So excited to read this book but hate that the books are delivered with tears on the front or back page…I take very good care of my books so it does bother me.
This book was everything a sequel should be! In this installment we find Emilia in hell and engaged to the Devil. And this version of hell is lush and atmospheric. Each brother has luxurious palaces and their own agendas. Emilia is still trying to find out what happened to Vittoria but she's also learning new things about herself. We find out there's more to Wrath than meets the eye. I am team Wrath all the way! He really treats Emilia like a queen and gives her the tools she needs to survive in this new world. I loved that even though she constantly pushes him away he is there for her and always has her back. Emilia has grown a lot in this book and is ready to find out the truth of her lineage. Emilia and Wrath's chemistry is so thick you can cut it with a knife. I just know when they finally come together it's going to be magical! I couldn't put this book down I had to know what happened next and the last few chapters of the book blew my mind! I'm so ready to see what happens next!"Love and hate are both rooted in passion.""And there is nothing more dangerous than love is there? People fight for it. They die for it. They commit acts of war and treason and all manners of sin in it's name.""Make no mistake Emilia when I go to my knees before you, it will be to conquer not surrender.""You look like a beautiful cataclysm.""Your pride didn't appear in that bone circle that night you spilled blood and summoned me. It was your wrath. Your fury."
MUST HAVE SERIES TO READ! I FLEW THROUGH THE SECOND BOOK!
This story is too simple. The story is so drawn out & redundantHoping the third one is better than the first two. It’s good enough but I probably wouldn’t recommend to others as of now.
Good grief. Sooooo muchhhh interior monologue where Emilia goes over every single stinkin’ theory she has. Drags out like the first half of Onyx Storm. Morally gray book bf and steamy scenes are hot, slow burn for sure, but he is as frustrating to hear talk as she is because he can’t talk about the curse she’s trying to figure out. Still only got two of like eight answers, so I’m hoping the next book puts a nice bow on it.
This book had me from the beginning pages, I love the banter and sexual tension. I had my theories as I read and was not disappointed
This book was more an exploration of the Kingdom of the Wicked and Emilia’s truth. I’d say some parts are confusing. Who’s cursed? Who knows what? Who’s who? Who’s telling the truth? 🤣 It was intriguing as well as slightly frustrating. I turned the pages as fast as I could because I NEEDED to know what the heck was going on. Lol!And because of all that chaos, it was kind of hard to understand Emilia. Did she fall for Wrath? Or was that already part of who she was? Was she and/or her twin evil? Who really are they???And Wrath. Poor Wrath. Who was probably cursed to say a limited amount of the truth. I can’t wait for his HEA. He deserves so much more.4⭐️3🌶️
I like the story.Sure sometimes things were very obvious and the fmc took way too long to figure it out, but I wanted to know what kept happening after so it was good to me.
Book 2 was just as good as book 1. It explores more the world the Sins come from, leaving bread crumbs that will be followed into book 3. It does seem a little stretched out pacing wise, but it is well worth as I felt the false trails and exploring the world was vital to the overall series. The twist!! I wasn't expecting that one.
⭐️: 4.5 rounded UP🌶️: 3.5 maybe 4 (but the slow burn is 🔥)Kerri Manascalco… I LOVED this book. It was beyond immersive and so authentic. I truly felt like I was traveling through hell with how descriptive it was.Kingdom of the Cursed dives even deeper into the seductive and mysterious world introduced in Kingdom of the Wicked. Emilia’s journey continues into Hell’s realm with even higher stakes, richer world-building, and an intriguing blend of romance and danger.The pacing is brisk, and Emilia’s character development is strong—she’s more determined and willing to take risks, making her growth so satisfying to witness. The chemistry between Emilia and Wrath is electric and delightfully complex, with a slow-burn romance that keeps your toes curling with anticipation. Maniscalco does an impressive job at exploring themes of power, revenge, and temptation in ways that feel engaging and layered. I love how we get to meet additional characters within this book, all well developed and playing a central role to the plot, like Envy, Pride, Gluttony, Lust. The twists and turns, are beyond suspenseful which only makes the turn of events that much more mysterious. I’m anticipating an action packed 3rd book as Emilia’s desire, wrath, and heartbreak lets loose!!!However, there are moments where the world-building and plot twists can feel a bit over defined, and at times I felt like the story lingers too long on certain scenes. Despite this, the novel keeps you hooked, and the atmospheric writing draws you into every sinister, gorgeous detail of the world.Overall, Kingdom of the Cursed is a truly immersive read that will appeal to those who love dark fantasy and slow-burn romance. This is a completed series so there is no waiting to dive into the next installment and find out what happens next.
