This Cursed Light is an epic conclusion to this duology!!! After Alessa, Dante, and their friends defeat the demons they think they have normal lives now. But there’s an even more dangerous threat coming that has them needing to travel across the world in hopes of finding Dante’s people.
I loved being back in this world with all these characters again! It’s fascinating to see a different part of the world and an entire new group of people. Plus there’s so much action and interesting magic!
Dante and Alessa both go through some issues which were horrible but I enjoyed seeing how they dealt with it. Of course their romance is a highlight of this book for me! I adore how much they love each other and how they are willing to do anything for the other. They are perfect together but they still have their amazing and entertaining banter.
Another highlight of this book is the found family and all the friendships! I completely love how Alessa, Dante, all the Fontes, and even Alessa’s brother, have formed an incredible family. They all have such different personalities but all of them are always there for each other and I adore them all.
I think this is an incredible book and I’m happy with the ending! The final battle has so many twists, it’s definitely intense. I just wish the epilogue was longer so we got a little extra of everyone being happy.
If you’re looking for a duology with Italian vibes, forbidden romance, demons, gods, adventure, and action, then I would definitely recommend this!!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

I enjoyed the story and I think it was a great sequel that wrapped up character arcs and relationships. The flow and pacing is similar to the first book - there's a lot of the day to day and preparing that takes up a big portion of the book.

The new characters added an interesting element. But the original secondary characters seemed to fade into the background a bit.

And I'm satisfied with the ending. But I was left a bit unsatisfied with the romance. I love the main characters and their connection is fantastic. But in this book it felt very surface level. I needed more depth and more of them together.

Also, I never really understood this world or the magic or even the point of it all till the very end. I think it would have benefited from more world building earlier on.

A stunning conclusion to a knockout debut. I'm feral over Dante and Alessa. Thiede does such a good job bringing fresh sensibilities to classic fantasy tropes, keeps you guessing and turning pages and SCREAMING. LOVED IT.

I was really initially drawn to this series in the first book, This Vicious Grace. The world and the premise were both really interesting, even if the worldbuilding and magic weren't all that deep. There was a heavy romantic focus, but I don't always mind that.

That said...unfortunately this sequel just failed to fully hook me. The romance felt less relevant and less sharply written, and I just lost a lot of my interest in the characters. Major storylines are wrapped up pretty well, so I'm sure that many will enjoy this sequel, but I can't help but feel this would have been a stronger stand-alone with the conflict being resolved in Book 1.

Thiede masterfully delves into the complexities of love, duty, and destiny, crafting a narrative that is as emotionally resonant as it is action-packed. Alessa and Dante's journey is fraught with danger and uncertainty, yet their unwavering devotion to each other serves as a beacon of hope amidst the chaos. This was captivating and is a must-read for fans of epic fantasy and romance alike. I absolutely love novels like this and I am excited for what Thiede writes next.

I really liked the prior book and so I was very excited for this, alas it didn’t quite work as well for me this book. I am not sure why, there was just a lack of connection in the sequel.

Two gods making a bet over humanity reminds me of Divine Rivals although the two series are nothing alike. I did read This Vicious Grace when it was first released and I loved it but this one didn’t give me that same energy. Dante’s childhood best friend Talia sucked. Her character was trope-y and made the negotiations too convenient in my opinion. I felt like she was an easy choice made by the author… I would have liked to have seen something different. I’m not a fan of hiding a relationship to save face or miscommunication. Be blunt and be bold. ALSO, the war we were waiting for hardly happened. There was no violence until about 85% in and then it ended abruptly with the good old question of will you watch the world burn to save your girl or sacrifice her to save it… which isn’t terrible but it felt unsatisfying to leave everyone’s fate up to one decision. Overall I would say this was 2.5-3 stars.

I loved This Vicious Grace and knew I had to have This Cursed Light to read the finale of this wonderful duology. The tension and angst of the first book seemed lacking a bit in this second one, though I did appreciate getting to understand Dante's history much better. The ending felt a bit anti-climatic after all the building throughout the novel. That said, I love an HEA and Alessa and Dante finally get theirs. Furthermore, the found family and love between the characters is just as strong and I would read any spin-off that the author writes to get more of this world.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I have some mixed feelings about this one. I still love the setting plus Dante and Alessa but there was just some magic ingredient from the first book that did not make it here for me. May give this one a second shot with a reread and the audio if it gets released.

