A beautiful YA book that reminded me of Agraba, Dark Disney, and beautiful evenings. Dania and Mazin are intertwined, but at odds. This is a great youthful YA book that deals with treachery, betrayal and forgiveness.

Emily Varga does it again. The queen of fantasy is back. This book did not disappoint, you need to pick it up!

"I've left marks all over you." - Dania
"Shall I tell you my favorite ones?" - Mazin

The Count of Monte Cristo will always hold a special place in my heart, but this is a fabulous retelling with a Middle Eastern dijinn twist. Dania has been locked in a prison for a year, betrayed by her greatest love turned greatest betrayal. Now she is bent on revenge... no matter the cost. I loved the Pakistani setting, lovers turned enemies, plot, and pretty much everything about it. I feel like it was missing something to make this a true 5 star, but I still really enjoyed it. I highly recommend the audiobook, as well.

I don't think I have strong feelings toward this either way. It was very middle of the road in terms of books. I was initially very excited because I adore a "good for her story" and I wanted to dive into feminine rage, but things just fell flat in that department. We started pretty good and then things just kinda went downhill from there; not to a bad degree, just to a plateau where it seemed to stay until the end.

The main character overall is pretty good. She doesn't make the best decisions all the time, but I overall liked her enough and she doesn't seem to suffer from FMC syndrome. She is driven, and knows what she wants, and is also fiercely loyal, which I appreciate and can get behind. The side characters were also pretty good. They were entertaining and brought an extra layer to this, particularly her best friend.

My issue with the revenge plot line is that she doesn't follow through with it for more than a few chapters. She has revenge on her mind for a singular second and then as soon as she sees the MMC again it's all over. I'm not sure if I would have been able to forgive him as quickly as she did, but that is neither here nor there. The magic system was good enough, and I liked that we did get an actual interaction with a jin rather than just mentioning it. The romance was mid, and very obvious, the world-building next to nonexistent. There was a pretty good plot twist towards the end that I did not see coming, but I don't think I was invested enough in the plot or in love with our FMC enough to truly care about that choice.

Some of the writing did feel a little underdeveloped for me. I especially noticed it in the epilogue where everything was tied into a pretty bow. It seemed the most YA in that section, but that being said, I cannot judge a book for being "too YA" because I am not the audience this book was written for. However, I did want a bit more from this.

Overall, it was okay. Mostly forgettable and will fall into the background against other YA fantasy books I've read.

I previously have read this book but loved it so much I really wanted to listen to the audiobook. The narration was everything I hoped it to be and more.

5 ⭐ No notes.

I fell in love with Dania at the start - a badass swordswoman who was ready and waiting for her revenge. I was listening to the audio and felt connected to her and loved her inner thoughts and how she planned and plotted her revenge throughout the course of the book. I haven't read The Count of Monte Cristo in a very long time, so I can't speak to how true a retelling it is, but I love the threads I picked up on. I think the more I learned about Noor, the more I ended up liking her - she had a solid head on her shoulders while Dania was both struggling with her love and revenge.

Mazin was an interesting MMC. He and Dania had wonderful chemistry as they fought between their love and their goals. Everything he did to her helped fuel her rage and I love it.

The Djinn magic was not something I expected in this, but I adored the addition of it to the plot. Dania's struggle to resist the dark powers was a highlight for me in her development. Emily Varga is officially a must-read author for me. Though this was YA fantasy, it felt very mature and well-developed.

"But hope was a dangerous thing, because once taken away, it was impossible to feel more despair."

🗡️ Pakistani The Count of Monte Cristo retelling
🗡️ Enemies to Lovers
🗡️ Revenge & Betrayls
🗡️ Dual Timeline
🗡️ Slow Burn romance
🗡️ Female Rage

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio & Wednesday books for the eARC & ALC of For She is Wrath by Emily Varga for my honest review!

I thought I would love this because the Count of Monte Cristo is a classic that I consider a favorite. However, I think because it is a favorite, I struggled with this retelling. I think for readers/listener who have only a basic understanding of Count will enjoy this, but I found there was too much I could not get past. My basic issue is that the commitment to the revenge is lacking. I just didn't buy that they were willing to do anything to get it.

THis narrator was new to me, and I did enjoy her performance.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I've never actually read the Count of Monte Cristo so not sure how it compares but I enjoyed listening to this version of it! I wasn't totally invested in the main characters but enough to make it a good read. I enjoyed the narrator as well.

👉🏻 For my friends looking for a YA Pakistani romantic revenge fantasy.

FOR SHE IS WRATH by Emily Varga (Safiyya Ingar, Narrator)

🎧 Thanks, @Macmillan.audio, for the audiobook review copy. #macaudio2025 (Available now) 11 hours 52 minutes

Dania was framed for murder and sent to prison by the boy she loved. Joining forces with a fellow prisoner, she escapes and uses djinn treasure to change her appearance and seek revenge on those who wronged her.

This was a creative reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo, a story I’ve meant to read (but haven’t). I like revenge stories (okay, technically, I like justice stories, but isn’t justice just revenge wearing nicer shoes?), but this one was merely okay. While I was relatively entertained, I wasn’t emotionally invested in the characters or the story (maybe because it was YA?). I spent some of the listening time thinking about the difference between the terms revenge, avenge, vengeful, justice, etc.

