Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.
Continuing with some more spooky reads for spooky season, here’s one that I’ve seen everywhere! I’m hoping this one lives up to the hype—I do love books with witches and demons.
Let’s begin, shall we?
GOODREADS MONDAY (10/11/21) – KINGDOM OF THE WICKED by Kerri Maniscalco
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…
So why do I want to read this?
There are a few things that are making me think that parts of this book could go wrong very quickly, but I’m willing to stick around and see what happens.
What’s hooking me here is the premise of a witch-centric murder mystery! I love the idea of Emilia attempting to avenge her sister and all of the other murdered witches, and it seems like something that could move the plot steadily along and make for some suspense. Something about it is making me think of Serpent & Dove, which I liked, so hopefully that’s a good sign.
However, this whole “prince of Hell” could go either way. Wrath sounds like just the kind of character that could fall into that creepy, romanticized bully of a love interest that happens all too often in YA fantasy (see: the Darkling from Shadow and Bone, Cardan from The Cruel Prince, Mirnatius from Spinning Silver, etc.), so I’m a little hesitant. On the other hand, I do like his potentially demonic origins, and I think that could be an interesting twist in the story.
I guess I’ll have to see for myself, won’t I?
Today’s song:
That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I’ve been wanting to do a post like this for a little while, so here goes nothing…
We all know the feeling. We’ve picked up a book because of the seemingly endless 4 and 5 star reviews and the high praise from friends and fellow readers and book bloggers, and then it turns out to be a steaming disappointment. For me, popular YA books live up to the hype about 50% of the time for me, and the other 50% is either just…not feeling anything from it, or not liking it at all. And there’s plenty of hyped books that I’ve loved! But sometimes, a lot of these books just haven’t worked for me.
And before I start, I just wanted to say this – if you liked any of these books, this post isn’t meant to shame anybody’s reading preferences at all. If you liked them, good for you! These are just my opinions here, and as per the Latin proverb, to each, their own is beautiful. I just wasn’t a fan of these books.
It’s been about three years since I’ve read this one, but it was a pretty quick DNF for me. Red Queen felt like every bad YA trope melted into a single book – an unoriginal dystopian world with the “plain heroine that doesn’t realize how beautiful she is and is THE CHOSEN ONE” and gets into an insta-love romance…gah, I forget how long it took before I put it down, but this was just painful.
Holly Black is a hit-or-miss author for me, but The Cruel Prince definitely fell among the misses for me. The worldbuilding was great here (and I loved the little ink drawings at the beginnings of the chapters!), but all of the characters were astronomically unlikable. Everybody just seemed intent on bullying and backstabbing everybody else, and there wasn’t any balance with a character with a slightly better moral compass. And don’t get me started on Jude and Cardan being a thing…WHY? If I remember correctly, Cardan spends about 3/4 of the book relentlessly degrading Jude, and then gets down on his knees and tells her that he loves her…HUH?
HOW MUCH MORE TOXIC CAN YOU GET? And somehow, Cardan’s up there with Kaz Brekker and that dude from ACOTAR (I don’t remember his name, I haven’t read the books and don’t intend to) with the brooding YA dudes that everybody fawns over? Makes me lose a little faith in humanity sometimes…
Here’s one that everybody recommended to me…should of listened to that guy in my class in middle school who did a book report on this one and didn’t like it
Okay. Maybe this one’s a little skewed. I read most of Throne of Glass when I was home sick with a stomachache, but even then, I think I wouldn’t have been a fan. The ✨fantasy names✨ were a pain to pronounce, Calaena came off as a very static character with very little development, if any, and everything seemed to worked out a little *too* well for her in the end. The worldbuilding was interesting, though. I guess. Probably not gonna pick this one up, but I don’t think I’ll go for ACOTAR or Crescent City either. Meh.
My main problem was the same one I had with The Cruel Prince – the toxicity of the main relationship. Mirnatius spends about 3/4 of the book being borderline abusive towards Miryem, and then, ✨poof!✨ Happy relationship!
Yeah, no, that’s just weird. Also, wasn’t there a significant age gap between the two of them? Final nail in the coffin, really…
This one lured me in with a gorgeous cover and the promise of mermaids, and…well, we got a mermaid, but the rest of the book didn’t make up for it.
