Title: This Vicious Grace
Author: Emily Thiede
Series: The Last Finestra, #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (UK) / Wednesday Books (US)
Pages: 448
Release Date: 28 June 2022
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Hello fellow book lovers, I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Today I’m back with a review for Emily Thiede’s magical debut, This Vicious Grace. It’s an utterly thrilling YA fantasy that’s full of heart, humour and a swoon-worthy romance that I literally couldn’t get enough of!
Synopsis
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?
Review
I absolutely loved every second of this, the world building was incredible and the opening line “Three Weddings. Three Funerals. A better person would’ve been devastated.” was just so attention grabbing, I knew that it was gonna be good!
With vividly lush prose and mouth-wateringly delectable descriptions, Emily Thiede’s stunning fantasy weaves a gorgeously lush tale of connection, self doubt and self love with nuanced and emotionally complex characters I couldn’t get enough of.
Alessa, our protagonist was a wonderfully relatable and endearing character with a sharp wit, but the isolation and loneliness of her role (and her deadly abilities) has left her touch starved and craving any form of interaction—which I’m sure many will resonate with given the lockdowns and self isolation we’ve all endured the past few years.
The pacing did start off a little slow but, once Dante enters Alessa’s orbit and agrees to be her bodyguard things really start to get interesting. Dante is the perfect book boyfriend, he puts her first even in the early stages of their friendship (which I loved), he’s a self confessed book nerd and his cynical, bad boy grumpy demeanour pairs perfectly with Alessa’s more sunshine-y personality.
His chemistry with Alessa was also fabulously swoon-worthy and the slow burn build up between the two was absolutely perfect—not to mention all the witty, innuendo filled banter we a treated to. Trust me there’s no way you’ll be rooting for anyone but these two in this Serpent & Dove meets The Bodyguard YA fantasy.
The ending was an action packed and emotion-filled fight fest which I really enjoyed, I’ll admit I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of it and in constant worry mode for all my favourite characters. I won’t go into too much detail but I will say that I’m now eagerly awaiting the sequel to see what happens next.
Overall, This Vicious Grace is a beautifully written and plot-twisty found family, forbidden/ friends to lovers romance that’s full of gorgeous prose, pithy Italian proverbs and a fantastic cast of characters that fans of YA fantasy or Kerri Maniscalco’s The Kingdom of The Wicked are bound to fall head over heels for.
Also, a huge thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the e-arc.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5
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