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A review by lisashelves
This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
4.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /4 stars
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
This Vicious Grace is a story about Alessa, the Finestra, who has killed her three previous spouces with her powers and needs to find a fourth quickly before the island is attacked by vicious creatures.
“Chi cerca trova. Seek and you shall find”
This Vicious Grace is an Italian inspired story, which HELL YES! As someone who is half Italian, I love reading books that explore that! I loved the language being used often in this book haha. Some of the words though, I think could’ve been better or different because they were a bit cringy. Some words, like Dea and Finestra, seemed a bit straightforward in using. I think the writer could’ve used a little bit more creativity. As Dante said in the book “I feel ridiculous calling you ‘Finestra’, window”, it really summed up what I was thinking from the beginning… it was cringy to keep on reading that. To someone who doesn’t know the translation, it might sound like a pretty word, but for me it was just a bit weird.
From the very beginning, you really get thrown into this story. It starts off with a very fast pace and Alessa’s chaotic life really corresponds with the pacing. I do think the pacing could've been slowed down and overall more consistent. The few first chapters are quite strong on world-building, but while it wasn’t really an information-dump, I still felt a bit overwhelmed by it. It also often seemed as if certain plot point or information should’ve been given (maybe it was and I just didn’t understand or grasp it) because often I was confused and wanted more information to better understand.
The magic system is another amazingly written part in this story. It is very intriguing, with Fonti and a Finestra, Ghiotti and scarabeo. While it took me a while to fully understand what they all meant and what the differences were (again, more information that I wanted sooner in the story), once it was clear the cleverness and well though-out system really blew me away. It is just a bit of a pity it took reading almost 60% of the book to fully understand it.
The characters were truly amazing. Alessa is quite smart and very relatable with her thoughts and feelings. Dante truly stole my heart this book! He is very sassy (love it!), witty, but also very caring and sweet. I also really loved the mystery surrounding his name hahaha. The others in the book, the Fonti, family, mentors, are also really well written and fleshed out. I would love to explore their stories more though.
I loved the romance, enemies-to-lovers part in this story and was really invested in it! It is quite a main focus and the chemistry between Alessa and Dante really shone on these pages. It really added to the story instead of taking away from it.
The ending felt a little rushed to me. With the battle at the end, which I loved how that all played out, it felt really quick somehow. It somehow felt too quick. I did really like how this book ended though. It isn’t on a cliffhanger, but it is a bit like getting a small taste of what’s to come and wanting more.
Overall, it was a really good book that I enjoyed. I would’ve liked it to be a bit slower paced, but the magic and adventure in the story is really solid and intriguing.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
This Vicious Grace is a story about Alessa, the Finestra, who has killed her three previous spouces with her powers and needs to find a fourth quickly before the island is attacked by vicious creatures.
“Chi cerca trova. Seek and you shall find”
This Vicious Grace is an Italian inspired story, which HELL YES! As someone who is half Italian, I love reading books that explore that! I loved the language being used often in this book haha. Some of the words though, I think could’ve been better or different because they were a bit cringy. Some words, like Dea and Finestra, seemed a bit straightforward in using. I think the writer could’ve used a little bit more creativity. As Dante said in the book “I feel ridiculous calling you ‘Finestra’, window”, it really summed up what I was thinking from the beginning… it was cringy to keep on reading that. To someone who doesn’t know the translation, it might sound like a pretty word, but for me it was just a bit weird.
From the very beginning, you really get thrown into this story. It starts off with a very fast pace and Alessa’s chaotic life really corresponds with the pacing. I do think the pacing could've been slowed down and overall more consistent. The few first chapters are quite strong on world-building, but while it wasn’t really an information-dump, I still felt a bit overwhelmed by it. It also often seemed as if certain plot point or information should’ve been given (maybe it was and I just didn’t understand or grasp it) because often I was confused and wanted more information to better understand.
The magic system is another amazingly written part in this story. It is very intriguing, with Fonti and a Finestra, Ghiotti and scarabeo. While it took me a while to fully understand what they all meant and what the differences were (again, more information that I wanted sooner in the story), once it was clear the cleverness and well though-out system really blew me away. It is just a bit of a pity it took reading almost 60% of the book to fully understand it.
The characters were truly amazing. Alessa is quite smart and very relatable with her thoughts and feelings. Dante truly stole my heart this book! He is very sassy (love it!), witty, but also very caring and sweet. I also really loved the mystery surrounding his name hahaha. The others in the book, the Fonti, family, mentors, are also really well written and fleshed out. I would love to explore their stories more though.
I loved the romance, enemies-to-lovers part in this story and was really invested in it! It is quite a main focus and the chemistry between Alessa and Dante really shone on these pages. It really added to the story instead of taking away from it.
The ending felt a little rushed to me. With the battle at the end, which I loved how that all played out, it felt really quick somehow. It somehow felt too quick. I did really like how this book ended though. It isn’t on a cliffhanger, but it is a bit like getting a small taste of what’s to come and wanting more.
Overall, it was a really good book that I enjoyed. I would’ve liked it to be a bit slower paced, but the magic and adventure in the story is really solid and intriguing.