. i was struggling lemme tell you. i ended up skimming chunky paragraphs bcos they didn’t add anything to the story and i just focused on the actual dialogue between Emilia and Wrath (and even that was pretty boring and a lil rigid).
like the moment Wrath undid Emilia’a corset? i was ready to become a whore bcos that shit always slaps. always oozes with sexual tension...
...this shit was so anticlimactic.
i feel completely crushed right now🤡 i was like bro???? that’s it??? where is the corset-ripping demon prince shenanigans???
soooo, the first few chapters did not give me much hope. i was pretty resigned
*****
now getting past my annoyance with the beginning... let’s talk about Emilia and Wrath.
the beginning also confused me and felt redundant af— after Wrath’s betrayal at the end of book one (which i low-key can’t even fully remember what he did but Emilia reminded me enough of it in the first chapter so id never forget... thanks girly🙂) they begin this book being “enemies” sniping, griping and taunting each other, vouching their hate and blah blah blahhhhhhh.
then within a few chapters Wrath is already nurturing Emilia, tending to her illness, protecting her while she pines and lusts after him... so i was like “where tf are y’all enemies?? AGAIN??” it was my biggest issue with the first book. their enemies to lovers arc was so weak and juvenile on both ends that i struggled to truly ship them romantically. i mean, i like them, but i don’t think they’re soulmates, always and forever, fangirl screaming type of shit.
being told constantly of how vicious Wrath is, how much they hate each other and how much they’re angsting over each other was exhausting—
i would like to see it. it was like someone adamantly telling you the sky is green while you’re stood staring at a sky that is clearly blue... how am i supposed to believe what you say if all evidence proves to the contrary? so trying to believe they were enemies just had me blinking like
👁👄👁 it felt like the agony of book one all over again...
but on steroids. were they cute, spicy and a bit swoony? sure.
but as enemies to lovers? ...no fucking way.
if this hasn’t been relentlessly and vehemently promoted as an enemies to lovers, i would probably like this a lot more. but all the advertising and publicity for the series relies on it being enemies to lovers, and in my opinion it truly isn’t. Six of Crows, These Violent Delights and The Cruel Prince are fantasy enemies to lovers... this book ain’t even in the same ballpark. she is banned from their ballpark on grounds of fraud and false advertising.
with the three above examples i understood thoroughly the reason they were enemies, what put them on opposing sides of a war, a political agenda and whatever else. still in book two, if someone put a gun to my head demanding me to tell them WHY these two are enemies... i– adios bitches✌🏻
it just felt like anonymous animosity more than a fuelled hatred. bcos Wrath was a wicked prince of hell (still remains to be seen) and is so so sooooo evil, who Emilia was always warned about, naturally they wouldn’t get along. but i just struggled so much to pinpoint their emotions and WHY they felt/acted that way— nothing ever seemed to be fully explained, more so just convenient for some conflict to prolong the story and unravel the plot.
it wasn’t until the incident in chapter seventeen that i had a solid reason for any hatred... but that’s a whole book and a half of me not being convinced of their enemies to lovers arc :///
”Pleasure. Seduction.” I gathered up my courage. “I want you to stay. All night. With me. And if you even think of bowing afterward and leaving like you did last time you touched me, I will hunt you down and make you regret it.”
“Threaten me again.”
His raw tone indicated he liked it very much. “Twisted heathen.”
“Only the best for you.”
now i know i just shat on the whole enemies to lovers trope here... but Emilia and Wrath’s relationship was truly the saviour of this book. i couldn’t have given a fuck about anything else😭
when these two were good? they were
sooooo goddam good. i read their scenes with bated breath bcos i was low-key addicted to their interactions.
during the actual
✨spicy sexy sexy times✨ the tension and chemistry were so good. the end of chapter eight is where this started to pick up for me— the tension between them in the corridor was immaculate vibes and had me on the edge of my seat. THAT’S what i wanted from the beginning and was pouting like a petulant little kid bcos i didn’t get that feeling for a while. (i even ranted to my mam about my annoyance while she just nodded her head like she understood wtf i was talking about).
then it was around the 70% mark that i became REALLY invested👀
His kiss consumed and seduced me. Just as he’d meant it to. It wasn’t fast or hard or fueled by hatred or fury. It was an ember, a promise of the blazing fire to come with a bit of careful tending.
(even tho i felt like the pacing of their relationship was off... i didn’t care bcos i just wanted
something to sink my teeth into since the actual fantasy element of the plot just flopped for me).
and lemme tell you... i was NOT expecting explicit sexual scenes💀 the moment i saw the word
COCK you best believe i gasped bcos the first book had been YA and i had expected this to be too... but also not complaining bcos Emilia and Wrath in that lagoon?😏
id be having public sex too, Emilia, where hordes of demons can wander past to say hello if Wrath was all up on my business.bcos idk there was just something about Wrath that hit different in this book— i think him being in his domain, in his element, he came across waaaaay sexier and more mysterious. all his smirking, sexual innuendos and protectiveness just made this so much more enjoyable to read. the first 25% of this book truly had me scared for a minute bcos i wasn’t honestly enjoying any of it but Wrath and Emilia’s relationship gave me hope (i even skimmed most of the scenes where Emilia isn’t with Wrath bcos i just didn’t care lol).
I placed my lips to his ear. “Are you sensing the knife I’m now considering stabbing you with, your highness?”
“If this is an attempt to change the topic, you’re failing miserably.” His hand dropped beneath the table, landing gently on my knee. There was little doubt it was a nonverbal acknowledgment of my most recent lie. “I am even more interested in where this may lead, my lady. You forget what sin I rule over. I am rather fond of a bit of knife-play.”
anytime Wrath wasn’t there i was waiting for him to return like
”excuse me. excuse me. daddy? sorry. daddy? sorry. daddy? sorry.” *****
while Wrath felt more fleshed out in this book (still not as much as id have liked), his brothers were all boring— i think in my review of the previous book i compared them all to slimy, white collar CEO’s who have a surplus of sexual assault allegations against them. again, they were supposed to be the big, bad Wicked, as vicious than your nightmares...
respectfully... 🤡where??🤡 so the plot just felt redundant, boring and anticlimactic bcos they didn’t feel threatening or fleshed out at all. any interactions Emilia had with them were so underwhelming - again i skimmed...
a lot.Pride was the only other brother that i was remotely interested in. he was kinda sexy and alluring... gimme his story please and thank you😌
i just didn’t understand the plot much bcos it didn’t feel like much was revealed? everyone spoke in riddles, again that superfluous language making the dialogue stiff— like none of the Wicked ever spoke in a solid, coherent sentence without embellishing it with riddles and such. i imagine they made Shakespeare shiver in his grave.
exhibit a)
“The night my nonna attacked you… you seemed to know her. How?”
“Curses are curious things.” He downed another glass and splashed more into his empty cup. “Sometimes they’re like trees. They stay rooted to the spot they’re planted. Other times they’re like wildflowers. Their seeds float along with the bees and fly with the birds. They tangle and grow and thrive outside of that original patch they were sprinkled upon. Kind of like keys. Not all keys fit in locks. Some keys are much more cunning.”
exhibit b)
“Tell me about the curse, then.”
“It’s a tale so old its origins are known only to a few. And even their memories have become copperlike with the age and patina that’s formed over them, dulling their shine until the shadow of what was is all that remains.”
the whole book was like this and it drove me mad. again, if u asked me to summarise the plot of this book?
adios bitches, part two✌🏻idk, if i rated the book solely for the plot it would be one star for sure.
then in addition to this, being constantly told that Emilia was this bloodthirsty, violent heroine who wanted to inflict pain on Wrath and just anyone who wronged her was kinda awks bcos she thought wearing red lipstick and sneering on occasion made her maniacal and badass... when her actions couldn’t have been further from the truth
When the demon responsible for Vittoria’s death finally felt the flames of my fury, I’d hopefully have burned his House of Sin to ash.
i truly never felt an ounce of that fury? that vengeance? and her desire to be deceitful never felt fulfilled— she never actively tried to learn any tricks or anything. she still felt like the somewhat impulsive and passive girl we met at the beginning of book one. she was all talk and no action. she felt idle and aimless.
