2.5 stars maybe

Maybe 2.5 stars? I was just so bored and so annoyed with Emilia at the same time... 😖

This book picks up right after the end of Kingdom of the Wicked, as Emilia travels to Hell with Wrath to marry Pride. Emilia is convinced that this is the best way to infiltrate Pride’s court and figure out who was killing his potential brides. The more Emilia snoops around though, the more she realizes that this is much more complicated than she thought, and there are a lot of secrets left to be uncovered. It slowly becomes apparent she might never be able to go back to her normal life after all.

There is a new setting in this book as Emilia and Wrath travel to Hell, and that was interesting, but besides that, I don’t have much positive to say about this book. Not much happened plot-wise, it was mostly about Emilia dealing with her feelings, her quest for revenge, and some weak romantic development between her and Wrath. The important revelations and action happen in the last 25% of the book and that’s it (but sadly by then I was too bored to care). It just felt sooooo long for what it was. The plot does not move forward at all until the last stretch, and even then, it’s only more revelations and questions to try to get us to read the last book.

Except that in her case, it didn’t feel dangerous, just petulant and entitled. Emilia annoyed me SO MUCH in this book. She was a good main character in the first book, not the best, but not bad either, but here she was just petty, entitled, naïve, and dumb. And did I say annoying? Because she was freaking annoying! The fact that I couldn’t relate to her at all didn’t help. Emilia is hell-bent on her quest for revenge, and not being a very vengeful person myself, I struggled to understand her decision to leave everything and everyone behind in hopes to get revenge for her sister who is already dead anyways. What happens when she gets her revenge? She will still be stuck alone in hell… Because of that, I had no interest in Emilia or her quest, making it hard for me to get invested in this book.

Emilia keeps saying how she must maintain the ruse so the Princes of Hell will not discover that she is there solely to get her revenge for her twin’s murder, but really why else would she have accepted to leave her life and family behind and marry the devil? It seems pretty obvious to me that she suddenly accepted only because she was hoping to gain something from the alliance, not because she had the urge to visit hell and build a vacation home there! It’s simple logic.

I liked Wrath in the first book, but in this sequel, he fell flat, to be honest. He was just there in the background to add some sexual tension or to confuse Emilia’s feeling some more, but he was not useful to the plot. He is described as this fierce, strong, dangerous prince of hell with an aura and a presence like no other, but he felt like any other romantic interest from any other NA/fantasy book I’ve read. He did not feel super dangerous or otherworldly. I was disappointed by him.

The other princes of Hell were also pretty tame when they interacted with Emilia. I was ready for some cold, cruel, vicious, and ruthless Princes, but besides a few veiled threats and some innuendos, they were on their best behavior. Emilia spends pages being anxious about the Feast of the Wolf, this celebration where she is the guest of honor and where the Princes will learn of her greatest fear or a secret of her heart, and we can feel the fear and anxiety she feels when she thinks about it, there is pressure and it’s building towards that moment…. And then a “twist” happens and we don’t even know what happened with the “extracting your greatest fear” part of the evening. It just makes no sense to me that they wouldn’t prey on her and be extra cruel since they’ve been described as highly dangerous and wicked since the beginning of book 1.

There is also the issue of Emilia and Wrath’s “training sessions”… What was the purpose of those sessions? To teach Emilia how to protect herself from the magical influence of the big bad princes? But they were all kind and (mostly) gentlemanly with her, so the “lessons” were entirely pointless. Their true purpose was to force some proximity time between Emilia and Wrath and to add some smut to the book. I kept thinking about those lessons after I finished the book, and it made me roll my eyes. Those chapters could have been removed from the book and it would have had no effect on the plotline. At all.

The romance is supposed to be a hate-to-love, but it was not very clear, to be honest. Emilia hates Wrath at first because she’s an annoying whiny character who hates everyone, but at the same time, she can’t stop thinking about him or keep her hands off him. It was more a hate/love mixed dynamic than a true hate-to-love, and I have to say that the relationship development was weak and shallow. Actually, there was no real relationship development or meaningful key moment for them. It was just this hate/love, and then Emilia spent 80% of the book trying to figure out her feelings and organize her thoughts until she decided to stop resisting and admit her attraction and lust for Wrath. The end. I felt the sexual tension between them for sure, but I did not feel genuine concern or love, except that one time Wrath was willing to sacrifice something for Emilia.

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Love this - can't wait until book 3

love the banter bw H/H - it's romantic, has steamy tension & unexpected touches of comedic relief. Looking forward to book 3

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Excellent performance

The different character voices, audio and music helped bring the story alive. It gave the sense of a dark and spooky theme which helped to tie in key moments of the book. I had a great time listening to the plot unravel, I could kind of predict the ending as it was not widely hidden to me but certain events had me questioning and it was overall entertaining to watch the main characters journey. It was a little frustrating having to deal with the main characters constant and repetitive turmoil but that can be overlooked. 9.6/10 for sure

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fmc is exhausting but good story

A mantra to get you through this story is that characters mustn't be good, they should just be interesting. The fmc has her head stuck up her behind for 99.9% of the story. And the scene that would be the payoff for getting through this book is a fade to black. That being said,I actually did enjoy the story, it's just an incredibly frustrating one. I guess I'll be reading the third book in order to finish this story as no plot points have been concluded in this one.

getting better and better

love the narrator! makes the story much more alive. looking forward to the next book. a lot of mysteries to be solved.

great Audiobook, frustrating story

this was a great Audiobook, the production is excellent...the story is super frustrating as the events take place. Amelia is a frustrating character how we I have to remind myself that is extremely naive and young.rbata the only thing that kept from truly disliking her

Incredible, left wanting more

Absolutely love it. Being the 2nd novel in the series you always wonder if it will live up to the first book. Boy did it! I loved the voice actor, I could feel each line and sense each character she portrayed. I love the story, though sometimes I just wanna kick the lead but then at the end she finally gives into my wants/needs. So good, already pre-ordered Kimdom of the Feared.

cliffhanger warning

WOW! this book really built up the world further and we definitely get more hot n heavy with Emilia and Wrath! I lover it but that cliffhanger KILLED ME!
I can't wait to read the next!

What Happened!?!?

The first book was so good and this one completely fell off. Changing from YA to and NA seemed to be too big a focus. There was 20% plot and 80% corny smutty scenes. I really hope since the story seemed to get back on track for the last part of the book that book 3 will focus on the story and enough with the sex.

Better than the first!

The audio ambiance is everything! The story was intriguing as well, better than the first book!