If Emily Thiede keeps this up, she might become one of my favorite authors because I love her books so much. This Vicious Grace was an absolute blast to read, romantic and funny with the perfect balance between focusing on Alessa and Dante and the rest of the cast. Essentially, what I'm saying here is that Thiede had a huge task of making a sequel that lived up to book one, and she not only did but also surpassed it. I absolutely adored getting to know the secondary characters better, and to learn more about the ghiotte and Dante's past. The ending wasn't what I was expecting either, but was so fitting. Also, Thiede has the BEST sense of humor.

Overall, this was an excellent conclusion to the duology, and I can't wait to see what Thiede has in store for us next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
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thank you to wednesday books, emily thiede, and netgalley for this amazing, amazing book in exchange for my honest review.
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would you believe me if i said im writing this review through tears? because i absolutely am. they’re good tears, don’t worry about that, but they’re tears nonetheless. this book was just so. good. i’m currently trying to find the words for all the things in this book that touched my heart and i’m drawing a blank. not because there aren’t any, but because there’s TOO many.

when i realized this book was going to be a duology, i was skeptical. granted, some of the best series are duologies, but i felt like this story still had so much more to be told. how could everything just be wrapped up in another four hundred or so page book? i also just didn’t want it to end. i related so much to alessa and her mind and i didn’t want it to end, but like we see in this book, sometimes the best thing to do is let the people we love go.

the characters we all knew and loved are back, and their development was just so amazing to see. you would think that they’d have done all their emotional and mental growth in the last book, but no. somehow someway, emily thiede, genius of literature that she is, figured out a way to make her characters even better. i’m truly astonished by how amazingly she’s written everything.

despite this book being very intense and so many serious things happening, it still managed to make me laugh. there’s small moments of levity that are slipped in throughout the book that manages to make you giggle, snort, or cover your mouth in shock because you can’t believe someone said that. it was just truly the biggest joy to read and it cements emily thiede as one of my new favorite authors. not to mention, the translation feature on my kindle is something they’ll have to pry from my cold, dead hands. it made this book so much more amazing because, even though italian and spanish are very similar, being able to actually see what the words meant versus just guesstimating made this so much funnier and so much more enjoyable.

i absolutely adored both dante and alessa’s growth throughout these two books more than i can put into words. i have highlights upon highlights of quotes talking about embracing yourself for who you are and changing your outlook on yourself are some of the best and healthiest things you can do for yourself. having only recently been able to start to embrace my neurodivergence, this series was something i read at the exact right time. it gave me a new perspective on my own life and brain, and as the series progressed and we got to see characters with anxiety and trauma, it made me feel like i could finally accept that even though i have all of these things, even though all of these issues and imperfections are a part of me, i’m not broken. sometimes the cracks in the walls are the best way to let in the light.

i love how this series ended, so, so much. i very rarely say that i’m satisfied with how a series ends, but that’s all i feel towards this one. we’ve seen these characters grow and change and fight and now? now we get to know that eventually they get to experience the peace they so truly deserve. i wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve been waiting for this for so long! And I’m so excited to say that it was just as amazing as the first one and everything I could have wanted for the conclusion of this story. I love Alessa and Dante and I experienced all the emotions in their turbulent relationship. The stakes are ever higher in this sequel, with the threat of the end of the world looming. We get to go deeper into the lore of the gods. There’s intense battles and exciting training sequences. We get new characters to love, as well as all our favorites from the first book. We adventure out into the story world and learn more about its history and peoples. This was such a fun and emotional ride and so worth the wait. Both of the books in this duology were five-star reads for me. Unbelievable that this was her debut book series. She is definitely a favorite fantasy author for me and I’ll read anything she writes in the future! I felt so much joy at the end for them and so much sadness that it was over. Although it is young adult, it is very much mature enough and full of depth for all of us adult readers to enjoy as well. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I highlighted so many moments in this second book that I just adored and felt so deeply about. Highly recommend this series, it is so freaking good! Everything about it is so immersive and I enjoyed every moment of my time in this story world. You have to read this! It deserves all the hype.

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

I would love to review this book but I will not be doing so until SMP takes action and the boycott ends.

I will be withholding my review of this book in solidarity with the St. Martin's Press boycott. I am deeply upset that SMP still has not addressed anything and has made no movement towards rectifying their actions.