“Acta non verba”Actions, not words.Emilia has entered Hell in order to seek out the Devil to continue her path of vengeance regarding her sister’s death. First, she must travel through the Sin Corridor to get to her new home with Wrath guiding her. Once Emilia reaches the House of Wrath and gets settled she is greeted with two speaking skulls in Vittoria’s voice resulting in more mysteries surrounding her death. As Emilia starts to dig into her past along with Vittoria’s death she finds more questions than answers and learns she was left in the dark about a lot of things concerning her family, her twin, and herself. She also must unravel her feelings towards Wrath and decide if she wants to accept the bond she unknowingly created. While trying to figure all of this out Emilia must also concentrate on training with Anir and Wrath regarding the Festival of the Wolf, where she is to be the guest of honor resulting in sharing her biggest fear.Throughout this book Emilia’s journey involves staying the night at House of Envy, stealing back the first book of spells, getting cursed, Wrath saving her at the Festival of the Wolf, learning secrets kept from her, finding an answer regarding her twin, and making an important choice giving in to her desires.I finished this book Valentine’s Day morning before heading to work and was screaming! This book was fantastic and I devoured it! This is the sequel to Kingdom of the Wicked and it also earned 5/5 stars. There was a lot more spice to this, but I found it to be mild for my preference. I would give it a 3/5 spicy rating.
The story of KOTC picks up where we left off at the end of KOTW. Emilia agreed to marry the devil to find out what happened to her sister.Here, Emilia needs to learn to look at things differently. That makes her struggle with herself and her beliefs. But also with her sins and desires (since Hell magnifies and influences them). She tries to battle her attraction to the prince of Wrath while being betrothed to the prince of Pride. And instead of getting closer to solving her twin's murder, she's left with more questions and secrets to unravel.What I really enjoyed was the world-building. It's perfect! I love the description of Hell! Be it the places there, the Houses of sins, the princes of Hell (or the Wicked if you want), or their signature sins. We get to meet some new characters and get to know the princes of Hell more. They are all so interesting! I loved reading about them.Of course, I can't forget the food. Reading some of the descriptions made me hungry. Gluttony, much?This book is definitely in the new adult genre since there is more spice in the second book compared to the first one. The heat between Emilia and Wrath is.Overall I couldn't put it down, and I can't wait to get my hands on the Kingdom of the Feared!
** major spoilers ahead**I wasn’t thrilled with the first book, but I was still holding out hope that what I found the first book lacking in would amount to secrets/plot twists that would be revealed in the second.I wasn’t entirely wrong, but boy was I bored.Most of this book was a struggle to read. As I said in my review of the first book, the story has such an amazing foundation for a truly magic, dark, forbidden romance with an intricate plot and beautifully built characters and world. How Maniscalco dropped the ball this badly, I’ll never know. I can’t even tell you what happened in this story because NOTHING. HAPPENED.The Sin Corridor was intriguing, but once again Emilia was the damsel in distress who got sick or hurt and needed to be saved by Wrath. Of course she made it out completely unscathed, we can’t have Emilia facing any consequences.There are so many times Emilia throws herself into a situation out of pride or anger or god only knows what where she absolutely should face some consequences, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t even get a scar from any of the injuries she sustains in the first or last book.The one consequence she faced was losing her magic for stealing a grimoir, and there was absolutely no sense of urgency over it?? Not once did it hinder Emilia. She told no one, didn’t do anything to get it back, and only had the Crone return her magic in one of the last chapters just because. There were many opportunities for interesting scenes- visiting other circles and dealing with culture clashes and snobbery from nobles, running into unique monsters and demons and being actually put in danger for once (which would’ve made her losing her magic actually interesting), or the princes actually being the embodiments of SIN and trying to mess with her instead of handing her clues and tips for the “mystery” of who she was and what happened to her sister.Despite the boring chapters of training to resist the emotional influences of the princes of sin and the HUGE hype around the feast of wolves, the feast was the most lack luster event possible. Big whoop, people publicly fornicating- no one tried to mess with Emilia, Pride