My favourite kinds of stories are the ones that are delightfully dark and decadent, with the added richness of food, and this book has it all. I was sucked into this vivid imagery of a world where witches and demons are very real and danger lurks in the shadows everywhere, but sometimes in the daylight as well. It’s a story full of secrets, forbidden romance, and some delightfully wicked recipes I’d love to recreate! You’ll definitely want to pick this one up, because let’s face it, who doesn’t want to read about something wicked? Be warned that this story does contain some murder, so, approach carefully if you are weary of violent death.
This story is about Emilia and Vittoria, twin sisters who are streghe, witches that secretly live among humans to avoid notice and persecution. When her sister misses a dinner service at their Nonna’s restaurant, Emilia goes looking for her, and finds her murdered. She sets out to find the killer and mete out vengeance, even if it’s at the cost of using dark and forbidden magic. Things take an interesting turn when she meets Wrath, one of the seven princes of Hell. He claims to be on Emilia’s side, trying to find the killer who is hunting down young women all over the island, but there’s more to this dark prince than Emilia ever could have thought.
Let me tell you, there are not enough pages in this book, and by the time you get to the end, you’re going to wish time moved more quickly to get the next book in hand ASAP. I loved the contrast that Emilia and Vittoria have. While they’re both hiding some pretty hefty secrets, Emilia has a quiet confidence around her, while Vittoria embodies a louder and fearless personality. Although our time with Vittoria was short, she is quite lively on the page. It helps with Emilia’s motivation to find her killer, and what leads her to do the things she does. Emilia has so much growth throughout the story, which was very interesting to see. Readers will get to see Emilia’s innocence (of a sort) fall away as she begins dabbling in dark magic.
Wrath just radiated lots of different things off of the page, and NONE of them are innocent. However, his contrast with Emilia is quite lovely to see. There is some mutual respect there, even if he’s hiding quite a few skeletons in his palace. A lot of his scenes were coupled with learning just a bit more about Hell and about streghe and I loved how it contributed to the amazing world building that was happening.
If you’re looking for a story that has a lot of food references, especially Italian and Sicilian ones…your mouth is positively going to water after reading it. To be fair, any mention of food in this book just feels like a feast. This book teases you in all sorts of ways, but especially with food and then the relationship of food with family, and it’s something you see come up a few times, especially after Vittoria’s death. I’m very curious if food will continue to play a role in the next book (my hopes for yes, because I’m dying for a dessert recipe!)
I couldn’t possibly leave out talking about romance in this book. I’m going to say it now, I am HERE for the romance that’s playing out, and also incredibly terrified for what will happen to these characters that I’ve come to love. I know there’s more to find out about Wrath, and I have a feeling that Emilia has a very big journey ahead of her, but do I have stars in my eyes? Why yes, yes I do. I can’t really say much else without spoiling the story for you, but I’d love to know what you think when you read it.
The mystery will leave you on the edge of your toes the entire time. I thought I had figured it out for a moment, but then I was completely blindsided by what happened later on in the book, and I loved it. Every little piece of the story is meticulously curated into this amazing story that will leave you guessing until the very end. The ending will leave you agonising for the next book. I genuinely loved all parts of this story, and I cannot wait for the next one!
Kingdom of the Wicked is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 27th 2020.
Will you be picking up Kingdom of the Wicked? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series… Two sisters. One brutal murder. A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself… And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…