All the Stars and Teeth felt very formulaic for me, right down to the conveniently-placed puppet show to explain the worldbuilding. We’ve got a protagonist with dangerous magic, the mysterious love interest…it just felt like every other YA fantasy in the last few years. Not much to distinguish it from the others, if anything at all.
Out of all of the books here, Cinderella is Dead is probably the one that I had the highest expectations for. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a book with a sapphic, POC lead taking down the patriarchy in a world sculpted from the myth of Cinderella?
…several things, as it turned out.
I found the worldbuilding to be full of holes, none of the characters were very distinct, the villain was an irredeemable caricature, and all of the attempts commentary on abuse and misogyny and such relied way too much on telling, as opposed to showing. For me Cinderella is Dead was just a case of a great idea, but poor execution. Shame…
This one was another DNF for me about two years ago. I still really appreciate that Kemmerer chose to have a disabled character at the forefront of a YA fantasy (Harper has cerebral palsy – not sure how accurate the rep is, though), but otherwise…meh. On top of the obvious attempt to make this Beauty and the Beast retelling as Dark And Gritty™️ as possible, the love triangle (and both love interests, if memory serves) put me off in the end.
This was my first exposure to Jennifer L. Armentrout, and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything of hers after this. Again, this falls into almost every YA trope that I hate – the Chosen One who is so very clearly Not Like Other Girls, the Sarcastic Bad Boy Love Interest (Zayne still makes me squirm)…I forget where I DNF’d this one, but I just could not take another page. Yikes.
Instant Karma was a sore disappointment…I’ve loved almost everything else of Marissa Meyer’s, but I just didn’t click with this one. I loved the premise of a magical-realism rom-com and all of the Beatles references were great, but Pru really got on my nerves, and the romance never made me feel anything.
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What were your thoughts on these books? What’s a popular YA book that you didn’t like?
Today’s song:
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I figured that I haven’t done many book tags this month, and I’ve been in the mood to do one lately. This one’s been sitting in my sticky note for a bit and I figured it would be a lot of fun since I love the Umbrella Academygraphic novels & the Netflix show!
I mean, it’s impossible to choose just *one* best start to a series, but for the sake of not putting down Aurora Rising or Heart of Iron again, I’ll put Honor Among Thieves, because this was a SUPER strong start to the Honors trilogy!
THE HARGREEVES CHILDREN: Name a big book family. (Dysfunctional is optional)
I suppose the cast of characters from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Childrenaren’t family by blood, but they’re as close to a family as one can possibly get. And dysfunctional? Absolutely.
THE WORLD ENDS IN EIGHT DAYS: If you only had 8 days left, which book would you choose to be your last read?
Frankenstein, for two reasons: it’s probably my favorite book, and just so I can have the possible luck of being resurrected. Pragmatism, folks, pragmatism.
SPACEBOY: Name a character who plays the leader, but may not be cut out for it.
BAJSDHFSJDHFSJDHF THIS PROMPT WAS WAY HARDER THAN I’D LIKE TO ADMIT
I just finished this one a few hours ago, and Abigail from Abandon just…wasn’t the best leader. I mean, most of the characters were [coughs] a wee bit interchangeable, but did you really think that going to a supposedly haunted mining town in the middle of nowhere was a good idea?
THROWING KNIVES: What literary weapon would you like in your arsenal?
MAN WHY ARE THESE PROMPTS SO H A R D
okay no I’m super stumped for this one, might just have to skip…shame on me
I HEARD A RUMOR: Name a book that has a misleading plot line.
I guess the case with Night Owls and Summer Skieswas more of a misleading synopsis, but I was lead to believe that it would be a sort of coming-of-age story about overcoming anxieties and first love. Instead, the anxiety part was barely touched on, and it was honestly just a toxic dumpster fire. Would not recommend.
KLAUS: Name a book that involves the dead/ghosts/etc.
Cemetery Boyshas plenty of ghosts and supernatural shenanigans!
THE BOY: Recommend a book that plays with time (whether it be dual timelines, time travel, etc.)
Um? I guess? Goddess in the Machinesort of deals with time travel…I mean, not really, but Andra wakes up from cryosleep after 1,000 years, so…
can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeve, because she absolutely has smarts and prowess to spare.
