Thank you to Emily Thiede and Wednesday Books for this ARC!

To be honest, this book took me forever to be into. It has been a while since I read the first book, so it took me a minute to remember what all had happened.

However, after remembering, it was such a good read. The character development of all of the characters was amazing - especially the ones we’ve met already in the first book. Alessa and Dante are so cute and I thought it was interesting to watch their relationship evolve and each of them struggle with their own insecurities.

The new characters were equally interesting to me and that ending!! So good!

Overall a solid sequel. This installment didn’t captivate me as much as the first, but the individual character development was really beautifully done, and it was interesting to see a fuller picture of the world.

Rating: 4.50/5.00. Recommendation: Absolutely read this duology! Especially if you love found family and a great slow burn with tension.

I missed these characters so much!! Sorry for the length of this review in advance :)

Out of Context Notes on my Kindle while reading
“I love how gay this is,” “I love them so much,” “Kill me ;)”, “I love a petty naked standoff,” & “CACKLING”

Summary
This Cursed Light is the second book in The Last Finestra duology. Dante and Alessa barely survived the first apocalyptic event and have hardly caught their breath before racing to prevent another world-ending catastrophe. The gods in this world manipulate the humans and you can BET this endangers everyone again. Alessa and crew are on an expedition to locate the long lost ghiotte to fix Dante and recruit them to their cause. Will the ghiotte be able to move forward after being banished from society? And will their army be enough?

Characters
One of the reasons I fell in love with this duology is because I feel at home with these characters. Every character we meet is just looking for somewhere to belong. I really relate to that - and I imagine a lot of readers do. This is FOUND FAMILY to the max and it’s one of my favs. Everyone is so funny/snarky and GAY and I love every one of them. Also, I can really tell Emily Thiede has been to therapy and enjoy the level of emotional intelligence displayed in the book.

Alessa is still growing into her role as Finestra; her success during the first event has helped to build her confidence. However, what happened to Dante still haunts her and Dante’s dangerous behavior has her on edge. Dante is struggling to operate in a world where he’s no longer self-healing; he previously felt unworthy of his relationship with Alessa because he was in a lower social class. Now, he’s lost his powers and can’t even protect her - he’s continually trying to prove he’s good enough. Not only do they have a physical barrier to their relationship, but a mental one as well. Will their love be enough to survive?

I loved getting to see Alessa’s relationship with her brother (Adrick) evolve in this book. The scenes between Adrick and Kaleb were SO GOOD and tbh, I need more of them. Also, Talia and Kamaria!! NEED MORE. They’re both so feisty.

Plot
The plot moved quickly in my opinion. It was nice to see the perspective on the aftermath of the first event; I feel like this is left out of a lot of other fantasy serieses. The journey to locate the ghiotte was challenging but didn’t take too long. The ghiotte’s location is still clear in my mind. I wish we had more time at the end; it felt a bit rushed. I think 50 more pages could have been helpful. But the epilogue was also beautiful and tied a nice bow on the end.

Thank you to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for providing the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, magic, grumpy x sunshine, prophecies, found family

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 10/6 and has been posted to my book blog and Instagram as of 10/19.

I was so excited to receive this and dive back into Alessa and Dante's world! This book picks up several months after the ending of TVG. The Duo Divina, Alessa and Kaleb, made their trip to the other sanctuary island once things had calmed down on Saverio and Dante had healed somewhat. But despite the seeming calmness that has returned post-Divorando, things are not all sunshine and lemon trees. Both Dante and Alessa have a sense of something being...off, and while Dante is convinced something bigger is coming, Alessa is hoping things will settle down and she can just be normal.

The people of Saverio seem to have totally forgotten they wanted to kill Alessa before the Divorando because everyone seems to be thrilled to be invited to the Finestra's celebrations and interested in at least knowing her on a surface level. The control and understanding of her abilities that Alessa found by the end of the last book means that she's really able to come out of her shell in this one, though the ingrained sense of obedience and 'everyone over me' mentality still peeks through at times. But! Alessa is able to hug her brother and her grandparents! Adrick and Alessa do have some bridges to mend in their relationship (and by 'they' I mean 'Adrick', lol). It was actually kind of surprising to see how OK Alessa was with Adrick throughout this book, even if Kaleb and Dante weren't quite there yet (and speaking of Adrick and Kaleb, a novella about their misadventures would be wonderful). I'm pleased to say we do meet Nonna in this book, which I was hoping for.