was boring as all get out, and NO ONE HAD TO EXPOSE THEIR GREATEST FEAR. There could’ve been some actual danger and interesting experiences with Emilia or Wrath being faced with their biggest fears, but no. And I would’ve LOVED reading about the traditional hunt and seeing what an ice dragon could’ve done, but of course we had to follow Emilia’s little solo trek across the circles to find some convenient plant that knocks a prince out. And when she returns and meets Pride, the literal devil, he’s the most boring and weak minded character to the point Emilia corners him into a deal. Very “and the y/n saved the day because they’re just so badass and impeccably dressed.” And can we talk about the princes?? In the first book they actually inspired fear, but in this one they’ve taken on the much unearned status of lovable villains. Oh, and we haven’t even met Sloth yet.Emilia is one of the hardest main characters to root for I’ve ever encountered. She follows no lines of logic, quickly makes friends with a girl in hell just because she’s nice to her and decides to consider her her new bff, and you can not tell if she loves or hates Wrath at any given point. Yes “there’s a fine line” and all that, but I’ve read enemies to lovers before and there was always a defined progression of affections, maybe with a few hindrances along the way. Emilia flip flops from using Wrath for her own gains to suddenly being in love then back to using him. She finally decides at the literal end of the book to consummate their marriage bond, and even then it’s in the hopes of breaking whatever spell or curse or whatever it is I’m supposed to care about that blocks out her memories of whoever she really is.The plot was boring- too many things happened for convenience sake so Emilia didn’t have to work for anything, as always. The food and clothing descriptions received more attention than the actual plot. Wrath being king was not a shocker, I had that one figured out with the first book. Emilia STILL had not expanded her magic (we won’t even talk about her “big emotional explosion of magic” at the end being a fire flower. Like, really?). The big interesting climax event resulted in Emilia and Wrath being forced to get off rather than share one or the others biggest fear (oh nooooo). Emilia’s constant inner dialogue was drawn out, boring, overwhelming, and honestly? Confusing. Maniscalco threw so many theories at us, I honestly couldn’t find a reason to care. I still don’t care that Emilia might be someone cursed to forget who she really is. I kind of don’t care that Vittoria might be alive either. This book did little to make me want to read the third. The many typos did not help.To be quite honest, there’s not much in this second book to make me want to continue reading this series.
TLDR: 4.2/5 stars | 2.0/5 chili peppers.Every book two is a transition book. It's what authors do with that transition that makes or breaks a series. And Kerri Maniscalco does EXACTLY what you're supposed to do.Throughout this book, Emilia is almost blinded by her need to avenge her sister's death, and that provides an excellent writing device for her to discover aspects of the Seven Realms and their charming leaders without the From Blood and Ash headache of asking a million questions. Emilia is growing, and we see it in every moment she finds out something new or becomes more confident in herself.Now is this story perfect? No. There are a few times she "figures something out" that in no world would be possible for her to guess. And even if it was possible, there would be like 10,000 other equally valid explanations for the thing she's figuring out, but her guess always is the right one. This, however and in my humble opinion, is made up by the absolutely flabbergasting twists at the end which I will not spoil but OHMYGOD.One of my other favorite aspects of this series is that I don't hate the rulers of each of the realms. While they are certainly worthy of a little weariness, all of the leaders we've met (including and especially Lust, Greed, Pride, and Gluttony) are all incredibly interesting, and I can't wait to see how their motivations play out moving forward.This book also gave me back something I've been missing in my life--a love for pining. Wrath and Emilia, the absolute idiots that they are, are so obviously smitten with each other and so OBVIOUSLY pissed about it I basically laughed through the whole book. The spice was limited to the "everything but" category, but even then I was hot under the collar. Emilia's inability to admit to herself any feelings for Wrath is genuinely frustrating and hilarious, and I'm glad girlfriend is getting her head out of her ass, because I was about to climb into that book and steal Wrath for myself. He is currently in my Top 5 Book Boyfriends, among such greats as Ruhn Danaan, Dorian Havillaird, Cassian, and Hades from Neon Gods.All in all, I will sit here staring at this book until September when #3 comes out. Pray for me.
