I honestly can’t put my finger on why I didn’t like this book. It has all the right elements: passion, adventure, mystery. I think it just didn’t click. Sometimes books are people like that. When there's no chemistry, there’s no chemistry.

I loved this fantasy retelling of The Wizard of Oz by Emily McIntire. It's the third book in the Never After series. It can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, as none of the characters overlap. In this retelling, Dorothy is not the goody two shoes like in the original. This is certainly a dark romance with lots of steam and lots of trigger warnings. Enemies to lovers, steam, sibling rivalry, greed, murder, and all the things make this a great read that is hard to put down.

So while I was super stoked for this one to be loosely inspired by Wicked and the plot sounded great I did unfortunately give it two stars. For my own personal reasons, so here’s the thing, I felt that this was one of the more interesting plots and it was so intriguing, but I had a hard time finding the morally grey part of our villain here. She was just kinda messed up and like that’s fine if that’s what we’re going for and that’s your thing but having an undercover cop as the love interest who is totally into it, just really made it hard for me to believe. In any way, shape, or, form. And the main reason it dropped a star for me is I just can’t do gun play. It’s so uncomfortable and not to mention so unsafe.

I had previously read Emily McIntire's Hooked and, while that wasn't for me, I decided to give Wretched a try. I enjoyed this one a lot more than Hooked, however, there still was some moments that were just too dark for my taste. I think I'm going to have to just put McIntire in the list of authors that just aren't for me.

McIntire is a magician with her words. This twisted fairytale about the wicked witch was honestly the sexiest stories I've ever read. I need to go back and read everything else on her backlist.

okay, so I love that the FMC was the villain! I haven't read many books that have that dynamic but WOW it was good! The whole, Wizard of Oz thing was definitely weird. Could have chosen literally any other story but I digress.

This was one my lesser favorites for the Never After series, but then again, I am not a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz, so the allusions and references didn't really tick with me as I think the author intended. But none-the-less, it was a steamy read and a good addition to the series.

I was reluctant to select this book because I was worried with the holidays approaching that I would not have time to finish it before it archived. That was not a problem-finished it in 2 days! I am blown away. While the steamy scenes were extreme, they did not over power the book so much that it did not have a great story. The overall story is what made the book so amazing. I loved Nick and Evie-both together and apart. The Wizard of Oz is also one of my favorite stories and I loved how the author tastefully included so many parts of the original story in this one. I look forward to reading more of Emily McIntire’s novels!

This one I think is probably the best in the series so far in terms of an actual story that doesn't try to be super obvious about cameos and nods to the source material. There are some trigger warnings that I probably should have looked at first.

**I received Wretched as an arc through Net Galley**

I am a huge fan of Emily McIntire and her Never After series and Wretched was not a let down! I really enjoyed the plot where the female was actually the bad buy, and the male was the good but not really good guy. It had me on my toes throughout the whole book. I really had no idea how Evelina and Nicholas were going to get their happily ever after which I enjoyed. The smutty scenes were amazing and very "dirty." I only wish this book was 30-50 pages longer. The peak of the action happens in chapter 38 and the book ended on chap 40. I wish there was a little bit more than what we were given and the epilogues. I really enjoyed Evie and Nick and selflessly wanted more!! I loved all the nods to The Wizard of Oz!! It was very well done!

Overall rating: 9/10
Spicy rating: 4.5/5

This book involved morally gray lead characters and some content that may not be suitable for all readers. But if you enjoy the morally gray.. this book is for you!

This fractured modern fairytale of Wizard of Oz is very entertaining!
The wicked witch is our main female character Evelina Westerly is a poppy growing heroine creating psycho, who has a sexual club encounter with our tin man Nicholas/Brayden who is a DEA agent undercover trying to take down Evelina's family. The nods and references to the Wizard of Oz are all over this story in the best way. This is fast paced story filled with twists and turns that will leave you wondering how the heck will we get our HEA. Very much enjoyed this read only critique is the ending did feel a bit rushed wish got a little bit more after the big plot climax and the HEA.
to quote MIA "Bad Girls do it well!!!"

Wretched-
"But if I’m her calm, then she is my chaos, and if I can’t live with her forever, then I don’t want to live at all."

Synopsis:
Wretched is a dark and addicting fairytale reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. Evelina Westerly (wicked witch) was born into a drug empire. She is calculating, cold, and wickedly smart. She also happens to be the brains behind her family's drug empire. She doesn't have time for anything else, especially not for love. After a one-night stand with a handsome man she goes back to her life of crime. Until that man shows up in her family's life under a new name... Nick Woodsworth (tin man) is a man without a heart and a DEA agent that is going deep undercover to take down a powerful drug family. He soon realizes that Evelina is the same woman from the club that he can't get out of his head; she happens to represent everything he hates. Yet lines began to blur and he can't find himself being able to stay away. Nick will have to decide if he can put his job and sense of justice before his now awakened heart.

Thoughts:

I absolutely devoured this book! Literally stayed up until 3 am to finish it, I could not put it down. Loved the names and references to The Wizard of Oz. I loved Evie (Evelina), she is such a great villain that was misunderstood and her backstory that showed what turned her into the calculating, cold, and wicked person she became was perfection. Also really loved how she was so confident, strong, resilient, and completely herself. I can't think of any other books that made me love the female villain like this! Seriously Evie is a badass and total girl boss, loved every second of this book. Not only did I love Evie, I absolutely loved Nick! Now my new book boyfriend yes yes. The mouth on that man is absolutely sinful and so damn hot! I lived for the banter and tension between Nick and Evie, it was so amazing. Still not over how the smut and tension was off the charts hot, like damn was fanning myself while reading it. Another thing I loved was that his new feeling caused him to struggle with his belief of what is right and wrong. This book gave me everything I wanted and more, definitely a five star read for me and I am running to buy a physical copy of it!
This book includes:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Bad Girl Good Guy
- Fairy Tale Reimagining (The Wizard of Oz)
- Dark Romance
- Villain FMC

Thank you Emily McIntire, Bloom Books, and NetGalley for providing an arc for an honest review.

I am devouring this series and the fact that we got a morally grey female MC in this one?! I binged it in one setting. I love Emily Mcintire fairy tale reimagining's. I love her dark characters. I love the relationships she writes and the world she creates. This plot of this one was out of this world!!! This series keeps getting better and better and I didn't think that could be possible after how much I loved Hooked

Thank you #netgalley for a read of #wretched by #emilymcintire in exchange for my honest review