Kingdom of the Wicked has an incredibly compelling opening. It is a story that gets you stuck in from the start, and by the time things slow down you’re so invested that you don’t really want to stop reading. The concept is pretty amazing, combining a murder mystery with witches and demons together with telling the story closely from Emilia’s point of view. I can honestly say that I ended up being pretty surprised by some of the twists! However, the pacing throughout is not always consistent and the story does drag at some points.

There were moments when I felt like I was reading two different books, one that lived up to the concept, and one that fell victim to the clichés of YA, focusing more on the will-they-won’t-they aspect of the relationship between Emilia and Wrath than anything else – which felt more like a trope than something organic. Tension yes, but actually giving in to and making it into something properly romantic it felt like ticking a box required for YA fantasy. Other parts I loved – apart from the world of the streghe I really enjoyed the prevalence of food in the novel. Maniscalco’s descriptions of Emilia’s cooking are mouthwatering and I’m very tempted to try to recreate some of them for myself!

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco is a dark fantasy YA romance filled with blood and magic , family and food. Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria live with their family in Sicily where the food in their small family run restaurant is amongst the most popular in town. Besides being wonderful cooks with lots of traditional recipes, the women of the family are witches, and the sisters have grown up hearing about the dangers of dark magic and the monsters and demons that could harm them. When Vittoria goes missing one evening, Emilia is not too concerned, sure that her sister is spending time with one of the local boys who has caught her eye, but when she goes to find her, all she finds is her desecrated body , lying in a pool of blood while a mysterious hooded figure stands over her with a dagger in hand. Determined to find out the truth about what happened to her sister, Emilia sets off down a dangerous path and ends up summoning Wrath, one of the Princes of Hell and binding him to her. Trusting a Prince of Hell is a risky thing to do but it may be the only way that Emilia will find out the truth about her sister's death and prevent the same thing happening to other witches.
Kingdom of the Wicked is a really engaging story will well thought out and realised characters, particularly that of Emilia, who is smart, strong and determined, but also willing to manipulate those around her to get what she wants. Her Nonna is also a wonderful character and the bond she shared with Emilia felt really special. I loved the real world setting and be warned the food descriptions will definitely have your mouth watering. When it came to the fantasy elements, I liked how the world building was very naturally incorporated into the story in a very seamless manner, and how the magic system was revealed . The dynamics and dialogue between Emilia and Wrath were a real delight . The ending of the book definitely left me keen to see where the author will take the story next, there are still plenty of questions I need answers for, ideally as soon as possible.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I was pleasantly surprised by the plot of this book. The ending added a bittersweet and cathartic taste in my mouth.
Emilia's intertwinement between her sister's actions and her ancestors creates an theme of mystery that renders the reader not sure who to trust and what the other characters' motives truly are.
By the end of the book, the need to see Wrath's true motives for what he's done for Pride and to Emilia will have a lot of people (myself included) waiting not so patiently for the next in the series.

The Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Mansicalco is a spell-binding novel of a witch, a demon prince and the wickedness of humanity. I would describe the story as a fantasy/mystery young adult novel with a hint of romance. Set in the backdrop of the Sicilian countryside, Maniscalco does wonderfully well in weaving the cultural setting of Palermo, Sicily with the magical and wicked.

Emilia Di Carlo is a young woman from a family of witches. Her family-owned restaurant, Sea and Vine, is the setting for which she, alongside her twin sister Vittoria, her Nonna and her mother, learns her legacy as a witch descened from the First Witch. Maniscalco has created a world with its own mythology and history, set in an ambiguous time period, where witches live amongst humans and must be protected from the Malvagi.

From the onset, the reader is made aware that Emilia is the rational one, the witch with the head on her shoulders. Vittoria is secretive and seemingly always busy and ultimately murdered as a result. From this point on, Emilia is positioned completely in the centre, as the only person who is aware of the seemingly random killings of witches. Confused and devastated, Emilia makes a somewhat illogical decision to turn to dark magic and summon a demon to gain some answers. Wrath, one of the seven princes of hell, is instead summoned.

Emilia as a character was unique and interesting, with the strength and courage to not stop until she has found answers. I found her intelligence startling as well as her cunning, with her ability to manipulate Malvagi an absolute gift and incredibly enjoyable to read. Her relationships, love and affection for her family were written so wonderfully realistic. This familial love is so strong that it leaps off the page, not only Emilia's love for her family, but her Nonna's love especially. It was beautiful.