The narrator was lovely, and I enjoyed her performance of the various characters.

For She is Wrath follows Dania, who has been imprisoned for a year for a crime she didn’t commit. When she meets Noor, a fellow prisoner, they hatch a plan to escape and exact revenge on the people responsible for ruining their lives.

The start of this book was so strong. I liked Dania’s strength and how committed she was to escape and vengeance. I also enjoyed how morally gray Dania was throughout the book and seeing how she plotted out her revenge.

The audiobook was excellent and I loved the narrator’s choice of voices for the different characters.

A very solid standalone YA romantasy. I love seeing new work by brown authors and this one packs a punch. Full of female rage, strong female friendships, and lots of good character development I really enjoyed this one from start to finish. Definitely recommend if you want a romantasy that’s low-investment (time wise, not emotions wise lol). And I would’ve loved this as a teenager omg.

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this audio book. The author did such an amazing job doing a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. It was such an interesting story, and a good retelling at the same time. I could not stop listening. I thought the characters were well done, and the book was full of adventure and romance among other thing. I don't want to spoil it too much. I can't wait to read more from this author. Also, the narration was well done! I highly recommend this book to the classic retelling fans and YA readers.

Thank you Net Galley, MacMillian Audio, and Emily Varga

An absolutely stellar debut. For She is Wrath is a retelling of the The Count of Monte Cristo, and while the first few chapters didn't quite hook me, the rest of the book was a clear 10/10. I think that The Count of Monte Cristo is such an interesting story to retelling in a genre (YA retellings) that can get oversaturated at times. And while it is a retelling, the author made this story her own. I loved these characters, the sense of adventure, the romance, and the themes. Additionally, I found that the author did a great job guiding the reader through the story. I wanted the main character to get vengeance when the author told me I should, I wanted a romantic resolution when she set one up ... she guides reader's hands so well. Overall I absolutely loved this and can't wait to see what this author puts out next.

3.5⭐️ If you liked Caraval in terms of the YA fantasy, no spice, not knowing who to trust with an easy to understand world then I think you would really like this! But like Caraval, this wasn’t my favorite fantasy. I got into it near the end and it was a fun time. The plot itself has nothing to do with Caraval but the writing and YA style gives similar vibes. The fmc is a sword masters daughter and she was framed for murder. She’s dead set on revenge against everyone who put her there, including her ex lover. I think this would’ve been better if it were a duology so we could’ve gotten more of her upbringing and relationship developemwnt so the betrayal could’ve hit harder, and so the internal character development with the fmc could’ve been dived into deeper. Overall it was fine and entertained me while I cleaned around the house and made me smile a few times, with a nice plot twist near the end. The narrater was great so would recommend the audiobook as well.

No spice & nearly no language use.

Thank you Netgalley for this audio ARC for review.

Boring, predictable, uninspired, bland. I've never read The Count of Monte Cristo so I can't compare the two, but this was just... Meh. The narrator was fantastic, though.

Overall: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Plotline: 4/5
World-Building: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Tropes: MF Romance; Second Chance; Secret Identity; Revenge; Slow Burn

Themes: 4.5/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Spice Factor: 1
Enjoyment Factor: 4/5

Audiobook: 4.5/5
Review: I love a good revenge story, and this is one of my new favorites. We get that anger and fury from Dani throughout the entire book, and watching her devolve from her need for vengeance was amazing to witness and was phenomenal character development. While a bit small, the djinn aspect was still really cool, and I love the lore around djinn. The romance was very slow, and we had to get much of the build-up in flashbacks, which was fine. I wanted more from the present-day with them. The climax was incredible, and I was glued to my headphones! The twist was very shocking, and I was not ready for it. I wish we got more from the emperor, as he was barely there the entire book. I liked this book and am excited to see more from this author.

This was highly anticipated, but I just didn’t love it as much as I expected to. It was decent, especially for a debut, but something about the book just didn’t quite stick it for me. Great narration though

I really enjoyed this book. It was amazing and I highly recommend it. The narration was also spot on especially now after having read the text format I can say that the narrator did an awesome job.

I really enjoyed this book! I will say I was skeptical because it’s a standalone and it seems a lot to pull off in a YA standalone but it worked.

I understood the characters and why they did what they did, I thought the pacing worked well. And the story hooked me from the beginning. There was so much tension and emotion: Overall it was a good time.

If you liked the count of monte cristo with a side of female rage then give this one a try!

Dania was a great female character and I really enjoyed her journey and the friendship she built, her rage and her capability. And despite being a standalone it managed to wrap up the whole arc without feeling overly rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Not my favorite thing I've read, but it definitely has an audience out there that will love it!

The things I liked:
-Super unique and interesting magic system.
-Really great female secondary character (Noor is the BEST character)
-A strong and rage-filled female MC
-beautiful descriptions of setting, food, and clothes
-nice twist towards the end

The things I didn't like:
-bad chemistry between female MC and male MC, honestly felt a LOT more chemistry between the two female leads, but alas...
-dragging pace at points, mostly due to Dania's internal dialogue feeling repetitive
-lackluster flashbacks. I got so frustrated each time there was a flashback. It felt like an unnecessary interruption each time because they rehashed information we already knew.