LUTHER & ALLISON: Name a questionable book couple, and why you do or don’t like them.
It’s been a bit since I’ve read Spinning Silver,but the relationship between Miryem and Mirnatius raised SO many red flags for me – toxic, abusive, manipulative, and…wasn’t there a significant age gap between them?
Anyone else who wants to participate! If I didn’t tag you and you want to do this tag, go ahead! I’d love to see your answers! And if I tagged you and you haven’t read/seen TUA or didn’t like it, my bad! No obligations to do it 🙂
Today’s song:
That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
First of all, sorry for forgoing this week’s Book Review Tuesday. I went to a concert last night (Chelsea Wolfe!), and I had very little time at home as a result. Hopefully this will make up for it. 😉
My obvious choice here would be the Grisha trilogy. Hands down, one of the most well-crafted, magical universes I’ve ever come across. (On an unrelated note, I’m simultaneously worried and excited to see how Netflix pulls it off…)
MUMMIES–A BOOK OR CHARACTER THAT YOU CAN’T WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND
Wrap…I see what you did there…[ba-dum tsssss]
For this, I’d have to say Miryem from Spinning Silver. Without spoiling anything major, I’ll just say that it absolutely baffled me that her relationship with a certain character turned from forced (and borderline abusive) to perfectly happy.
VAMPIRES–A BOOK, SERIES, OR AUTHOR YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
Hmm…lots to pick from here, but the first one that comes to mind is the Heart of Iron duology. There’s so many aspects of that series that have earned it an especially soft spot with me. I really need to re-read Soul of Starssoon…
WEREWOLVES–A BOOK THAT IS BEST READ IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
I…well…
I can’t quite think of any. I can only read more intense books during the daytime, and I don’t read around midnight much anyway…
Guess I’ll have to skip this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ZOMBIES–A BOOK YOU PICKED UP FOR THE 2ND TIME OR CONTINUED AFTER DNFING IT
Oof, I might have to skip this one, too…
Usually, when I DNF a book, it’s because of a deep-seated loathing; this usually prevents me from ever picking up the book again, so…
GHOSTS–A CHARACTER YOU SAW RIGHT THROUGH OR A BOOK THAT YOU EASILY PREDICTED THE TWIST/ENDING
I read this one a while back, but the one thing I remember with clarity about Earth Force Risingwas that I could see all of the major plot points coming from a mile away. Dear Lord, that was such a cringey book…
FRANKENSTEIN–A BOOK THAT TRULY SHOCKED YOU
Hands down, Other Words for Smoke. I had pretty average expectations, but once I got into it, I could NOT put it down. The writing was beautiful, and there were out-of-this-world twists around every corner…
SKELETONS–A BOOK OR CHARACTER THAT CHILLED YOU TO THE BONE OR TICKLED YOUR FUNNY BONE
GHOULS–A BOOK THAT LEFT YOU HUNGRY, OR A RECIPE YOU WANT TO TRY FROM A BOOK
This one seems like a cliche answer, but my immediate choice is With the Fire on High. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to try some of Emoni’s cooking.
Okay, maybe not nothing, but you know what I’m saying. It all sounded delicious…
GOBLINS–A GREEDY CHARACTER OR A CHARACTER THAT LOVES GOLD OR JEWELRY
Though she certainly isn’t greedy, per se, Genya from the Grisha trilogy was my first thought; there’s no way that she didn’t put some bling on her eyepatch. (And every other article of clothing.)
DEVIL–A DARK, EVIL CHARACTER
This isn’t the most classic of examples, but my first thought was The Mage from Carry On. Deceitful, manipulative, and…well, y’know, the general evil that comes along with being the equivalent of a black hole for magic.
GRIM REAPER–A CHARACTER YOU LOVED OR HATED THAT DIED
Essentially, everyone who got killed off in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I don’t think I’ve completely gotten over any of them, even though I haven’t read it in years.
Especially Dobby.
DOBBYYYYYY
SCARECROWS–A BOOK OR CHARACTER THAT SCARES YOU
I can’t think of any character or book that really scared scared me, but for this, I’ll go with Xifeng from Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. I mean, you’ve got the classic, tragic hero descending into madness storyline, sprinkled in with some tyranny and eating human hearts. Y’know, just another day at the office.
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The Bookish Mutant 