However, Emilia also frustrated me immensely. She said things as well as did things that did not make sense, that confused me because of how illogical they seemed (summoning a demon when you have never done so and was surprised when it went wrong, being one of them). One particular example is the summoning of Wrath. When Emilia summoned Wrath, she bonded him to her obviously without his consent, in which he essentially could not leave her side until she 'unbound' him. Nevertheless, she argued with Wrath against her partaking in a blood bond with him for protection as it wouldn't be an 'equal partnership', but she literally did that *without his consent* if you want to be technical. In the beginning, Emilia also constantly mentioned that she didn't believe in demons, which I thought was completely ironic since she was *a witch herself*, believed in *shapeshifters*, but demons were absurd.

The mythology was also slightly confusing as elements of the reasons why the Malvagi could/couldn't leave hell seemingly changed throughout the novel. But this could be purely from me misreading the information. I would have also enjoyed much more of an exploration of Wrath's character. I liked Wrath's character enough, but he felt two-dimensional with no real depth. The 'relationship' between Emilia and Wrath was not the priority of the novel, which I enjoyed, but in saying that, I didn't quite believe in their chemistry as Wrath felt quite dull.

There were many questions that were brought up throughout the novel, such as why the Di Carlos were particularly worried about *four* of the Malvagi, that were never answered. Although, this book is a set up for the second novel, so I am hoping that in the second novel, we have some of those questions answered.

Another aspect of the novel that I didn't quite understand was the character of the Devil. Early on in the novel, Emilia mentionst the demon prince Pride is typically ascribed to the Devil. Which, I wondered as to why that was the case. If the formulation of the mythos places 'hell' in what we, as Westerners with a very Christianised understanding of it, having the Devil as a Demon Prince, doesn't make sense as the Devil is a fallen angel, and the King of Hell. However, there were other mentions throughout the book of Pride and the Devil being separate, as it talks about Pride looking for a bride (why? we don't know why) and not the Devil. But it then mentions that the Devil is trying to maintain Hell's gates to be closed which is why he needs Hades' Horns and to be married (?).

Overall, I believe many people will absolutely adore this book, especially if you were fans of the author's *Stalking Jack the Ripper* series, or books such as Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurn and The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller.

From the moment Emilia and her twin sister, Vittoria, are introduced to us at eight years old we know the amulets they wear are significant. These are girls whose family are part of a hidden group, witches who work in secret and who are well-versed in prophecies. However, no matter what knowledge they have they could not be prepared for what transpires here.
Early on Vittoria is murdered, her heart ripped out and her body left for Emilia to discover. Understandably, Emilia wants to find out what happened and for whoever is responsible to pay. But nothing comes easily here and Emilia ends up in a situation that heralds great danger.
To cut a long story short Emilia decides to take matters into her own hands, and to summon a demon. The one she ends up summoning is Wrath, one of the seven Princes of Hell. Determined to get answers and avenge her sister’s murder, Emilia ignores much of what she has heard and enters a bargain - the possibilities of which are only hinted at here.
Maniscalco creates an interesting character in Wrath. Obviously intent on a higher purpose it is blindingly obvious that he is not to be trusted. Yet there is something hinted at under the surface, something that definitely suggests Emilia has got under his skin and offers something he wasn’t quite prepared for. While I’d have been quite content if we’d seen this side through to its conclusion, I actually liked the fact that Wrath kept his eye on the main goal and set up a much more intriguing scenario (which I imagine we’ll see in the sequel). I can’t wait to see what happens now Emelia has her own endgame in sight.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

What happens when your twin gets murdered and your family wants to keep going on? Vittoria had been acting weird and keeping secrets from
Emilia in the weeks before she was killed. Emilia wants to find the killer and starts finding clues that her sister was dabbling in dark magic, which their Nonna had told them to stay away from.
When Emilia summons a demon to help her find the murderer and keep from other witches having their hearts torn out, she didn’t expect a Prince from Hell to show up.

