Kingdom of the Wicked Hardcover – October 27, 2020

"A twig was a just a bit of broken wood until it had been sharpened into a spear.Grief carved me in half.And fury honed the pieces into a weapon"5 FREAKING FAT STARSFirst off kerri- how could you stop there?? that should be the eighth sin lolAside from having a stunning cover, my first thought after starting the book is that it has a great many blends of my favorite genres and traits to quench my fantasy loving soul's thirst- Historical fiction, set in Italy, murder mystery, broody hero with MANNERS(yes I put that in all caps because the seems to be a rarity these days in books ;) ), forbidden romance, atmospheric ambiance with all the fantastical elements to captivate you with the perfect amount of spook but not outright scare you and last but not least a reserved MC lead that learns to kick ass as she goes"Emilia Maria di Carlo didn't do danger.My sister was the adventurous one- I was satisfied with safe,clean and fun.Give me a steamy romance novel with forbidden love and impossible odds"I loved Emilia ever since I read these lines, she is definitely my kind of girl, she is level headed, smart and extremely sassy and gives two squats if she had to fight the devil or the God for justice. When her beloved twin is brutally murdered, she ventures into an unexpected path with dangerous secrets and 6 foot 2 inch calamities, she keeps surprising herself at her own strength that she could draw when she believes someone she loves is in danger. I am not usually a huge fan of single POV's or internal dialogues but I loved Emilia's witty brains and its sassy comeback's, I have so many favorite lines from her.I wished we had more of Wrath but I have a feeling we will see a heck lot of him in the upcoming books, he is broody with a hard shell exterior but you couldn't help but notice his good internal aspect peeking through often. I was sold when I read that there is a romance angle between a demon and a witch but what I didn't expect is a romance that is a chef's kiss- don't get me wrong because this doesn't mean there is a lot of steam but there is lot of rationale to it which I always prefer over meaningless steam.Now that we talked about characters lets talk about the plot- Man Oh Man! did Kerri knock it out of the park with the masterful intrigue she weaved into the this fantastical mystery? I would say a 100% yes- she is exceptionally good at deflecting the reader from seeing what is right before their eyes, that being said I did see bits of it coming but the bread crumbs that she left leading to unravel the mystery is excellently executed, however I have 1 million questions and I wanted to be like Emilia and write all of them down, the gothic element of the book adds perfect balance to its demure historic fiction premiseIts a perfect book for the spooky season to pick up but I can't make any promises that by the end of it that you won't be willing to sell your soul to the devil or make deals with demons (pun intended) for the next book or for the answers you might need ;)