I read book one of this series and fell in love with it. The romance! **sigh** Dante and Alessa were adorable and they’re finally going to get their chance to be together, but it’s not going to be easy. The world building was great and lots of page turning moments.
I love the way the author writes and I especially like how she handles the difficult things about the romance. It’s realistic and there wasn’t any over exaggerated drama. That is so important to me. I swooned every time I get near Dante and I loved ALL the side characters. This was a very happy satisfying read for me and I recommend it.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

Such a satisfying ending to a great duology! We follow Alessa and Dante and they get pulled into yet another adventure. The story was done so thoughtfully and wrapped up really cleverly; it felt like the perfect ending for the book, and specifically for Alessa, especially considering all she craved at the beginning of book 1 was touch and closeness with people. It was just such a nice character arc for her to have, to end the book with all those people helping her. The angst we got between Alessa and Dante in This Vicious Grace continues in This Cursed Light, as Dante's loss of powers makes it impossible for them to get close without Dante feeling pain. So lots of angst and tension continues between them! We see more of Dante's personality in this book and see some of the self-doubt and insecurities he harbors, and how he and Alessa overcome them together. The side characters were done SO WELL, I loved reading about all of them and I honestly felt way more invested in the budding, angsty romance between Adrick and Kaleb and would love a little spin off about them! Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Just like the previous book I loved this one. The book pretty much picks up where they left off and I had such a hard time putting it down. Definitely suggest others check it out! The characters and the pace made it hard not to love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

Thank you St. Martins Press/Wednesday and Netgalley for the ARC!

I was absolutely thrilled to get an ARC of This Cursed Light! The way TVG ended had me shaking and dying for book two. This is such a fun and exciting world that Thiede created and I just can’t get enough of it! If you’re looking for a creative magic system, complex character dynamics and a ton of heart, then this is IT.

What an incredible conclusion to an amazing duology! Again I was sobbing and laughing and screaming. This entire series has given me all of the feels and I never wanted it to end. I asked Emily to write more fluffy post chaos chapters because I love love them so so much!

I thought that this book would be possibly better than the first however I couldn't get into it and ended up not completing the book.

After finishing This Vicious Grace, I needed the second book. To say I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to read and review This Cursed Light would be a colossal understatement. I enjoy Emily Thiede’s writing style and couldn’t wait to tear into this book. There were definitely aspects of this story that resonated with me, but overall the journey was a bit of a rollercoaster.

Things I loved:
- The continuation of the fonte found family - Kaleb and Kamaria often had me laughing out loud. I adore them individually and together, they’re just the best. Can they get a novella or something?
- Adrick - He grew on me in this and got his redemption as far as I’m concerned.
- The last several chapters had me all up in my feelings.
- The Italian-inspired elements: the world, the use of Italian as the “old language” - Did I try to imagine myself in some variation of Venice during this? Yes, yes I did.

While I really enjoyed the first book and didn’t have any complications with its pacing, I found myself struggling with it quite a bit in this one. Scenes moved from one to the next rather quickly instead of being built up and fleshed out, so I felt like I didn’t get the opportunity to fully connect to much of what was happening. For instance, there were some big moments/revelations, but when I got to them, I kind of just went “huh, alright.” I craved more of a connection to the MMC/FMC, and I longed to have that same feeling that I got from TVG. The writing itself was well-crafted and easy to follow, but I missed that spark I felt previously.

** Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. **

Emily Thiede posted to her IG that NetGalley arcs were going out and when I tell you I RAN to request a copy! A few weeks later my dreams were answered.

We’re following Alessa and Dante six months after the events of the last book. Dante has lost his powers and thus a part of his identity, and is also suffering from one helluva case of PTSD. Alessa wants to pretend like everything is rosy despite hiding a dark secret from everyone, including Dante. We join our lovers and their ragtag group of friends in a search of the lost ghiotte who will hopefully help Dante restore his lost powers - and help them against an ever growing threat to be set upon them by the gods.

I loved this book despite its flaws (maybe I’m being hyper critical). I found Alessa a lot more immature through the first start of this book, while Dante - hell I just love him despite some instances of toxic masculinity and non communication. Some of the more modern dialogue took me out of the story at times. I felt like the ending could have been a bit more fleshed out.

Over all I loved this conclusion. I love the dynamics with their friend group, especially an unexpected secondary romance plot line 😏. The banter and humour had me laugh out loud, the romance had me grinning from ear to ear and the end had me on the edge of my seat.

Loved this, can’t wait to see more Emily Thiede!

