Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked, 1)

‘Kingdom of the Wicked’ follows Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria, witches who live secretly among humans in order to avoid 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, then sets off to seek vengeance at any cost – even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden. This book has been my most anticipated read of the year, being a huge fan of Kerri Maniscalco’s works and admiring her skills as a writer. So, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to love this book, I just didn’t expect to love it quite this much. Emilia made for an absolutely brilliant protagonist. She’s brave, self-assured and slightly stubborn at times. She’s someone who takes no nonsense, not even from demons from Hell, and is desperate to avenge her twin sister, no matter what that would cost her. She’s an incredibly admirable protagonist, and it was a joy to read her journey from start to finish. Wrath was another character who was deeply enjoyable to read about, exploring his relationship with Emilia with the use of luscious description and bouncing dialogue. They interacted beautifully together, spitting bile at one another until their relationship softened more and I loved every moment I read about them. Although, Vittoria wasn’t mentioned much within the novel, her character meeting an unfortunate end quite early on, there was still a lot of character modelling involved in Maniscalco’s writing. This was a brilliant technique, making you feel for the characters after her death and caring about them; I was truly devastated, Emilia and Vittoria’s relationship being wonderful to witness up until that point. The writing itself is wonderfully written, with lengthy descriptions and entertaining dialogue. The setting was explored beautifully through interactions between the characters, with explanations dotted around for those experiencing language barriers. That’s not to say that this book holds your hand however, being subtly done to not draw you away from the story itself. Overall, I adored this book. Maniscalco truly has a talent for writing and that shines through in this novel. It was an absolute joy to read and I will be returning to it again and again.

A mocinha é uma bruxa que busca vingança pela morte da irmã gêmea (não é spoiler, tem escrito na sinopse isso). Seu objetivo é descobrir quem é o assassino e fazer ele/ela pagar por isso. Com um plano em mente ela acaba invocando um demônio e as coisas saem um pouco do controle. (Risos pq vc que leu sabe como foi hilário isso depois de descobrir a verdade do feitiço). 🔸️ Nosso mocinho que na verdade é um vilão, Príncipe do Inferno tem como objetivo "ajudar" a bruxinha e investigar a morte de outras bruxas. 🔸️ A história: Como bom livro de fantasia o primeiro livro é uma introdução ao universo, a magia e personagens. Cada detalhe precisa prestar atenção pois é neles que você descobre a verdade de muitas coisas.  Por ser um universo onde as bruxas vivem entre nós escondidas a prática da bruxaria é quase nula nesse primeiro livro, onde foca mais na magia dos Príncipes do Inferno, demônios e maldições. 🔸️ Não espere um romance em primeiro lugar pois esse livro não é foco, e sim a família, vingança e descobertas sobre si mesma. Assim como em outros livros dessa autora, ela procura primeiro os interessantes da mocinha do livro, como seus direitos, sua força e teimosia para depois focar em um possível romance.Creio que o segundo terá isso e muito mais.

I loved it. Good writing. Good plot. Interesting FMC. I like the MMC but he felt a little under developed. I didn’t for the life of me understand why the FMC felt so betrayed by Wrath in the end… That part of the story needed a bit more explanation. One minute she was making out with him and the next she hated his guts because “he was collecting souls” but that is literally what he told her he was doing the entire time! He was there to collect a bride for his brother. Why does that suddenly make her entire world come crashing down? Everything went downhill after that. Why didn’t he return when she summoned him? Why did he act like an ass. I hope the second book clears it up because it feels like a gaping plot hole. If it weren’t for that it would have gotten 5 stars.

❝𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝑒𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓈 𝒷𝓊𝓇𝓃.❞ ❝𝐸𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓈. 𝒫𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓇 𝒿𝑒𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓈𝓎.❞ ☾ What took me so long to read this book? I wasn’t even aware that it existed! 𝗞𝗼𝗧𝗪 is plot driven, I enjoyed the pacing and the characters. It kept me engaged plus who doesn’t love witchy books with a dash of prince Wrath and a murder to solve. ☾ 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮. She wasn’t your typical badass FMC. She was the sweet, content with a life running a restaurant and discovering new spices for new recipes. She wasn’t about that dating, adventurous life, not until she found her twin sister, 𝗩𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮, dead. I enjoyed seeing her growth, her ups and downs. ❝𝐿𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈.❞ ❝𝐻𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓅𝒾𝒹 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓊𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜.❞ ☾ 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵. Why is he sweet? I f**king love him. I love his character, a demon with a sense of fashion, sweet yet deadly. His short answers are ridiculous. He is full of mystery we have yet to uncover and I cannot wait to uncover that. ❝𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝑀𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸. 𝒜𝒷𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒, 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝑔𝓊𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑜.❞ ☾ I love the banter between Wrath and Emilia. I think they’ve got undeniable chemistry and really enjoyed their moments together. I do wish they had more moments together. KoTW brought 𝗦𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗡 to a whole new level. ☾ I enjoyed this book so much there were shocking moments that I did not see coming but kinda got suspicious. I love the suspense that KoTW gave, however, what kept it from getting a 5 star was the writing style in some parts - I thought I had missed something so I would flip to the other page to see - but I didn’t, it just feels like it jumped a little. With that being said, I cannot wait to read 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗱.

I have been wanting to dive into this series for awhile and it lived up to the hype. Emilia and her twin Vittoria are witches who live amongst humans and hide their abilities. When Vittoria is murdered Emilia's life is turned upside down and she wants revenge. She makes a deal with a prince of hell, Wrath, to help her as more of her fellow witches are still being murdered. This was a great start to the series. Emilia is a strong willed heroine but a little sheltered by her family. There are twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. I love how devoted Emilia is to her family and the lengths she'll go to find out the truth. Wrath is a wild card and I think there's much more to him and I can't wait to find out in the next book! If you enjoy enemies to lovers and a good whodunnit this book is for you!