Alessa does get a chance to be more of a normal girl in this one. She finally has friends in the form of her Fontes, and that group is just as tight-knit and humorous as in the first book. I absolutely love seeing the group together, or at least mostly together, and we get some good scenes with them interacting and having each other's backs. I'm also pleased to say that the Kaleb-Dante friendship is still alive and well, lol. Alessa still struggles with the whole 'not touching' thing, though that's largely in the past, and is clearly still scarred from her isolated adolescence. She's still the funny and clumsy girl we know and love from book 1, but her struggles have matured with her and there's a new sense of confidence in her.

Alessa and Dante are still going strong in this one, though they have moments where things are a little shaky. Both are dealing with issues of self-worth, Alessa's brought on by her past and Dante's by the side-effects of the ending of TVG.

Where the first book focused on the Finestra and Fontes, this book focuses more on the ghiotte, which means traveling away from Saverio. The first book was Alessa's story and journey, and while she is still a main character in this one and has her own things going on, this book is about Dante's journey and him coming into himself. It was definitely interesting to see how the ghiotte culture and customs were different from those on Saverio. Since the group was persecuted, they're very tight-knit and wary of outsiders, especially the 'blessed.' A lot of the ghiotte are fairly young and, since they're essentially invincible, they engage in a lot of the kind of behaviors you would expect of invincible teens and 20-somethings.

Dante, as mentioned, is struggling with the side-effects from the end of TVG. They've abated a little bit, but he's not back to where he was before, and it's kind of looking like he won't ever be there. When it's just him and Alessa it's hard enough, but when faced with the other ghiotte, Dante's feelings of inadequacy are multiplied. I enjoyed getting to see more of Dante in the role of a trainer, and was pleased to see him in more of a leadership role this time as well. He's definitely someone that people listen to and respect, even if he doesn't always see it, and he's good at uniting two sides.

Most of the new characters are ghiotte, including some people from Dante's past. It was interesting seeing him balance his love and loyalty of Alessa + friendship with the Fontes with his sense of loyalty toward the ghiotte, particularly when Dante not only has been the only one for so long but also when he needs their help to stop the coming Big Bad. I wasn't really a fan of one ghiotte character in particular, but she sorted herself out after the 60-65% mark and by the end I liked her.

There were a couple twists at the end relating to the event that Dante kept seeing. One of the twists was one I saw coming pretty much from the beginning, but it ended up being a pretty minor one, so it didn't take away from the rest of the reveals or my enjoyment of the book. The gods definitely played dirty this time around, and imo, I feel as if this book shows Dea and Crollo aren't actually quite as opposite as everyone seems to think. I do get their frustration with how Divorando had played out for the past couple centuries, but, like, their solution is just kind of mean, lol.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought the ending did service to the characters. Pretty much everything/everyone I wanted to see after the end of TVG happens/appears in this one, so that was pretty satisfying. The threat in this book is new without feeling contrived, and I loved where it took the characters. After reading this book, I 100% think Kaleb deserves his own novella, I think it would be hilarious.

* Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. *

I loved This Vicious Grace, and I loved This Cursed Light even more. This Vicious Grace was a beautiful first book, and a stunning debut, but This Cursed Light was everything you want in a fantasy. High stakes, found family, a love to last a lifetime. I loved seeing Alessa and Dante grow even more into themselves as people, and I loved seeing the way their group evolved and became stronger, more in-sync.

The ending just about killed me - don't worry, no spoilers. I'll just tell you that it was very intense, very emotional, and very beautiful.

Considering this is Emily Thiede's debut series, and only second novel, I'm truly excited to see what she comes up with next. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any future books from her.

Absolutely LOVED this book. The world building in the series is seriously too tier and the characters are so compelling.

Alessa and her found family will do anything to protect each other and save the world but in such refreshingly new and interesting way! Sometimes the YA fantasy genre can be over saturated and all start to blur together for me and this series shines through.

Beautifully written and makes me want to start all over again!

This was so good! I loved the first book so I knew I'd love this book too. But I wasn't prepared for just how amazing it would be!

The author did a fabulous job wrapping up the duology in a nice little bow. Overall it was a great second book and I liked the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read this book ahead of release in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, This Vicious Grace, so I was so excited to be able to read this one. While the writing isn’t as strong as the first book, it was still very enjoyable. I really love how unique the storyline is, and being able to return to Alessa’s story. Would easy recommend these books to anyone who loves YA!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars

I wasn’t sure what to expect for this sequel and was presently surprised! The author did a great job keeping the pace interesting as well as making the plot different from book 1!