I enjoyed this book and liked the story. It was clear who the murderer was early on, but that didn’t take away from the mystery who else was behind it. Can’t wait for book 2!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I so wanted to love this book, just as I loved Kerri’s previous books. And KotW is a solid book, but it didn’t take my heart like Audrey rose and Thomas did.
To start, I found this book very slow. There’s a lot of world building, which is so incredibly rich, but moves the plot along at a snails pace.
Also, because it’s Emilia by herself, it lacks a little something. Wrath is good but he lacks the sass I wanted and needed.
I also found that not enough information is given, which is ironic given the amount of world building. But I found it didn’t loosen up until about 60%.
I also found things happened too easily. I felt like, especially given the tasks, it should’ve been more difficult.
I liked this world, I liked Wrath, but I felt it was lacking a little bit and almost felt rushed. Still, this is a solid book and I look forward to the second one!

This was an okay read. Unfortunately, it was predictable - I guess who the murderer was very early on, so that was a shame. I also found it hard to get into at first. Some questionable insta love happening too but not too bad. I’d read the next one.

This book was really good. From the moment I started reading it a few days ago I was HOOKED. There really is just something about the writing that brings you in and keeps giving you that one more page sort of feeling and kingdom of the wicked does exactly that. Thank you to Book Terminal Tours who allowed me to be on this tour and share my early opinions on this awesome novel!

In Short
In Short: WITCHES + PRINCES OF HELL + MURDER + MAGIC = Kingdom of the Wicked

Little More Detail
When I read books at the moment I tend to try and do this thing of reading books and trying to infer as little as I can from the blurb as possible. Aka, read the blurb thing oh this sound SO good and then forget the blurb because it’s been so long and then read said book. The reason I started doing this was perfectly summed up in the first few chapters of this book. It’s not exactly spoilers because it mentions it on the blurb but beware. In the first few chapters the main characters sister dies and although this was pretty predictable even without the blurb I much prefer coming across things like this instead of feeling like i’m waiting for the book to properly begin.

Though when it comes to Kingdom of the Wicked I really really enjoyed it for the above reason alone. I couldn’t really predict what was going to happen and also I had quite a bit of fun guessing what could happen next. But although I came for the interesting plot I stayed for the characters. If you know or read my blog, you’ll remember that I have a thing for stories with good characters. And with the characterisation of Sins (Pride, Wrath, Envy, etc) this book won’t disappoint. Though there is one in particular that stands out because his character is more fleshed out due to being much more entangled with Emilia our main character. Wrath is a character I really loved to read because of his morally grey principles and just the way he acts and speaks. I won’t say much more incase I do spoil anything, but just know you won’t be disappointed.

If you like reading about food in books though, I have to say it comes very close to Queen of Coin & Whispers in terms of how amazingly written the food it. (I was almost drooling at the mouth at one point!). I don’t know what it is, if it’s the setting in Italy or just the way the cooking and food is written, but it never failed to make me hungry enough to cook food. However when it comes to when the book is set, I couldn’t tell you so I assumed it wasn’t modern day but I don’t really know. But does it really matter when it comes with such an interesting magic system with dark magic and demons and greater demons? That’s a question for you I think.

Overall
In conclusion though, I think soon I might try and do a spoiler reaction post for this book because the murder mystery side of this book has me clueless until the very end. I really enjoyed reading this

4.5 stars

I would like to start by saying a HUGE thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you have not read Kerri Maniscalco’s Stalking Jack the Ripper series, you definitely need to get on that! I absolutely loved that entire series and am completely engrossed with her writing. When I saw that she was coming out with another series, this one with witches, I knew I needed to read it!

Just like her other series, Maniscalco has put together another engaging and intriguing murder mystery. I can not get enough of her writing and will pretty much read anything she publishes at this point.

The female lead, Emilia, goes through a true character transformation from start to finish and it was a pleasure to go on the journey with her. She is determined to find out who killed her twin sister and why it happened in the first place. Through the writing I could feel Emilia’s emotions while she sought her vengeance.

Another part of this story that I found really fascinating is Maniscalco’s take on the seven deadly sins in demon form. The Seven Princes of Hell which are classified as the Wicked in this story are the manifestations of those sins. They bring about their powers by inflicting their particular “sin” on whoever is around. They may be family, but they all hold their own secrets and lies.

Tie all the characters together and throw them into a dark historical style setting and you have all the ingredients for the perfect murder mystery; add in all the betrayals, witches and demons and you have yourself one HELL of a series!

