Do you ever pick up a book that’s a few years old and think, I should’ve read this sooner? I had this with This Vicious Grace. This book released in 2022, and I even have an eARC of it, but I finally sat down to read it. So today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought!
A big thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches.
Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.
Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?
Emily Thiede’s exciting fantasy debut, This Vicious Grace, will keep readers turning the pages until the devastating conclusion and leave them primed for more!
Review
This Vicious Grace released in 2022, and I’m mad at myself for not reading this one sooner! The world, the magic, the characters, the romance, and how everything came together had me hooked from the beginning. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write my review for the past few days. I want to say so much, but I also really think this is a book you need to experience for yourself.
Alessa is an interesting main character. She’s the Finestra and her gifts are supposed to save her country from the demons that can come and destroy everything and everyone. To do this she needs to find her magical partner (Fonte) to help her. The only problem is that she’s had three Fontes and they’ve all died after touching her. Politics and people who believe she isn’t the best thing for her country decide to try and take her down, so she hires her own bodyguard, Dante.
Alessa is a great main character. Even though she’s scared of hurting another person with her gifts and letting down her country, she doesn’t feel sorry for herself or try to take the easy way out. She’s clearly going to fight for her people and maybe even traditions that just don’t suit her or her needs anymore. Alessa is stubborn, caring, powerful, and willing to sacrifice everything for her people.
On top of that, we start to get a slow burn romance with Dante. He seems like a tough one at the start, but there’s so much more to Dante and he’s so protective. Seeing Dante and Alessa slowly get close and care for the other was so heartwarming. I loved that we got a romance, but that it didn’t take over the story. Add some amazing side characters as we meet all of the possible Fontes and I was hooked. I can’t wait to read the sequel!
I really love when a book pulls you in right from the start. At the moment I’m typing this, I’m about halfway through the sequel to This Vicious Grace and I’m loving it. What was the last “older” book you picked up and loved? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