I have been really into duologies lately, and I was excited to finally finish this one!

I do think it lacked some of the magic from the first one. The first one had an amazing slow burn with all the tension, and that was missing in this.

I did still love the banter between all the characters and I loved being with them.

After being much anticipated, the pacing didn't work for me. I also didn't really like the ending???

Thanks for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Yessssss. I know some didn't like this book but I sure did. Dante is lovely. I do think that him and Alessa are a bit juvenile about some things, but they are still young. I liked the spin of a ghiotte village that saves the world. That a god and goddess made a bet on humanity and what will save them. The cast of characters were all lovable. I havent read many duo books, but this was a good series and I loved the ending. I thought I would be heartbroken and devasted, but I'm glad that the ending wasn't that.

This Cursed Light is the second book in The Last Finestra duology. After reading This Vicious Grace, I was looking forward to this one, and although I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, in fact, at times I was frustrated and put it aside. I will say that I liked how it was brought to an end. Alessa and Dante got together in the first book, but now they are on the run with their small band of fighters. Dante has lost his powers and they are headed to the other side of the island to find the exiled ghiotte in hopes of restoring his powers and combining forces with them to create the only army powerful enough to save them all. Dante is not sure what he will find, but it wasn't who was there. There is a lot of drama between the ghiotte and Alessa's group which was a bit annoying to this grandma. Does Dante get his power back? Will he remain with the ghiotte? Is the romance between Dante and Alessa doomed?

The first book was a five star read for me and in my opinion, this one sits in its shadows. This was all the YA that I don't like. The bickering, back stabbing, jealousy. I wanted to see how this love story would play out and that was done well. There was a lot of magic in this book, with powers that were interesting, as well as rather meh. There is a huge test at the end and a puzzle that needs to be solved which did have me sitting on the edge of my seat. The ending was a bit surprising and I enjoyed how it concluded. I am not going to give away the story, but I will say that this was a bit of a disappointment after the first book.

I am participating in the St. Martin's Press boycott. I will not be publicly reviewing this title until St. Martin's Press addresses reader concerns.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

This was a surprising disappointment after how much I loved the first book. The story felt flat, the characters were boring, and I just couldn't be bothered to care about anything that happened in this book.

This was....not what I'd hoped for. After being absolutely obsessed with book one, I had high hopes. But the plot here felt lacking. I needed more urgency from the characters and better communication. A lot of the conflict was self-inflicted and could have been avoided with a good, honest conversation or two. The ending was good, if somewhat predictable.

*1-2 closedish door scenes.

Thank you to Wednesday books for my complimentary e-arc. All opinions here are my own.

This Cursed Light is followup to This Vicious Grace. I really enjoyed the romance and fantasy version of Italy in the first book, and the sequel didn't disappoint. The chemistry between Dante and Alessa was my favorite part.

Thank you to @wednesdaybooks for the digital ARC. Last year, I read This Vicious Grace because it was recommended to me by a friend when I asked for Romantasy books. I absolutely loved it! I was so excited to read the second book in this duology. This Cursed Light came out in December, but with all the holiday & family events, I didn't get to it by the end of the month, so I added it to my #backlistbooks24 challenge. I decided to read it this month since I knew I was heading to the @loveyallbookfest in Atlanta where I got to meet @ektwrites and hear her talk about Alessa and Dante and share her thoughts on YA Romantasy with a panel of other authors. (amazing!)
Back to the book, the adventure continues in this sequel, with more focus on Dante, who I absolutely love. When I think of a strong, brave, totally in love hero...Dante is #1. I liked how there were many side characters who all played an important role in the plot. It came together like a strong ensemble cast being led by Dante and Alessa. I wish this was available as an audiobook in the US, but hopefully it will come later because I loved hearing the Italian words in This Vicious Grace and I want to hear Dante call Alessa "luce mia". The beginning of the story is a little slower as all of the characters, backstories, and setting are established. Once all that is settled, the story keeps moving at a nice pace and builds up the tension with each chapter. I like that both books incorporate lemons and there is a really fun lemon scene in This Cursed Light. I highly recommend this duology (which must be read in order).

This Vicious Grace was one of my favorite reads of last year so I couldn't wait to read this one and revisit that world. Dante was one of my favorite characters and I loved that we got more of him, I just wish he wasn't so mopey throughout the book. The ending was fast but wrapped things up nicely. I will say this felt like more of an NA novel than a YA novel. The first book in the series was definitely better.