Watch out for the cliffhanger at the end though, it has me a little upset that I have to wait for the next book to release. You better believe I will be requesting it on Netgalley as well!

Kingdom of the Wicked follows the story of a teen witch named Emilia. After her she finds her twin's body desecrated, she searches for any clues to find out who killed her sister any why. As they are witches in hiding, it could be anyone - a brother from the monastery her twin was found in, a demon or even a witch hunter. When Emilia grows desperate, she summons a demon to help her. However, he has secrets and an agenda of his own.

I loved this book, which I don't say too often (Just check all my 3 star reviews).. Here author - just take my money now and give me the sequel. Emilia is an innocent enough character while her sister was the daredevil. However, after her sister dies she is forced to depend on her own strength and wit. She shows good character development while not being completely, totally blinded by infatuation with her neighborhood demon. Wrath is also a very interesting character as one is never sure of his motives and if he's being genuine or not. I'm excited to learn more about the other princes of Hell as well as what Vittoria was up to in her final moments.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

✅ Powerful witches
✅ Lovable romance
✅ Murder, mystery, suspense
✅ Food descriptions that will have your mouth watering
✅ Bad ass grandma
This book has it all.
Literally checks all the boxes!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After the murder of her twin sister, Emilia will stop at nothing to find out who killed her, and extract her revenge. But when a summoning spell goes wrong, Emilia and the demon Prince Wrath must learn to work together to solve the mystery of the murdered witches.

I LOVED the Stalking Jack the Ripper series, so I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I was not disappointed.

I loved the world Maniscalco has created, the demon princes of hell, each being one of the seven deadly sins was one of my most favorite concepts of the year!

The romance was so lovable yet not too heavy, I like a book with more plot than romance scene after romance scene.

Of course you get a tad bit of Maniscalco’s gruesome descriptions... so refreshing to have an author who isn’t afraid to write about gore!

Fair warning, the ending will have you begging for book 2!!

Grab your copy of @kerrimaniscalco Kingdom of the Wicked on October 27th!!

Thank you @netgalley @jimmypattersonbooks @kerrimaniscalco for the ARC copy of Kingdom of the Wicked!!

They’re just stories Nonna, Emilia said quietly
What better way to do #spooktober than with a world where legends are true. Travel with me to Italy and let’s solve a magical murder. With nothing but magical objects and books, would you spot the killer in time?

* Thank you to Jimmy Patterson books for gifting me a complimentary copy of this book Via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Follow Emilia di Carlo as she hunts for a murderer in the streets of Palermo, Italy. In a world where witches are real, she shouldn’t be shocked when other legends are as well. Facing her fears and a prophesy she didn’t know about, Emilia takes on hell to save the world and her loved ones from the foretold doom. But on her road of vengeance, she must make tough choices and whether or not to trust her heart is the most difficult of all.

Maniscalco did not disappoint. As with her previous novels, the world-building is phenomenal. Her attention to detail when it comes to the setting blew my mind in her first book and it blew my mind in this one. She has a talent for bringing a story world to life. I literally smelled the scents and heard the noises, this story is so immensely lifelike. Which for a fantasy book, is definitely not always a given.

As far as characters go, I both loved and hated them. I loved the headstrong Emilia, relentless in her passion for food and answers, the mystical Nonna that is very clearly hiding secrets. I loved the characteristics and portrayals of the prince of hell…I would have preferred them to not be demons, but that is just my personal preference. I mean what was wrong with cranky vampires or werewolves. I do however like that there is something other than the shadow hunters available on this topic.
“At the very end of the next corridor, I halted outside a room with its door ajar. Whatever had been calling me led inside; I felt it. A slight tug in my centre, a summoning I had no hope of fighting. I didn’t know what sort of magic was at play but clearly sensed it. “
Let’s talk storyline. If you have ever read any of her books before, you know Maniscalco is a master mystery writer. I loved the suspense and the atmosphere so much, that I am willing to forgive her for all the obvious foreshadowing. I will chalk it up to me trying to unravel her mystery before she reveals the dramatic ending. She fooled me with Stalking Jack the Ripper and again with Hunting Prince Dracula and absolutely with Escaping Houdini. She nearly fooled me in Capturing the Devil as well, but she didn’t fool me this time. In my opinion, it was quite obvious from the start. But she did put in a valiant effort to try and confuse you. I’m hoping for the sequel we will get more plot twist and drama. All the characters are so well written for more drama, so I would love to see this extraordinary battle or majorly dramatic plot twist that are crucial to a great fantasy series.