At home, I wouldn’t second-guess my choice to weave them into my hair. But here…
I chose a violent, bloody shade of red and painted my lips the color of murder instead.
okay, i guess? if you actually fulfilled those fantasies of yours, this would be a cool af line.
but Wrath literally did anything and everything for her while she acted like the biggest dumbass with her head in the clouds. like the incident with the pervy Lord at their dinner party. Emilia spoke about gutting him herself with her dinner knife and such, intending to stand up just before Wrath slaughters the guy right at the dinner table.
so just like book one, she relies on everyone else doing things for her or telling her valuable shit that is just oh so convenient for her and she never does any of the heavy lifting😭 Anir, Fauna, the Matron— all of them just randomly told Emilia shit that wasn’t even on her radar but worked out to her advantage, every time it happened i just shook my head. im never on the edge of my seat bcos the stakes feel so low since i know everything will work out just peachy for Emilia.
like Emilia stumbling across Wrath’s library, picking up a basic, random grimoire and after reading one single passage she figures out she has some kind of magic/power to destroy the whole realm of Hell itself...? it gave me whiplash low-key, one minute she was reading a random book the next she was like “woah this force that lives deep inside of me that i have never known or acknowledged can obliterate Hell”
👁👄👁 ...so can y’all see how convenient everything is for her? there’s zero build up, anticipation or map work to try to figure things out.
or when she has dinner with Envy and he offers to drink a truth serum and answers Emilia’s questions...
why tf would he do that!? so much just made zero sense bcos the motivations behind so many actions were solely to provide Emilia with vital information without her having to lift a finger.
and this girl is
💜the shadow witch👻 so why tf ain’t she using her magic??? i mean i may as well be the protagonist if all she’s gonna do is wear pretty dresses, eat some bomb food and simp after Wrath, fantasying about all the positions he’s gonna do when he rearranges her insides.
*****
the final three chapters really turned this around for me, that’s why im settling on a firm three stars. the plot twists regarding Wrath and Emilia were pretty fun to uncover— the ending still has left me confused but in a good way? more curious than frustrated. but i just feel like not much happened? the romance really saved this book. i think without it... this would have seriously flopped bcos the unfurling of the plot was portrayed pretty poorly.
so if you wanna read this for the plot?
respectfully, don’t.curious to see how the final book goes, but i ain’t on the edge of my seat.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. my review on tumblr
“Tell me,” he whispered, his voice sliding like silk over my flushed skin.
“What?”My own voice came out breathless.
“I am your favorite sin.”
I heard from a friend of a friend, that that dick was a 10 out of 10. —Ale to Wrath, 2021.A little reminder: my review has many spoilers (I'm gonna hide them as "spoiler" or I'm gonna warn you with the yellow emoji, or maybe I forget to tag them because I'm THAT distracted), so, you've been warned, pal.
That being stated, I have more things to say. Take a seat.
I've waited for almost a year this book because the cliffhanger of Kingdom of the Wicked was *chef kiss* and I was already drooling and simping for daddy Wrath (JAJKSDHKJDF jk or not???). If you wanna join the Wrath team, let me know, I need to fangirl... So, my hype for this book was over the top of the sky; it was fucking enormous.
Emilia finally traveled to the underworld, or hell as you will or think, and she thinks she's being escorted by Wrath, but little does she know. Since moment one, you can feel the tension between Emilia and Wrath, and grabs you like a fucking claw. It's wonderful. So, they both travel for the Sin Corridor (for me, 'sin' in Spanish means 'without' so I was reading it like "el corredor sin o vacío" JAJKSHKJDFH follow me for more Spanish classes) and Wrath warns Emilia that the sins are gonna try to test her. Many other things happen, lol.
aNYHOW, I'M NOT GONNA RESUME THE BOOK FOR Y'ALL BC SPOILER, SO NO.