Be still, my beating heart.Kingdom of the Cursed had all the right ingredients to capture my heart. Had the right players, the right lines, and the right plot.Dear Reader,I am a woman of simple pleasures and Kingdom of the Cursed has attempted to ruin me for the next 5 books I have yet to read. How can I just move on? How can I IGNORE THAT ENDING? THE CRUMBS OF CLUES MANISCALCO LEFT FOR US IN THIS BOOK!!I sit awake into the long hours of the night just wondering, thinking, about Wrath and Emilia. Of all the secrets shown to us. Of all the other possible clues given to us in Kingdom of the Wicked that I oversaw.How did I feel?I absolutely loved this book. From the world-building to the character development, this book has made its way to be a top favorite. I could see the contents of the book painted vividly in my mind. I was swept away into an amazing, steamy, and mysterious adventure 😉I was half tempted to make one of those boards cops make to figure out who the murderer was and who were key players in the game. Maniscalco added the right amount of suspicion in each character, at one point I even suspected the main character herself.Kingdom of the Cursed gave me that first-time love feeling. You know the one, in where the contents of the book takes your breath away, your heart beats faster as more situations arise, and you find yourself thinking about the book after you’ve closed it for the night.What did I Like?“One thing I can promise,” his voice was deep and sensual in the dark,”is you won’t ever doubt it’s real when I touch you.”Emilia: Her character development was a delight to read. Her growth in this book was empowering.Wrath: If Cassian and Azriel fused together, Wrath would be the outcome. The right amount of Cocky, Respectful, and self-sacrificing.Gluttony: Favorite brother so far despite his debauchery.The world-building: Who would’ve imagined Hell to be such a beautifully gothic place. The map in the beginning pages of the book helped cement the descriptions in place. I was sucked into this world, I saw the colors, tasted the winds, and felt the frost at the tip of my lips.The Teasing: I’m a sucker for teasing. The steamy scenes were so well done and well placed. They weren’t overly crude and left you wanting more of them. Especially that ending!“I chose a violent, bloody shade of red and painted my lips the color of murder instead”What did I not like?Despite being an automatic favorite, there were some parts that seemed to have been rushed. I would’ve liked the book to have been longer instead of having those realizations/moments rushed for the sake of moving along the story. It could’ve been an editor choice….but I’m hoping that the next book allows those moments of realization to come more naturally. Give us longer books! WE WOULDN’T COMPLAIN!! haha!
You know I’m down for the fact this novel has twice as much romance (and debauchery) as the last. I love the little hints left from the very beginning that build to a reveal towards the end. I ESPECIALLY enjoy the fact that Emilia doesn’t spend half this book embarrassing herself, and finally finds confidence.What I did not enjoy, was feeling like I was reading a MC list thousands of maybes and conspiracy theories about everything without anything about those theories actually solidifying. Towards the end I thought we might as well call Nicholas Cage because Emilia’s inner dialogue started to sound like National Treasure. Because of this, some major plot reveals felt like nothing because Emilia had discussed 13 possible things that object or person might be. But then with other reveals, she had apparently wondered about them this WHOLE time but you didn’t read about THOSE guesses!If one positive thing can be pulled out of that, it’s that Maniscalco is very good at creating elaborate riddles for Emilia to ponder, while writing only small hints about details that she wants you, the reader, to figure out. How *wicked* of her. *buh-dum-tss*As for the rest - honestly pretty great romance, though I did start counting the number of times I read the word “pleasure”. The world building continues to be interesting, and despite my frustrations I am definitely excited to read the third and see where this insane witch hunt takes us.