Maniscalco’s writing is as always phenomenal. With all her attention to detail, I did not find it affecting the pace as I did with some of the previous works. She has found the sweet spot and I’m loving it. Her incorporation of the Italian words and phrases added a level of authenticity to this world that very few others have.
“A good book was its own brand of magic, one I could safely indulge in without fear of getting caught by those who haunt us. I loved escaping from reality, especially during times of trouble. Stories made everything possible.”
If you loved the world of Shadow Hunters and Sorcery of Thorns, even the likes of the Serpent and the Dove, you will thoroughly enjoy this novel.

I was debating a lot about whether on not I should bring this into my review. But I do think there is merit in raising this concern. Religious zealots are a reality, but I think it's prudent to be careful when writing around these themes that one does not create the impression that the zealots represent the entire religion. One cannot speak for all in movements like these. I was not overly fond that demons were romanticised so intensely in this book, nor did I like the fact that the Christian church was portrayed as xenophobes. In the same way that not all Muslims are terrorist, all Christians are not the cut your heart out kind. I did not appreciate the portrayal of religion in this way. It villainizes religious people in an unacceptable way. In this day and age, we should be past the point of judging an entire group based on the actions of a few.

When Emilia’s twin sister is brutally murdered she is devastated. She swears a blood oath to stop the killer at any cost, including using dark magic to summon a demon. Unfortunately, it's not just any demon she summons but one of the princes of hell, Wrath.

This book was just ok for me. I had problems with the pacing of this book. First it took me a while to get into the story and I never really loved either characters. They just didn’t really work for me. I found Emilia to be boring and at points annoying with her negativity towards demons. I also had problems with the pacing in the middle of the book. It felt like it was constant start/stop between the action and then normal scenes that it was slightly jarring at points.

This world with witches and demons to be quite fascinating. I loved the idea of six demon princes all with the control of different sins. While I do wonder how the prophecy will play out I don’t know if I will actually read the next book. For me, I need to like the characters to want to continue a series but I didn’t really love Emilia or Wrath. I will make my decision when book two comes out.

Trigger Warnings:
- Death of twin (on page)
- Grief
-Violent death/ injuries

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

Loved it! The premise of this book already had me intrigued, and I’m happy to say I couldn’t stop reading it once I started. Emilia is this fierce, sometimes stubborn that does without first considering all situations, but I loved her vow of revenge and her determination. This book gave me all the witches, magical, fantastical creatures weaves perfectly with an interesting history, murders and a curse/prophecy. I’m so not looking forward to waiting for the next book to come out, can I have it now please?

Thank you to NetGalley and Jimmy Patterson for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was really excited for this one, but sadly, we simply weren't meant to be.

Kingdom of the Wicked follows Emilia, an Italian witch, who just wants to live a quiet life, working in her family's restaurant. When she finds her twin sister's dead body and whispers of a demon uprising begin making the rounds, her plans are irreversibly foiled.
Seeking revenge for her sister's death and answers to the stories she's grown up with and those that were hidden from her, she stumbles across Wrath - one of the seven princes of hell. They share a common goal, both of them intending to find out who is to blame for the murders of several witches across the country, so they begrudgingly join forces.

Let me start with the good aspects of this book: I really enjoyed the concept. I think this could have been an amazing start to a new YA series about witches, demons and hidden and forgotten curses. With so many aspects of her own realm and the demon realm that Emilia has no knowledge of, we as the readers would have an amazing opportunity to follow her while she slowly puts things together.
I also very much enjoyed the banter between her and Wrath at times. This is not to say that I liked the romance, but only that aspect of it, at times.

Possibly my biggest issue with this book is how all over the place it seems. Usually, even if a book is the first of a series, you would still need to resolve parts of the story at the end of the book. This wasn't the case here - the ending felt super rushed and wasn't satisfying at all. We barely got any answers to the many questions the book repeatedly posed, and if we did, they were either half-truths or just ended up creating a dozen more. It felt incredibly unsatisfying. The story did have a read thread, but it seems like at some points, that was just completely forgotten. It felt very chaotic to me, and I hated how essentially, nothing solid was ever revealed to the reader - just a lot of he said, she said, no concrete answers.