This book is mainly character driven, and it wasn't bad at all. Actually, it was pRETTY GOOD, more than I expected. Nevertheless, if I wanted to punch and kick the shit out of Emilia in the first book, here I was on the fucking verge of tears, I swear that I was screaming in silence because our heroine can't put two and two together at first, so it makes you wanna slap her (or beat the shit out of her, just like me).
The development of Emilia was also good tho I can't say the same of all of her braincells, so... Y'all figure it out soon if you haven't read it yet. However, I shelved this book as
"badass female mc" and
"stupid female mc" because Emilia vibed in both sides tbh.
The slowburn was SO SO SO SO SO SO fucking good that I was crying, dying, screaming and the devil knows what else, but I was trapped. The romance was gorgeous, bEAUTIFUL. And the way Kerri got me wanting to put both assholes in the same room so they could finally bone was amazing. Their relationship/romance gave me "State of Grace by Taylor Swift" vibes.
The fact that I was simping for Pride was funny JAJKSJDHJKDFH. Idk why but I was like "yeah, I'll marry you, honey, come here" aND MY PHONE AND THE HELL ARE WITNESSES OF IT, OMG. I mean, when he appeared my heart dropped and I was already simping JSJKHDJKFHDFH.
I can't say much about the plot because how I said up, it was more character driven and the plot was quickly solved towards the end of the book sooooo (at least from Emilia because I solved this puzzle really quick, we'll talk about my theories below this).
⚠️⚠️⚠️ oK, SO, HERE ARE SOME SPOILERS, BITCHES, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.⚠️⚠️⚠️
I had many theories since book 1 (yup, I had drank a lot of coffee that day, so my mind was at 100% creating scenarios and theories, and guess what? today too!) and here it was the same, so, you can imagine. And I guess y'all had the same theories.
1. Wrath being the devil. Was I the only one who saw it coming? (Pietro reference, if u know, u know, and how it hurts me) I mean, c'mon, the hints were there. The snake tattoo (I'll talk about that after), Wrath's response to Emilia calling him "Samael", the fact that he hid his interest on the cornicellos, etc. The hints were there!
2. Vittoria being alive. oK, HEAR ME OUT. Before y'all start to say "but she was pretty dead on the first book", yeS, SHE WAS, EVEN I THOUGHT IT AND SHED A TEAR FOR THAT BITCH, but we were tricked and now she deserves all the hell Emilia has for her. Idk why, but the hints kinda were there?? I don't quite remember if Vittoria told Emilia (I might be imagining all of this, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong; I have terrible memory, LOL let this be no surprise to you) that she was up to something, or just gave the hints and vibes. IDK, BUT THAT MF ALWAYS GAVE ME BAD VIBES.
3. Emilia being bethroded to Wrath and not my boi Pride. Did y'all see this coming? I surely did. fROM THE BEGINNING SHE DID THE SPELL FOR IT (by accident tho) and wasn't like "yeah, you can cancel it because he's an ordinary dude", HA! of course not. We're talking about one of the Seven Princes of Hell; this is another deal.
I had other theories, but idk where are them since I wrote them down. If I find them, I'll get back and include them.
This book reminded me of ACOTAR and 🤢🤢🤢 (y'all know that I can't stand those books, except for Nesta) lemme explain why.
First of all, the matching tattoos🙄🙄🙄. The dark haired dude with supreme ruler vibes (since book 1 I imagined Wrath blond 😳🥺😳🥺 and I kept forgetting that he was not blond), the "choice" thing that HE brought up every 5 seconds, that I was getting tired of aND THAT HE BROKE UP! I was enjoying it until my brain said "bruh, this is like acotar" and decided to fall in a slump for two days, refusing it to move on, but eventually I forgot about it and moved on.
Also, chapter 17 was COMPLETELY unnecessary. I felt totally disgusted and found NO point in the book, including chapter 18. 🤢🤢🤢 that lowered my rant.
⚠️⚠️⚠️END OF SPOILERSSSSSS.⚠️⚠️⚠️
Finally, I have something else.
Idk if it's just me, but I feel like many authors make the male love interest more likeable and bearable than the female mc. Like, that's the intention at all? Making me simp over the dude?
