Review: Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: October 26, 2021  

Pages: 448

Source: Hardcover 

THE STORY:

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.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of Stalking Jack the Ripper Kerri Maniscalco comes the sizzling, sweepingly romantic sequel to Kingdom of the Wicked! 

BUY LINKS: Goodreads

RATING:

ONE-WORD REVIEW: ENTICING

TAG LINE:

One sister.

Two sinful princes.

Infinite deception with a side of revenge… Welcome to Hell.

OPENING LINE:

Once upon a cursed dawn, a king strode through his castle, his footsteps thundering down the corridor, sending even the shadows skittering away to avoid notice.

REVIEW:

This book was so fucking good!!! Do you know the tale as old as time: the sequel is worse than the first book? Well, that shit doesn’t apply here. When I tell y’all how Wrath had me wrapped around his damn finger. I am not kidding this demon man is so fucking hot he had my ovaries quivering. Haven’t lusted this hard after a fictional man since meeting Casteel for the first time ages ago.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝓊𝓈; 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒹𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒷𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓈."

The highlights of KINGDOM OF THE CURSED include devilish schemes, magic,  debauched masked galas, another interesting mystery, and Wrath even has pets!

KINGDOM OF THE CURSED also has some of our favorite tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forbidden, marriage of convenience (sort of? ), forced proximity.

“𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒸𝒾𝓇𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝑜𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓌𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽. 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓇𝓎.”

In this second installment of the KINGDOM OF THE WICKED series, the white magic witch Emilia di Carlo finds herself in the underbelly of Hell, ever more determined to discover which wicked Prince of Hell brutally murdered her sister, Vittoria. And she's even more willing to make any bargains necessary to find answers.

“𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝓂. 𝒫𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝒶 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝒷 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒹𝑒𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝓂.”

Now for the romance part. Our favorite enemies-to-lovers, forbidden lovers are back! And hotter than ever. I was so freaking stoked when I found out KINGDOM OF THE CURSED would be NA instead of YA like its predecessor. If any YA couple deserved smut it was Emilia and Wrath. Not only does Emilia find herself in the midst of Hell, caught between the wicked Princes of Hell. One prince in particular: Wrath. Wrath is powerful, cunning, and deliciously sinful. While Emilia is forced to work with Wrath to maneuver the nuances of Hell, she also tries to maneuver their growing attraction for one another. 

Temptation has never been more difficult to ignore.

Will she or won't she? As she tries to uncover her sister's murder, Emilia must do everything her power to not fall for Wrath's charms or under his alluring demonic influence.

“𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃.”

The plotting of KOTC was fantastically laid out with tantalizing mysteries and plot-twists upon plot-twists. Such delicious ones too! And the ending! Dear lord, talk about a scrumptious cliffhanger. And that's coming from someone who is not a fan of cliffhangers. Kerri also remained a master of wordplay and tension and her prose was as amazing as KOTW. She didn't disappoint.

“𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀, 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒.”

KINGDOM OF THE CURSED was fast-paced and it'll have you fully submerged in the world, desperate not to put the book down. I highly recommend KINGDOM OF THE CURSED! It was one of my top 5 favorite reads of 2021. Please, please just read KINGDOM OF THE WICKED and KINGDOM OF THE CURSED.

CHARACTERS:

EMILIA: I really connected with Emilia in KOTW and that remains true in KOTC. Though Emilia was the quieter, calmer, safe sister who lived by the rules and preferred fictional worlds over the dangerous real ones. That all changed when her sister was brutally murdered. Accepting her fate and willing to risk everything to uncover her sister's murderer, she married the Devil so she could infiltrate the Kingdom of the Wicked and find out which Prince of Hell was responsible for her sister's death. In KOTC, she was feisty, less reserved, and spicy.

“𝐼𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇, 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈.”

WRATH: Ever mysterious and intriguing, Wrath remains the most "human" compared to his brothers. I wanted to trust him so badly. To believe this coaxing, seductive demon Prince of Hell was capable of genuine feelings. Powerful, handsome, and more than a touch wicked, he's the sinfully perfect love interest I love reading.

“𝒯𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒,” 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹, 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓈𝓁𝒾𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓁𝓀 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝓁𝓊𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃. “𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉?” 𝑀𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈. “𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I'm mostly on instagram--where I'm always ready to talk fictional crushes and nerd out over books. (Okay, okay. And I've also been known to share snippets and teasers from my upcoming novels, if you're into that sort of thing...) Please feel free to chat with me there @KerriManiscalco. I love talking with fellow readers!

Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats.

She is the #1 NYT and USA Today bestselling author of the STALKING JACK THE RIPPER quartet. The final installment, CAPTURING THE DEVIL, will be released on 9/10/19. KINGDOM OF THE WICKED, the first in a new YA fantasy series, is slated for fall 2020.

Happy Reading!