“How cruel, that sharing someone else’s grief did nothing to alleviate it for them.”
Oh, I have so many feelings, and I don’t know what to do with them. First, I want to gratefully thank the author for giving me a happy enough for now sort of ending that I can feel good about. Gah, more authors need to do this when planning a series. I could create an entire review based on that joy alone. But I digress…
Poor Alessa, I feel like I would risk death to hug her because I cannot even imagine the absolute loneliness of being unable to touch others. And she’s so funny! I highlighted so many things she said or thought that made me laugh out loud. Seriously, she and I would become besties. I loved this cast of characters, every single one of them. Even the ones you’re supposed to hate were perfectly hateful. Everyone had their quirks, making the book much more fun.
“… but like a flame appears brighter in the darkness, her isolation cut even deeper with a stranger filling spaces usually left empty.”
This is such a fun read. It has lore and romance, magic and peril, and a bit of everything. If there was anything I didn’t love, it was how we jumped into the middle of the story, and I had no idea what was going on. But Thiede was like, “don’t worry, I got you.” And my patience paid off. I love, love this book, and I think others will too. Many thanks to St. Martin’s for sending this absolute gem along.
Book Links (releasing June 28th)
About the Book
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!
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?
Rae's Reading Lounge 
I like your statement “happy enough for now sort of ending”. That’s perfect. The story can continue without a big cliffhanger!
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