I will not lie to you, I devoured this book within 48 hours, but I am out of town without much to do, so do with that information what you will.Let me start by giving a spoiler warning- I won’t be giving up the entire story, but will definitely spoil some good plot twists so if you plan on reading this book- and I recommend this you do- the TLDR is: I thoroughly enjoyed it, but the writing can be a little lacking.I’ll start with the positive- the story is absolutely dripping with the tantalizingly forbidden. From witches dabbling in forbidden magics, to terrifying demons invading the earth, to mysterious and violent murders, to handsome princes from hell- this story by all means has good bones and a sturdy foundation to work with.Now here’s why it didn’t all work for me.The writing feels like it’s shooting for SJM and just falls flat. There’s points where it’s unclear what actions are actually being taken, and what’s being imagined by the main character. There’s points where very important and dramatic events are happening and the writing does not offer the emotion and drama to match- moments that should be tense, frightening, or exciting that are explained with only a few dull sentences. Do not get me wrong- there’s some beautifully written moments, and great imagery, but it is NOT consistent. For instance- when an invisible demon attacks Emilia’s grandmother, the writing does a great job expressing how unexpected the attack is and how Emilia emotionally handles the aftermath in a way that invokes the feelings in the reader perfectly. But then you get Emilia’s two weeks of crippling depression brought on by Lust’s emotion draining magical influence. The entire two weeks are summed up in just a few pages and simply cured by Wrath throwing her into an elemental bath (why it took him this long to help her, I’ll never understand). I would hope the writing would put the reader through that emotionless, motivation-less time as well- forcing us to experience a bit of that alongside Emilia- but it was quickly resolved and moved past.It does not feel like Emilia has to face many consequences- as before mentioned, her falling into Lust’s trap and being influenced by his powers, being childhood friends with a witch hunter, mouthing off to princes of hell, and dabbling in dark magics she once thought to be forbidden… there aren’t really any lasting consequences until the end of the book when she agrees to align herself with (MAJOR SPOILER) the house of pride and sell her soul, and even then that was ultimately her choice to make.When it comes to the characters, it feels like everyone has depth except for Emilia. Now I’m holding out for some character development in her as the series goes on, but for now she feels a bit two dimensional. I will say there is change! She does goes from quiet and safe to vengeful, courageous, and power hungry but there isn’t much build up- she does have the motivation to become this way, but it goes from 0-100 quickly. Emilia went from fearing dark magic to summoning a demon. Normally I’d appreciate some work on the MC’s part that takes her from a weaker witch only interested in peace to a courageous witch with the magic to back it up, but as some others in the reviews have noted, Emilia has no business being as bold as she is. She never seeks out other witches- including her grandmother, and her friend and her friends aunt who practice the dark arts(and both have names starting with C and ending in A which gets confusing and easy to mix up)- to expand her magical prowess. Even Emilia herself admits she knows little when it comes to magical attacks and defenses, especially ones meant to protect her from the powerful demon princes she’s facing, but she does little to fix it.Plot wise, things feel a little too convenient. There are multiple times when Emilia happens to stumble upon the very thing or person she’s seeking out(or events that push the story along.) I get that the horn leads her to it’s matching half- that much makes sense- but she just happens to find things because some disembodied whispers guide her to it a little too often.Don’t get me started on the romance. Wrath and Emilia go from hating each other to passionately making out. I definitely feel the narrator hinting at Wrath having a soft spot for her from pretty early on, but there’s not enough to back up the sudden switch for me. I know there’s a fine line between love and hate, but the line was just a little too fine for my tastes. I feel their friendship developed nicely, but the romance came and went quickly.To wrap things up, I will be reading the second book. It’s probable I will recommend this series. There’s been quite a few books/series recommended to me lately that have been downright unbearable, but this series is one I’ve enjoyed despite my harsh critique. I know I just spent a good while tearing this book apart, but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless. I’m still holding out hope for some character development and some plot holes to be resolved in the second book though, but all in all I’m excited to start it.

The Kingdom of the Wicked Series had me binge reading with a ferocity! I managed to get through all 3 books in a matter of 6 days and absolutely loved everything about it. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I decided to review series as a set as to not give too much away.The series follows Emilia, a witch, who finds her twin sister brutally murdered on an altar in her hometown of Sicily. Emilia’s search for clues leads her to experimenting with magic she has been warned against by her family her entire life. In her attempt to summon a demon for information, Emilia summons the Prince of Wrath, one of the seven Princes of Hell who she begins to develop a conflicting attraction to. With the help of Wrath, Emilia gets closer to solving her twins murder, but begins to get pulled deeper into the court of the wicked, where there are secrets that may cost Emilia her soul.Emilia’s family owns a restaurant and the author’s connection with food recipes is integrated throughout the series, which I thought was a nice touch. The series takes place in both Sicily and within the seven circles of hell where the princes of Wrath, Pride, Envy, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth make up the Kingdom of the Wicked. The world building within the court of the wicked and how each circle represents its assigned sin was one of my favorite parts in reading these books. There was mystery, spice, fantasy, and paranormal elements, all which are big wins for me as a reader. I loved Emilia’s character development and enjoyed seeing how fierce she became with each passing book. The author has a spin off, Prince of Sin series, set within the same universe which I will be moving onto shortly.TW: Murder, Grief, Death, Open Door