Kingdom of the Feared (Kingdom of the Wicked #3) by Kerri Maniscalco | A Review

Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesn’t simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soul—but that’s something the enigmatic demon can’t promise her.
When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and she’s quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.
Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest that’s brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.
Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.
Two curses.
One prophecy.
A reckoning all have feared.
And a love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I was so excited for this book. It was on my anticipated reads list for September. I’ve been waiting for this book ever since I read Kingdom of the Cursed.

And yet, I opened this book and it… wasn’t good.

First of all, this series has always made me feel stupid. I’ve commented in the past how I feel like I’m missing something, but I’ve always figured that its just part of the mystery and that I’d understand later in the series. But when the third and final book leaves me still feeling like I’m stupid? No thanks.

This third book reveals a lot for the main plot of the series, but the part that annoys me the most is that a majority of the more important parts of the plot took place before the events of the first book. This leaves me feeling as though books one and two didn’t really matter, and I’m really concerned about the rereadability of this series. Why would anyone want to reread this story if the only important parts take place before the first book and in the second half of this book? Why should I recommend this book when so much of this plot doesn’t take place within the actual story?

I was also really annoyed with how much of this book was just a never-ending sex scene. I will admit, a big part of why I was excited for this book was because Kingdom of the Cursed did a really good job at ramping up the sexual tension between these characters and ended just before the sex scene, but there’s only so much mediocre sex I can read. Get off of each other and tell me the plot already!

I will say, however, that the idea of the plot was interesting. I can’t say much about it, as it’s major spoilers, but there was definitely an interesting story under all this unfortunate writing.

I’m upset by how hard this book flopped, and I’m definitely getting rid of my copies of the series.

Kingdom of the Cursed (Kingdom of the Wicked #2) by Kerri Maniscalco | A Review

After selling her soul to become Queen of the Wicked, Emilia travels to the Seven Circles with the enigmatic Prince of Wrath, where she’s introduced to a seductive world of vice.
She vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her beloved sister, Vittoria… even if that means accepting the hand of the Prince of Pride, the king of demons.
The first rule in the court of the Wicked? Trust no one. With back-stabbing princes, luxurious palaces, mysterious party invitations, and conflicting clues about who really killed her twin, Emilia finds herself more alone than ever before. Can she even trust Wrath, her one-time ally in the mortal world… or is he keeping dangerous secrets about his true nature?
Emilia will be tested in every way as she seeks a series of magical objects that will unlock the clues of her past and the answers she craves…
One sister.
Two sinful princes.
Infinite deception with a side of revenge… Welcome to Hell.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This book could be summed up by the 👀 emoji.

I mean, first of all, I don’t understand the main character, Emilia, in the beginning. Even reading this immediately after the first book in the series, I was looking at her questionable choices like… well… 👀

The beginning of this book is a bit rough as the characters journey between Emilia’s world and the Seven Circles. It felt to me, near the beginning of my own reading journey, as though the section didn’t really matter. Looking back on it now, I can see the slight meaning in this beginning journey, but it made for a rough reading experience on my first passthrough.

And then my notes have eleven 😍 emojis. Four for one note, seven for the next. I won’t spoil why, but I was certainly loving it.

This book is definitely a lot more character-focused than the first book. As someone who struggled a bit with the first book for being too plot-heavy, this definitely made this book much easier to read and enjoy. Our plot instead focuses on the main character transitioning into living in the new environment around her and learning not only its secrets, but her involvement in them.

But I was still left with so many questions upon the ending of this book. I’m eagerly awaiting the third book so I can understand this series a little better. And then maybe I’ll do a reread…

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco | A Review

Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The plot to this book is definitely intriguing.

Most of my notes on this book are based on plot related things. Me screaming in my phone’s notes app over things happening that I didn’t expect. On the wild ride this book took me through.

But it’s all factual. Nothing emotional.

I think that’s the main point I want to convey in this review: while the book itself was an interesting story that made me want to immediately jump into the sequel, there wasn’t anything emotionally binding me to this. I just found it… okay.

We focus on our main character, Emilia, who finds her sister’s dead body in the basement of a church. Even worse, she finds a man leaning over her dead sister’s body, licking her blood off of his fingers.

Yet this man isn’t her sister’s killer. Instead, the two work together to figure out who has been murdering young, female witches in the community. It takes her through many different secret aspects of not only her own witchy heritage, but the Wicked themselves.

The only bits of my notes that may be even slightly emotional are more closer to the end, near the setup for the next book. Having read the sequel before writing this review, I definitely am more invested in the sequel than I am this first book. But as a foundation for this world and the two sisters’ stories, this book felt just… okay.