After the cliffhanger at the end of Kingdom of the Wicked, we find friendly foes Emilia and Wrath begrudgingly heading to the underworld together. After they've each taken turns betraying each other, they have to forge a fragile alliance to get her to her betrothed. But upon arriving in the underworld, things don't go quite as planned. Emilia's trip to the house of Pride is delayed as more questions and conflicts between houses arise. All the while, she continues to search for the truth of what happened to Vittoria. Emilia can't deny the magnetic pull she feels to Wrath, but she has to steel herself against his charms to enact her revenge. That should be easy, right?Kerri Maniscalco has once again thrown us for a loop in Kingdom of the Cursed. And then another. And another. And she's thrown in a few red herrings to keep it interesting. All jokes aside, there is no end to the twists in the series thus far. The layered plotline and seemingly meaningless details all add up to an enthralling puzzle from beginning to end. Every new revelation will make you question what you thought you knew about where the plot was headed. The pacing is so good you won't be able to put it down.On top of the plot, Emilia is the type of protagonist it's easy to adore. As in book one, there are moments where it's clear that she's in over her head a bit, but she pushes through every time. Emilia doesn't allow her naivety to overshadow her inner strength. She can be feisty and fierce and still be empathetic and kind. Watching her grow and find her fire is just as enthralling as the endless plot twists. And the tension between Emilia and Wrath is so, so thick. Truly nothing is better than the forbidden fruit. Their chemistry is scorching. I'm not saying anything else because we don't do spoilers here. Just go read it. Trust me.I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about this novel. Other than the fact that it stole hours and hours of sleep from me.Five out of five stars. It has an incredible plotline with lots of layers and mysteries interwoven together, coupled with complex characters and gorgeous imagery.There is some mild violence and some mature intimate content. Because of that, I would only recommend this novel to readers 18+. But if you're looking for a fully immersive dark fantasy with occult influences and a steamy enemies-but-not subplot, this is an incredible read. If you thought the first book was great, this one is even more intense. I need more Wrath and Emilia content ASAP.
I loved, loved, loved the first book in the series so much I pre-ordered the second... it was not great.Kingdom of the Cursed begins with Emilia and Wrath traveling through the Sin Corridor. It's a test of sorts to figure out which Sin she best aligns with, and it's no surprise in which House she has the most traits. I really liked the idea of Emilia being tested right from the start, and I loved Wrath at her side the whole way.The story was repetitive throughout. Every time she described Wrath it was the same and although I loved the character, I was bored of hearing how powerful he was, and how everyone feared him. I also grew bored of the lengthy details of every outfit Emilia and Wrath wore.Most of the time it felt as if finding out who murdered her sister was an afterthought that was mentioned now and again as the story progressed as a reminder of what her goals are.Now for the Spoliery reasons why I didn't love this book. If you don't want to know, stop reading....***********Several chapters were devoted to training Emilia how to recognize the subtle touch of one of the princes influencing and bending her to their will. Over and over again, Wrath states that if she doesn't learn to protect herself from their influence, she'll suffer for it at the Feast of the Wolf... and yet she doesn't. Not once during the whole celebration of the Feast of the Wolf does any prince try to use his influence on her, making the training meaningless. I kept waiting for her to show off what she learned in all her lessons, and I was sorely disappointed.Although, that bothered me a great deal, what happened next at the Feast of Wolf made me want to throw my book at the wall. Throughout the book it is stated that the Guest of Honor will have to give up one fear to the crowd. Emilia is afraid of what fear will be exposed, and of how it could be used against her. I loved the idea of how a secret fear revealed could easily raise the stakes for her. Moreover, I wanted Wrath to step in to offer up one of his secrets to protect her. I came to the conclusion that Kerri couldn't come up with a good fear for Wrath, and subverted expectations with a cringeworthy alternative.Why it took Emilia so long to figure out that Wrath was the King, I'll never guess. I guessed it right from when he was left to accompany her to Hell, and everything he and his subjects said, made it all the more clear.I'll likely read the third book to see how it ends as I do really like Emilia and Wrath.
Things to know:-Second in trilogy-Witches and magic-Romance and Spice 🌶⚠️ Warning synopsis will contain some spoilers for the first book ⚠️Synopsis: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.cThe 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…Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️So I thought I loved Kingdom of the Wicked (which I did, also a 5 star read for me), but Kingdom of the Cursed kicked it up to 100!!! I am still reeling from this book. I loved it so much I have no words. The plot is genius and the slow burn romance is *chefs kiss.* The only thing I’m sad about is having to wait for book 3! This snap back to reality after finishing this book gave me whiplash. Have you ever connected with a book so deeply you felt as if you we’re living the story? Like the story was a part of you? Kingdom of the Cursed did just this and the shock from reentering reality is crazy!I cannot recommend this trilogy enough! Seriously thank you so much Kerri Maniscalco for sharing your wonderful writing skills with us. 🖤
