Name: This Vicious Grace (The Last Finestra series #1)
Author: Emily Thiede
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Date published: June 2022
Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance
Pages: 436
Rating: 4/5
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?
- From Goodreads.
The story had a bit of a slow start and some scenes were hard to picture and understand as the descriptions of what was happening were not that clear. I also did not really get a grasp on the personality of the main character and what her thoughts and feelings were right away because most of what she was telling us at the start in her narration was exposition, not really about herself. But once Dante appeared the plot picked up and I started to feel more invested and it started to get more exciting.
Once the story got past the slow start it did get easier to read as the characters became more developed, the chemistry between Dante and Alessa began to show and I really did end up rooting for them, they had quite a sweet and fun partnership with some well done emotional moments. The characters around them became more developed too and I enjoyed the group of friends that they became and look forward to seeing more of them in the next book and hopefully see them developed even more.
The concept of the story was interesting and although at a couple of points how it all worked could have been explained a little better, I mostly enjoyed seeing the mysteries and plot twists all unravel. I did guess one of the reveals but it was still satisfying and I liked how it was done. There were some further twists and threads left open at the end for the next book that I did not expect and were exciting to read.
I will definitely be picking up the next book to find out what happens and although it was not perfect, I definitely feel like it was a story that was a fun read.