I'd marry Wrath tbh, why would I lie about it? I like him 💀💀💀 So, yes, sir, I'd marry you right now if I could.
I felt kind of disappointed tbh. I expected more, but it wasn't that bad. I have to wait another fucking year to read the third book and 💀💀💀💀
Now, if y'all excuse me, I'm gonna summon a Prince of Hell (Pride, perhaps) and marry him, yas.
P.S: the fact that I wrote this entire review in English (without using a dictionary to help me with some words) make me proud of myself. Wait, is this a signal to summon and marry Pride? yes.
previous review: Y'all don't know how much I'm screaming and drooling over Wrath 💀🤤
iT'S OUT, IT'S SO FUCKING OUT!!!!!!!!!!! HOLD MY WINE, I NEED THIS CONTENT RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW!
Rating: really liked it
"I hate you. I hate you in the darkest ways." Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
❗❗
Spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.❗❗
Brace yourselves. This is a long one.Before I start, this book smells ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This entire series smells amazing and I would constantly stop reading to literally bury my face in the pages... Oh and one more thing, it is CRUEL AND UNFAIR that I have to wait for goddess knows how long for the next one!!! Cruel, cruel, cruel!!! I need it right fucking now!! Bad Kerri Maniscalco. Bad!!What an absolute masterpiece. So incredibly, amazingly well written. I was completely absorbed in the mystery, the plot twists,
the tensiooon and spiiice. I can't say there's anything particularly original, structurally speaking. There's a man
(that's not a man), who is crazy old, hunky, muscled, dark and mysterious, with a lot of power, and an 18-year-old girl, inexperienced, determined, and vengeful, who steals his heart
(pun intended) and turns his world upside-down and vice-versa. Nothing I haven't heard before but I am not complaining. As I said, it was written beautifully and it progressed pretty fast which I also liked
(I tend to get really impatient).
The mystery drove me crazy, which is exactly what you want in a mystery. It made me want to finish the book right away and learn the truth, while simultaneously not wanting the book to end because I was just having so much fun reading it. I did find some plot twists a bit predictable, like Wrath being the Devil, Samael, or him being Emilia's intended, not Pride, or the most predictable of all, Vittoria being alive and sort of well... there's something fishy going on with her for sure. She might not be the sister Emilia remembered anymore. I picked up on those clues pretty easily. What
absolutely blew my mind, however, was that Emilia and Wrath have a past the witch doesn't remember. It's driving me crazy and I want to know what's up with that
RIGHT NOW. But alas, I have to wait...hopefully it'll only be a year
(or less 😭😭) until the next one 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Now, for my favourite part and shamelessly so, the sexual tension and smut. For one thing, it started right away, which I
looooved. You couldn't cut the tension with a machete. They
reeeaaallyy wanted to fuck each other. Miss Kerri Maniscalco is a mean tease and this book was incredibly horny...like aaaaall the way through. She made me both love and hate the ending as she cut it right at the really,
really good stuff. I mean, I've been waiting for those two to finally have sex for almost 500 PAGES and she goes and cuts it right where they're about to do it, the heartless monster. It does make me think though, will that scene be the first chapter in the next book? Because, if yes, then
HELL YEEESSThere were also a lot of new characters in this. For one thing, we are introduced to ALL the Demon Princes of Hell and they are ALL fuckable 😉🥵 although none can be trusted. I loved Fauna and I loved Anir even more than I did before. His friendship with Emilia was
*chef's kiss*. And, of course, Emilia and Wrath, or should I say Samael,
(super awesome name btw) were the best. I loved them even more, too. Their chemistry was off the charts, even when they didn't trust each other
(or especially then). Watching Emilia trying desperately to ignore her growing feelings for him and failing spectacularly was an absolute delight 😂😂 Watching Wrath trying to control himself around her was even more delightful. I love those two so damn much 💜😍
Wrath's Bonus ChaptersYou can click here for the bonus chapters
Well, it's definitely worth reading!!! I loved reading what Kerri Maniscalco originally intended the plot to be, especially since it sort of validated a lot of my original theories. Like, Pride
was originally meant to be the devil and Wrath was sent by him for a bride. Also, Wrath was indebted to Pride and desperately trying to maintain his House. It was an almost completely different image of him
(especially given the new information in KotC). It is also revealed that he left his dagger behind on purpose for Emilia to find and summon him, and that they definitely knew each other from before. I don't know if Kerri Maniscalco is keeping this particular tidbit for the next book, but it'd be pretty awesome if she did. I mean a lot of clues in KotC indicate that Emilia had some of her
(intimate) memories of Wrath hidden from her. It'd be pretty logical that he would intentionally lead her to summon him. All the more reason to get the next book as soon as possible 😭😭
I hope you enjoyed my crazy-long review.You should also check out my review of
Kingdom of the Wicked
Rating: really liked it
Kerri Maniscalco was not joking when she said this was gonna be more NA than
Kingdom of the Wicked. This book does not wait to show you that.