Alessa and Dante are so sweet and I loved watching them work together to save the world again. I enjoyed that this took place in a different area as that helped make the book feel more unique. I also liked that it was flipped where Alessa was more out of her element.

Alessa being vulnerable and real was so refreshing. I enjoyed she was bad at fighting and cried easily. I loved watching her and Dante fall in love again and continue that relationship. The author did a great job of growing the other character relationships as well.

Dante, my poor sweet summer child, you really have had trial after trial. This book mostly revolved around Dante and his heritage. It was fascinating learning more about him and the ghiotte. It was cool to meet some characters from his past and see that dynamic. I loved how protective he was of Alessa and how driven he was to win.

Overall this book concluded the series well. I enjoyed that this focused more on Dante and his struggles and Alessa got to support. I enjoyed seeing more of the wide characters and their relationships grow. The plot was steady and I enjoyed that there wasn’t useless filler chapters.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Emily Thiede for letting me read this ARC early!

This Vicious Grace is one of my all time favorite books, and I did a reread prior to starting This Cursed Light. We follow Dante, without his ghiotte abilities, and Alessa who still has her powers. They still can't touch without hurting Dante, naturally. Dante has horrific visions, and Alessa is quickly going insane. The crew bands together to search for the ghiotte, mixed with a few romances, and some tension. I think this was the perfect ending to this duology.

This was the perfect conclusion to a duology that picks up exactly where the first book left off.
Alessa and Dante, the heart and soul of this series, shine brightly in book 2. Their characters are everything I could have hoped for, and I especially appreciated the bonus of Dante's point of view, which added depth to their dynamic and made the story even more wonderful to read.

The first half of this book had me on an emotional rollercoaster, screaming at the main characters and wondering if the plot would ever find its footing. But then, like a beautifully crafted puzzle, everything seemed to fall into place during the last 20% of the book.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This might have been one of my most anticipated reads of the year. It was so nice to see the beloved characters from This Vicious Grace return in This Cursed Light. This time, they (minus two of the fonti) set off on a quest to find the ghiotte, Dante's people, who were thought to be dead, but are actually living in exile. Dante has been having visions of a coming battle and a cryptic verse appears to predict that the gods will test humanity again during the next eclipse.

Throughout the story, Alessa is literally losing her mind. It took me a while to recognize her mental decline...perhaps I was just too excited to see what would happen, but the deterioration could have been more obvious for some of us! I didn't read it as a gradual thing until a few chapters from the end.

The final three chapters were heart wrenching. It's not quite as brutal as the battle scene in the first book, but just as emotional. Tears were shed!

I'm glad we got our happily ever after, though I wouldn't object to spin-off novellas for Kaleb and Adrick or Kamaria and Talia. I did find myself wondering what happened with Crollo and Dea. Was it really all a game? No hard feelings? Crollo just walks away?

This book was ok, verging on good. I loved the original characters but felt like the newly introduced characters lacked proper motivations or realistic reactions. They felt fairly two dimensional. Aside from that. I love the descriptive language and the interesting world building in this duology, and of course the covers are STUNNING. I did devour the last little bit of the book when the conflict hit its peak. All in all I wouldn’t necessarily reread this one, but will DEFINITELY be rereading book one which I absolutely looooooved.

This Cursed Light picks up exactly where This Vicious Grace ended and the angst levels are incredible.

Dante and Alessa are a wonderful couple, and I love both of them. However, exactly like the teenagers they are, they make some really stupid decisions which caused unnecessary drama - but conflict is what fiction is about!

My only complaint is that the ending felt a little deus ex machina-esque to me. The author had done such an incredible job setting up corners to back her characters into that it seemed like the only way out was a deus ex machina.

But that's okay, I was happy they had a happy ending regardless. :)

4/5 stars.

Delightful beyond measure. Truly everything I could have hoped for in a sequel! Challenging and unexpected but also delightfully fun and comforting. I love these characters and this story line. Alessa comes into her own in a way that is both thoughtful and natural; the evolution of her character arc has been a joy to read. I truly started This Vicious Grace not liking her at all, but like most teenagers she matures in her attitude and outlook and by the end of this book I was so proud of her!