I also really couldn't get myself to like the main character. She reminded me a lot of MCs that we used to see in YA ten years ago - stubborn with no reason to be that way, not ever heeding advice or making the obvious and smart choice, just so the plot could keep going with her stumbling into trouble again. The lack of common sense drove me mad. At times, her behavior was incredibly odd - like her finding a gutted corpse on the street, her reaction barely lasting half a page.
Not that the characterization of the rest of the cast was good, either. At least we knew Emilia's motivation, which cannot be said for any other major character.
Considering that most of this book is a whodunnit, trying to find out 1.) how 2.) why and 3.) by whom the twin sister was killed, we don't really get an answer to either of those questions at the end. The whole journey was retracing Emilia's sister's steps to find out why she was making deals with demons, and we never find out - only speculation.
Same with Wrath: His actions don't make sense because we never learn of his true motivation.

Sadly, the writing also just wasn't up my alley. It felt rather juvenile, with a lot of telling instead of showing. Some points got repeated constantly, while other parts of the book weren't explained satisfyingly at all. That may have been intentional, but I think writing nonsensical things on purpose would make it even worse. I haven't read any of Kerri Maniscalco's works in the past, so I can't say if this is simply her style or if this book was just a dud.

It was still a rather enjoyable read and up until the last 30 or so pages, I was debating between giving it 3 or 4 stars, depending on how satisfyingly everything the author built wrapped up. Well, it didn't at all, and that possibility I hadn't considered.

Given that other readers enjoyed it so much, I would still suggest making up your own mind about it if you're interested! It simply wasn't for me, and I won't be picking up anything else by the author,

This is my first time reading this author, and man I’m addicted to her work now. Kingdom of the wicked is so engrossing and sexy. I needed more Wrath. When a witch meets a demon prince what choice does she have but to fall in love ? Emilia is actually much stronger than that to simply fall for a handsome demon but that’s part of what makes her great. She is on a mission to solve her sisters murder. It’s a fun mystery that’s easy to read, if a tad predictable . I can’t wait for book two

“There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life. The Wicked.”

Since their birth, Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria have been warned of the coming of the Wicked—the seven Princes of Hell. Emilia has always been the more cautious of the two, but when her sister begins sneaking out and obviously hiding a secret, Emilia thinks it’s nothing beyond perhaps seeing her lover…never dreaming she would stumble upon the mutilated body of her beloved twin. Vowing to the Goddess to find Vittoria’s killer, Emilia turns to the darker side of their family magic and summons an unlikely partner in her quest for vengeance. Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but for Emilia, it will be as hot as the fires of Hell…if she can stay alive long enough to serve it…

Witches, demons and the Princes of Hell…oh my! Conjure up a few deadly sins and a serial killer, what more could you possibly need in a frightfully good story? No spoilers here! Enjoyed the beginning to what is sure to be a wickedly good series, although I’m not thrilled with a cliffhanger ending! Would recommend to fans of this genre!




**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

I’ll lay it out there now, I already loved Kerri Maniscalco and her writing style before reading, but this blew me away. You can really tell how much love and time and energy went into writing this book. It’s so beautifully written. Maniscalco built an amazing world of witches, demons, and everything in between. The banter between Emilia and Wrath is funny and real in so many ways. The love that Emilie has for her family is so sincere and you really felt it while reading. I really enjoyed Emila and Wrath’s relationship throughout the book. I feel like Maniscalco can have you rooting for and hating a character all at the same time. The beginning gave me all the dark witchy vibes I had been expecting and the ending had me wanting more.

In addition to strong character writing, Maniscalco creates an interesting world in Kingdom of the Wicked. It is a historical fantasy, but without a definitive tie to any particular year or recognizable time period. And it’s a testament to Maniscalco’s writing ability that rather than being a detriment to the world-building, this strengthens the story by not making it too tied to reality.

Kingdom of the Wicked is a dark enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-lovers fantasy that provides everything one could want from a book about witches and demons...

The rest of my review is online at But Why Tho? A Geek Community:

https://butwhythopodcast.com/2020/10/16/advanced-review-kingdom-of-the-wicked/