Kingdom of the Cursed was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I won't lie, I'm not built for mystery books. I get too impatient, and I'm not smart enough to understand what's going on, but Kerri Maniscalco still makes them so fun for me. And I might be a little proud that I predicted one of the twists in this book. (by "a little", I mean I refused to shut up about it to everyone around me)
The romance in this book is what truly had me hooked. I am in love with Wrath. Every time he and Emilia interacted, I was glued to the page. And the
steam. This book isn't super spicy, but the
tension is impeccable.
Also, can I just mention that ending? That was cruel. I need book 3 now
5 stars
Rating: really liked it
[The first issue was the setting. We went from this really, unique cool setting in book 1 to a couple of palaces in book 2. This was honestly a huge issue. The charm and whimsy of the first book about witches and demons in Sici
Rating: really liked it
WE FINALLY KNOW HIS NAME, THE WAY I GASPED omg!!!!
this was perfect from start to finish, i'd really risk it all for wrath
and the sexual tension between wrath and emilia was simply ✨electric✨ how do i wait for book 3 after that😭
14/01/21
THESE TEASERS MIGHT FUCKING END ME OMG I AM IN LOVE
"I know you won't tell me your true name." I trailed my hands down his chest. His intense gaze tracked each of my movements. "But it feels a little odd, murmuring 'Wrath' at a time like this."
9/11/20
i can't wait for the scene when wrath finally reveals his true name to emilia, can you imagine how soft that moment will be???? pls give me all the angst and yearning, ALL OF IT
Rating: really liked it
I swear I’m team Wrath, I swear I’m team Wrath, I swear I’m team Wrath. Unless he pulls a Tamlin, I will be team Wrath until the end.
Rating: really liked it
Sorry guys, tried to like it but the plot is off track, all over the pace. I don't think the author herself knows where the story is heading at this point. Some of the plot twists were good, but the rest was too predictable especially when it came to Wrath and Emilia.
The book starts off at a good stable pace- not too fast, not too slow. The middle drags and the ending is rushed. I preferred the first half of the book. Pride was hyped so much in the first book, when he was revealed in this one, it felt underwhelming.
The spice is good. I would've rated this book two stars had it not been for the spice. That certainly got so much better in this one compared to Kingdom of the Wicked.
Coming to the characters, are we really surprised with Wrath's big reveal? Not really.
Wrath's personality is hot. I get why he has so many fangirls.
Emilia knows how to test the reader's patience level. One moment she's all independent, badass and ready to avenge. The next moment, she's unsure, all talks and has nothing to show. It kinda frustrated me a bit. Also, there should be a drinking game- Drink every time Emilia says 'goddess above'.
Emilia and Wrath together tho? They make a good couple, that I accept.
I'm not sure how I liked the ending. I have conflicting thoughts on it. Will I read the next book? I probably will but with low expectations.
For my Christian perspective for the series- do find it on the review for KOTW.
Rating: really liked it
“tell me i am your favorite sin”
LIVES WERE CHANGED. THE UNIVERSE SHOOK. BACKS WERE ARCHED. 😩😩
Rating: really liked it
Okay but imagine for just one minute how amazing it would be to be loved by wrath.
Review to come when I figure out how the fuck to put my thoughts from this amazing book into words