How much does the end of a book influence your overall experience?
Let me tell you, I was frustrated for fully 80% of this book, but then it all came together and I sobbed for the last 10 chapters or so. And the epilogue was perfect.
This book relies heavily on the characters dealing with the trauma of the last book in unhealthy ways. Especially hiding their feelings and struggles, not being truthful, withholding important information, feeling unworthy, and generally making things worse by not using their words. Which look, I get it. Dante in particular had a massive change due to what happened during Divorando. And actually so did Alessa. But instead of relying on each other and their friends, they bottle everything up. And the consequences are not good, especially once they’re in the ghiotte settlement.
Thankfully everyone is finally forced to come clean, and that’s when the book is really beautiful. Everything really comes together then, and truly the emotions were overwhelming then. I still think the first book is the stronger of the 2, but the end was just completely perfect and made up for a ton. I’d definitely recommend the duology.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced read for review. All opinions are my own.

This Cursed Light was the perfect sequel and conclusion to This Vicious Grace. This Vicious Grace is one of my favorite fantasy books and I was so excited to be reunited with Alessa, Dante, and all their friends in the sequel!! I absolutely loved the humor and heart in this book. Seeing all the funny quips and banter between the cast of characters in this book was hilarious. I loved seeing Dante grow closer to the group as well and (if begrudgingly) call them his friends too.

Speaking of Dante, I loved that we got his POV in this sequel! It was so great seeing his character development and perspective on the Fonti and the politics of Saverio. Most of all, I died seeing him be SO DOWN BAD and obsessed with Alessa. In This Vicious Grace, he was always the grumpy love interest, but in This Cursed Light we truly see how in love he is with Alessa and how he would literally lay down his life for her (again). The numerous terms of endearment and loving phrases he'd tell her in Italian had me swooning! I love them so much <3.

As mentioned, I hate letting these characters and world go, but I can't wait to see what Emily Thiede writes next! I'd rate this book 4.5 stars.

This book was a very solid read that kept me riveted from start to finish, and I would HIGHLY be encouraging everyone to read it and have a physical copy to have on their shelf as well. As that cover is simply begging to be displayed. So good!

I absolutely adored This Vicious Grace and this sequel has been one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Sequels are hard, so I was nervous going into this because I had no clue what to expect and where we'd go from book 1, but I'm so happy I wasn't disappointed. First off, Dante and Alyssa are as wonderful as they were in book 1. I am a big fan of seeing a relationship go through both lows and highs in books as I think it adds dimension to the characters and seeing that in This Cursed Light was spectacular because it really added to how much I loved these two characters and their journeys both together and separately. There were some moments where I wanted to scream at them to talk to each other, but those were also the moments that broke my heart the most because it's so evident how much they love each other, even when they can't always be as up front about it as they may desire to be. Their journey together is honestly one of my favorite romances and, as I said with This Vicious Grace, Alessa is such a wonderful character and I love seeing so much of myself in her and the ADHD rep is phenomenal. Also, I was REALLY happy to get so much more Dante in this one with his POV throughout. It really rounded out the story for me and provided so much more on Dante, some of the world building lore, and the overall story as a whole.

Plot wise, this one kinda followed a similar path as the first one in that they are training for something big towards the end. However, what they're training for and how it all comes to fruition is very different. We get new characters in this, but I still think the Fontes are my favorite side characters because they are just so much fun and have become really vital to Alessa and her story, and it's great to see how Alyssa began with no friends to having a true family who would do so much for her! I will say that I did guess a big piece of the plot twist, BUT I wasn't totally correct in all that I guessed, which was nice. I do think some parts were a bit rushed (whenever I think things are rushed, I always wonder if that was the author or the editor's doing?), but overall, this was an amazing end to this duology and tbh I'm really sad not to have another book in this series and saying goodbye to these characters!

THIS CURSED LIGHT is the sequel to THIS VICIOUS GRACE. I imagine that writing a sequel continuing an existing romance (albeit one with new pressures) is challenging. I loved the interplay between many of the characters (Kaleb and Aldrick made me laugh often). I also loved Dante as he found those he imagined dead and gone - his interactions with Talia were great.

Even though this was a good read, I found it more challenging to read than the first book. Perhaps it was the shifts within chapters between characters (which I felt were less in the first book), or that the relationship between Alessa and Dante seemed more forced? While I enjoyed it and would still recommend the duology, the first book felt like a stronger read than the second.