This was one of my most anticipated releases this year as I absolutely love This Vicious Grace when I read it last year. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t end up loving this one. The story takes place a couple months after the first one ends and we are in the aftermath stages of what to do after the big conflict. There were a couple things I didn’t like in this story, mainly it being very similar to book one with the war and training and certain characters not being able to touch, just with a different setting. I will say that I did enjoy Dante’s perspective in this one as we get to see his thoughts and I loved Kaleb being more present in this book as well. I will say though that I was pretty bored with some aspects of this one and that I hate the trope of killing off a character for the shock factor just to bring them back again a chapter later and this author already did that in book one. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this sequel and felt that the first story could have been left a standalone with a little bit of tweaking at the end.

Although I was a big fan of the previous book, I found that this sequel was heavily driven by the romance which diminished my enjoyment following their journey. I loved the found family aspect of the books, but this time around it felt like an afterthought that supporting characters existed.

Because my biggest complaint centers around the romance, the introduction of the love interest's childhood best friend felt comical in the way she was so aggressive towards the main character. I understand it was to keep the tensions of forbidden love a secret, but the execution was unpleasant.

I did still really enjoy the apocalypse portion of the story, but I would have liked it more if the plot moved a bit quicker along. The second half of the book did move quicker once we got closer to the end date, but I suspect that it was due to the tension releasing from the main characters finally having sex. Not particularly my favorite resolution to enemies-to-lovers or forbidden love, so this didn't resonate with me.

Even though I had a number of complaints, overall the story and character development felt like a standard young adult novel that wrapped up well by the end.

This book was amazing. No trace of second book syndrome AT ALL. It picked up right after This Vicious Grace ended with Dante and Alessa together but things are not perfect in their world. Dante’s vision haunts him in nightmares and he feels lost without his ghiotte healing power. Alessa is also experiencing nightmares and unusual episodes.

As they try to find the missing ghiottes, they get closer and closer to each other and their found family stands with them to face whatever is coming.

This book was a perfect blend of fantasy and romance. Everyone should have someone love them like Dante loves Alessa. I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys fantasy romance with found family, high stakes battles and warring gods.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This cursed light- 3.75⭐️ 2🌶️

New Adult
Fantasy Romance
Dual POV
🏳️‍🌈 Side characters
Found family
Journey
Savior Storyline
Self Discovery
God/goddess Magic System
Closed door spice


This was such a great duology! It is set 6 months after the end of the first book and gives a new POV! Both the MC’s were unique and separate. I never felt like they were blending into the same character, the way some book couples do.

The angst from book 1 was so good, this book wasn’t quite to the same level of intensity, but still had a slow burn vibe. It was interesting to have the main POV from book one state that she has to let the MMC be the savior so specifically. It was a little bit of a 4th wall break. The FMC was so well emotionally developed in the first book, I was a little disappointed that the MMC didn’t get the same amount of emotional focus… while at the same time being disappointed that the FMC just took a solid step back, causing the whole book to seem a little unfocused.

When it came to the big bad… I feel that the premise of the battle was really interesting, but concluded way too quickly. There was so much nuance that could have been explored, and instead it was glanced over… the first book had some of this issue with execution.

I loved getting to know the old characters better, but the new characters were very surface level and seemed like they were just full of hot air. They didn’t seem to have much of their own character arcs, which made them feel more irrational, erratic and unmoored.

Man, we’re there a lot of dirty jokes and innuendos. It was interesting to see this book go more conservative, in the spice department, having fully closed door romance scenes. Generally, a second book goes in the opposite direction. This book was more solidly “Young Adult” than the first.

It wasn’t as strong of an ending as I hoped, but it was a very good duology!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh, I adored this duology! I am sad that it is over, frankly, but I did love every minute I was immersed in this world with these characters. Just as in the first book, I adored the people who Alessa is surrounded by. I loved all the humor despite the darker tone of the story, and I loved the adventures and high stakes. Admittedly, perhaps the stakes felt a tiny bit less high, but it doesn't matter. It was still a very satisfying conclusion to the series and that is what I am here for at the end of the day! That's it; that's the review.

Bottom Line: I could keep talking, but if you are looking for very cool world building, amazing characters, found families, a very swoony romance, and a lot of dark humor, this is the duology for you!

Always a classic with Emily. I love me some Dante too!! I think it was very interesting and intriguing. This book kept me hooked all through