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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I thought I couldn’t love this book anymore than I did the first. I was dead wrong. I am foaming at the mouth for book 3.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, War
Dark romance
While I did enjoy A Court of Sugar & Spice a lot more, I still had a lot of fun reading this book.
I loved the Alice vibes with The White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat and Rebecca’s take on the Queen of Hearts. It was so dark and I loved it. I like when morally grey characters are genuinely morally grey and just not A-holes and people call them morally grey. The White Rabbit was genuinely a questionable character but I loved him for it.
I loved reading more of Fin & Clara. I loved seeing how strong Clara is and learning more about her background. The plot kept me on edge and I didn’t feel like the story dragged at all. Between the two plot lines, I was entertained the whole time.
That ending has me eager for the next book though. I’m so ready to see where the story and characters go next!
I loved the Alice vibes with The White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat and Rebecca’s take on the Queen of Hearts. It was so dark and I loved it. I like when morally grey characters are genuinely morally grey and just not A-holes and people call them morally grey. The White Rabbit was genuinely a questionable character but I loved him for it.
I loved reading more of Fin & Clara. I loved seeing how strong Clara is and learning more about her background. The plot kept me on edge and I didn’t feel like the story dragged at all. Between the two plot lines, I was entertained the whole time.
That ending has me eager for the next book though. I’m so ready to see where the story and characters go next!
adventurous
medium-paced
Very spicy, so be warned - but the story is actually super fun.
I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.
I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this was even better than the first, which is rare in trilogies. Less steam with more action-filled plot, but still firmly in hyper spice territory. Definitely will be reading the third book.
Check content warnings before reading!
Check content warnings before reading!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Curiosity is the dagger on which we impale ourselves.”
Kenney has made it a literary habit of taking a fairy tale and spinning it into a fresh, spicy retelling.
Where some fantasy retellings prioritize romance at the expense of plot and world-building, the Wicked Darlings series achieves quite the opposite.
This book takes us back to Faerie with some of the characters we’ve come to love and swoon over - like Sugarplum and Clara - but we are also thrust into a new fairy tale backdrop this time: Alice in Wonderland.
The newly-introduced characters - Cat, the White Rabbit, Hatter, among others - are just as chaotic and magnetic as others we’ve come to know. Well, perhaps a little more so, but what kind of an Alice in Wonderland retelling would it be without a little madness?
The new Unseelie queen, the Eater of Hearts, is hell-bent on eating all the hearts of Faerie and in turn creating horrific zombie-like creatures known as Heartless. When Alice is kidnapped by the White Rabbit, along with a dangerously magical tome, it is up to Clara and Sugarplum to save her from her new captors and the mad queen, and prevent the tome from landing in the wrong hands.
Kenney does such a fantastic job of paying homage to the magic and madness of the source material while twisting Alice’s story into something entirely new and chaotic and wonderful and heartbreaking.
The spice, albeit fantastic, takes more of a step back in this sequel, with an intense plot at the forefront. Every chapter has purpose, even with the multiple POVs we’re given with characters both old and new.
Overall, I’m so happy this was my first 2024 read. I can’t wait to dive into the next one and see where Faerie takes me this time. Hopefully somewhere with pretty, fantastical characters and unhinged magic - but no Heartless, please.
Kenney has made it a literary habit of taking a fairy tale and spinning it into a fresh, spicy retelling.
Where some fantasy retellings prioritize romance at the expense of plot and world-building, the Wicked Darlings series achieves quite the opposite.
This book takes us back to Faerie with some of the characters we’ve come to love and swoon over - like Sugarplum and Clara - but we are also thrust into a new fairy tale backdrop this time: Alice in Wonderland.
The newly-introduced characters - Cat, the White Rabbit, Hatter, among others - are just as chaotic and magnetic as others we’ve come to know. Well, perhaps a little more so, but what kind of an Alice in Wonderland retelling would it be without a little madness?
The new Unseelie queen, the Eater of Hearts, is hell-bent on eating all the hearts of Faerie and in turn creating horrific zombie-like creatures known as Heartless. When Alice is kidnapped by the White Rabbit, along with a dangerously magical tome, it is up to Clara and Sugarplum to save her from her new captors and the mad queen, and prevent the tome from landing in the wrong hands.
Kenney does such a fantastic job of paying homage to the magic and madness of the source material while twisting Alice’s story into something entirely new and chaotic and wonderful and heartbreaking.
The spice, albeit fantastic, takes more of a step back in this sequel, with an intense plot at the forefront. Every chapter has purpose, even with the multiple POVs we’re given with characters both old and new.
Overall, I’m so happy this was my first 2024 read. I can’t wait to dive into the next one and see where Faerie takes me this time. Hopefully somewhere with pretty, fantastical characters and unhinged magic - but no Heartless, please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism
🌶️ Rating: 2/5
This one was OK. The storyline is good I just can’t seem to connect with the characters very well. Louisa and Lir are absent pretty much the whole book. This one incorporates Alice and Wonderland, but keeps Clara and Sugarplum (Finias) are still in it. The eater of hearts has replaced the rat king and Finias and Clara plan to defeat her and rescue Alice from the white rabbit. They of course, do both, but I hated how Alice and the white rabbit and the cat had a thing going, and instead he just sends her home, breaking everyone’s heart. The end. What?
This one was OK. The storyline is good I just can’t seem to connect with the characters very well. Louisa and Lir are absent pretty much the whole book. This one incorporates Alice and Wonderland, but keeps Clara and Sugarplum (Finias) are still in it. The eater of hearts has replaced the rat king and Finias and Clara plan to defeat her and rescue Alice from the white rabbit. They of course, do both, but I hated how Alice and the white rabbit and the cat had a thing going, and instead he just sends her home, breaking everyone’s heart. The end. What?
The first book in the series was good. Had some dark themes but nothing too crazy. This book was way too messed up. I don’t know how this has such high ratings when the whole book is about kidnapping, torture, rape, and mutilation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship