Review: Kingdom of the Curse

2/5

For fans of: enemies-to-lovers, demons, angels, murder mystery, secret past, witches, trilogies

Synopsis: Emilia, Shadow Witch and betrothed to the Devil, has gone to Hell. Still on the search for her sister’s murderer and now damned for all eternity, she has no choice but to play political games, learn about this new realm, and finally get justice for her sister. All this while battling her growing feelings for Wrath as well as unravel the mystery behind the curse all the Princes of Hell are under.

Review: Talk about a series that is seriously overhyped. I tried to keep my expectations reasonable when all the raves came in that this book would have so much more action, mystery, and sexy time. I was ready to see Emilia gaslight, gatekeep, and girlboss. I was ready to see Wrath be fully in his element and, well, act wrathful. On all accounts, disappointment. I have never been more annoyed with a main character as Emilia. The near constant “They aren’t ready for me” inner monologue which constantly resulted in absolutely nothing until the very end was beyond irritating. She was always outsmarted and steps behind whoever was manipulating her until the final 50ish pages of the book. All the plot twists were so painfully obvious as she reasoned through each interaction in painful detail and she still didn’t see so many things coming. On to Wrath. What was that? He had one on screen moment of being wrathful and that’s it. There is constant description about how he is so full of violence, has a quick temper, and is the only thing keeping the realm of Hell from falling into utter chaos, but where? All of the princes are true embodiments of their sins but him, nothing. Put these two together and I was expecting tension and sexy time. Instead, I got cockblocking, dumb mental games, manipulation on both sides, and zero chemistry or compatibility. I truly do not understand their relationship. Let’s move on to the plot, or lack thereof. I can’t even tell you what happens in the first 3/4 of the book because nothing was memorable other than my feeling of annoyance and boredom. In the final quarter of the book, we get to the action and its so disappointing. All the twists you see coming happen and the final reveal is just, yeah duh. That was obvious in the first book. The only redeeming qualities, which is why I gave the book two stars and bothered to finish, are the new side characters, characterization of the other princes, and the world building. But these are not enough to entice me to finish the series. I don’t care who killed her sister, the curse, or whatever else happened that I forgot. This series is going into the abandoned pile.