Kingdom of the Wicked Review

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Today, I am reviewing Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco.

 Set in Sicily, Italy I could not resist picking up this book! This was my first book I bought from Maniscalco and the language was very accessible to me and the whole world created in this book was easy to get lost in! Kingdom of the Wicked will really have you inhaling the words and on edge as the pages keep turning!

 

The plot follows Emilia Di Carlo, an eighteen year old witch as she seeks revenge as she tries to unmask who murdered her twin sister, Vittoria. To add some spice, they both come from a family of witches who choose to perform light magic (instead of dark magic where you have to make a sacrifice for each spell). There are a lot of old, dark curses and unsaid spells kept from the twins but they seem to catch up to them in the present. Emilia and Vittoria at least know that there are seven dangerous princes of hell that are destined to return one day and bring chaos. 

 

Naturally, in her grieving and curious state, Emilia performs a dark magic summoning spell she found in her sister's hidden stash of items. This was a big red flag because no one in her family is meant to perform dark magic yet her sister had all these dark mysterious secrets that we have to read to find out because she's DEAD (I really was getting into the book at this point, such spice). The spell is successful (yay!) and she summons a demon (with a very ornate gold dagger) and is surprised he's not any regular demon but the royal kind; a prince of hell!!! 

 

Wrath is everything that he is hyped up to be and goodness gracious, was he FINE. I was infatuated with him and his little snide remarks he would have with Emilia, constantly flirting and bickering with an occasional threat to kill her (so charming, right?). You can really see Emilia's strong character in this book as well, I mean, she is abandoning her shy, private shell and seeking revenge and death, all for her twin sister!(can truly see her love for family)Try telling me she isn't a badass witch! 

 

Emotionally, this book left me hungry when I finished it. Is this it? The book is done? I've been reading for 5 hours straight? My bad. To have a book take me in and refuse to fall asleep (abandoning the characters if I were to nod off) showcases the brilliant writing skills of Kerri Maniscalco and I'm sure others also experienced this reading frenzy. I was mesmerised by the plot of this book and my emotions went from happy, to angry, to sad, to shocked, to giggly, to shocked, to happy continuously, and I'm nearly certain Kerri Maniscalco put a spell on ME!

 

To sum up my emotions and thoughts, here is the process of me reading Kingdom of the Wicked;

Beginnings: All is going well, death! Ooh! Sad period, mystery...

Middles: spicy, revenge, stubborn! Flirty, death, death, shocked, spicy, sad, hotties! Evil, anger, don't accept offers! Demons!

Ends: shocked, shocked, spicy, spicy, crying, sobbing, must finish why am I still crying, shocked, happy, shocked again, END and needing MORE.

 

To conclude, I highly recommend this book as once you pick it up, you really won't be putting it down or going to sleep until you finish it. I cannot praise this book any higher than I already am! Now all that's left to do is wait on edge until October 2021 when the next book is out!

Turtles All The Way Down Review

 

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

Rating:⭐⭐⭐

This book is about a sixteen year old girl named Aza who is investigating the mystery behind the missing fugitive billionaire named Russel Pickett for a hundred-thousand dollar prize reward with her best friend Daisy. She gets connected again with her old friend ,Davis, who is Pickett's son. Aza also happens to have other problems; her never ending trail of "spiral" thoughts.

Throughout the book I could see Aza's struggles with herself as she kept changing the plaster on her finger, and I felt truly sorry for her as I know what she’s going through. Aza proceeded to keep talking about her finger during the rest of the book which is understandable due to her Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder but eventually started to drink hand sanitizer?! This was alarming and might have triggered some individuals out there or give them thoughts they might not have considered before but I understand the character could not separate the thoughts of bacteria from her mind.

From start near finish, Aza kept putting aside her feelings for Davis as she thought that even though she cared, she feared for herself and for David in the case of them both having C-diff and bacteria transfer from kids and what not. This is only one of John Green's books that I wasn't able to completely devour in a night and took me almost a week to finish. I find that John Green’s books have quite similar plot lines with the same/similar main characters near similar endings in all texts.
I don't feel as if this was an accurate representation of how anxiety actually feels personally but different people interpret and have different forms of anxiety. My own experiences of anxiety and OCD were quite different from Aza as her own took her down a different path of action.

Overall, this young adult book by Mr. John Green was decent and I might read it again in the future where I might find the character more relatable and less irritating at times but I highly doubt my feelings on this book shall change. Not my favourite John Green book but certainly not the worst so I will give Turtles All The Way Down a 3.2/5 as I enjoyed the aspects of mystery and learning about OCD and anxiety from another’s perspective.

The Cruel Prince Review

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of The Air #1) by Holly Black

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 "Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop."

This book just has to be one of the best works from Holly Black that I have read to date. With a story following a mortal girl, in a world where Fey and faeries are above all, come and join Jude on her journey as she attempts to prove to all of them that she is just as good as they are.

This YA high fantasy book seems to have put a spell on me! It felt like I was being drawn into a faerie dance and I could not stop. Learning Jude's story of how she was taken to the Land of the Fey with her sisters was interesting to the say the least. The Fae are described in a striking way; with tails like different animals, some with horns and a plethora of exceptional hair and eye colours. Tormented, bullied and degraded for years for being herself(a mortal) Jude finally had enough. She decided to strike back against the greatest mortal hater of them all, Prince Cardan.

Once I picked up this book, I could not put it back down. I was obsessed with Cardan's quirky and effortlessly rude demeanour. He was nearly always bored with everyone and everything yet somehow he was obsessed with making Jude's life hell. "Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?" There was real depth to Cardan aside from his snide remarks, he was a victim himself of cruelty, like Jude. Cardan was abused, degraded and pushed by his brother Prince Balekin.

Cardan wasn't a sweet, gentle guy like you would expect to find as a main character but personally, I found the snarky, sarcastic comments made him all the more suitable for Jude.

Jude's character is fierce, yet scared. I find this makes her quite a strong female lead as she has everything to loose if anything goes wrong (Or if her secrets are discovered). She puts on this façade of confidence and fearlessness, all while hoping they don't sense her unease. "If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry. I would hurt you back".

This book I must give a rating of 5/5 as it had many twists and turns I did NOT expect. This book is near flawless in my eyes, but no book is perfect! (This book is very close to perfection as a book can get). I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Red Queen(Victoria Aveyard), The Mortal Instruments(Cassandra Clare) and Three Dark Crowns(Kendare Blake).