Actual rating 3.5 stars.

This was a really great novel, but sadly it missed the mark for me.

Alessa was a great main character and I loved watching her character development throughout the whole book. I loved watching her try to make friends and gain confidence. Dante was also an amazing character that I loved from beginning to end, and I couldn't help but cheer on their romance. This book also contained fantastic side characters that stand out, and I wanted to get to know better.

While I loved learning more about the world that the author created, where this book fell flat for me was the pacing. This is a fairly long book compared to some YA fantasy novels, and honestly the beginning was a bit boring because not much happened. I think if I wasn't so captivated by the world-building I would have put it down. Not to mention, this while book basically counts down to a big even for our main characters, yet when the time comes its only a short portion of the book & was very anti-climactic. I was just expecting more.

I'm still 50/50 on whether I want to continue the series or not. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was a standalone.

I wanted to wait for the hype to die down a little before leaving a review. There was something captivating about a magical black widow, a woman who kills everyone she loves. The story has impeccably strong main characters (and their arcs are so so sooo well done), but it also has a great slow burn romance, and I loved the bits of italian-influence dabbled in.

For some reason I couldn’t get into reading this book, then when I switched to audio and it was fantastic to listen!! It was so easy to imagine the world the author was building via audio. I’m mad at myself for not listening to this book sooner. The slow burn romance was not my favourite, but the grumpy-sunshine and friends to lovers tropes were a hit with me. Book 1 in the Last Finestra series, This Vicious Grace has very good storytelling with mayhem, betrayal and romance in it!

Thank you Wednesday books via Netgalley for the arc.

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede is an engrossing tale of magic, power, and found family. It's got the bodyguard trope covered and a strong supporting cast of characters. I am already looking forward to more from this author.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this one with me. All thoughts are my own.

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

442 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Release Date: June 28, 2022

Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Teens, Young Adult, Coming of Age

Alessa has been chosen as the island’s Finestra, their savior. She is meant to amplify her partner’s power. Unfortunately, she has just buried her third partner. Now everyone is afraid of her touch. The demon swarm is coming and she needs to find a solution to save the island. She meets Dante during a street fight. She believes he can help teach her how to harness power without killing a partner.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Alessa’s character grows throughout the story. If you like sci fi and fantasy books with magical battles, you will enjoy this book.

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa's gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partners 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.

This was a slow burn read with forced proximity and a forbidden love trope. I thought the story was interesting and what a unique concept that the heroine to inadvertentlykeep killing off each suitor. The audio was well done, and I actually preferred this format to the physical copy.

*many thanks to Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

This book was really interesting! I was intrigued by the storyline and that's what initially drew me to this title. I also really love the cover artwork.

Surprised by this one! Loved the Italian influences. I think the only thing that bothered me were the info-dumps. Just as the plot would get good there seemed to be some info dumps and world building. But that’s typical of debut novels. Will still read much more though!!

I really liked this YA fantasy novel! I thought the premise was unique, and I really liked the characters. Overall, I would definitely recommend!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This Vicious Grace is a debut novel that in no way reads like a debut. Emily Thiede's novel is another one I urge you to read as soon as you possibly can. First, the premise alone, a woman whose mere touch is fatal and who has had three husbands and three funerals for those husbands, is funny. Granted, it is also tragic, but Ms. Thiede instills humor to lighten the tragedy of Alessa's life. There is plenty of low-grade spice added to the mix, along with plenty of action and betrayal. Again, I know I am not doing it justice in the slightest. Just know I don't rave about books that often, so if I am willing to rave about this one, do yourself a favor and read it!

"This Viscious Grace" came out earlier this year, and was a featured book for Fairyloot. The cover is beautiful and I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read it.

"This Vicious Grace" follows Alessa, a young lady who has been chosen to save her community from an onslaught of monsters that will eventually overrun her home. In order to save everyone, Alessa needs to harness someone else's magical powers by touching that person. The problem is, every time she touches someone else, she kills them before she can use their power. Unfortunately, the people are starting to turn against her for her touch of death, so Alessa hires a guard to keep her alive until she can choose the next person whose power she will attempt to harness.... and save the world!

It's complex... and it doesn't really make sense. If I don't think about it too much, it's interesting and different. A bit Rogue from X-men, a bit Italian-esque setting, random magical powers that are somehow secondary to the story--- to be honest, I don't understand WHY it had to be Alessa to fight the perfectly timed monsters. With so many others that have powers, couldn't the powerful ones also be chosen too? Maybe I missed someone in the storyline there.. but for the most part, I ignored that part of my brain that was being picky and enjoyed the story :).

Warning: The story ends in a cliffhanger with book two coming out next year. At this point, I do think that it's worth it! Characterization of Alessa and Dante was strong, but secondary characters were weak. By the end of the story, I wasn't very invested in the powers of the other characters. Hoping that they get more time to shine in book 2.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced e-copy of "This Vicious Grace." I hope I get the chance to read the sequel as well and see how this story develops and finishes.

It always takes me a little while to get invested in a story, but the thing that drew me into this book and kept me reading was the characters. I really enjoyed both Alessa and Dante, and even the cast around them I grew more and more interested in as the story progressed. There were some themes throughout the story that I really appreciated, and I loved watching Alessa reach conclusions about what was right/healthy/noble/etc. instead of continuing to suffer under the expectations that were smothering her. I'm really intrigued to see where the story goes next!

This was a fun, kind of exciting read! I love Alessa and Dante, the world this story takes place, the slow-burn romance, the action, and the obvious Italian influence. Of course, even from the beginning it was obvious about Alessa and Dante, which kind of grates on me since I like when romances aren't so "destined" feeling, but I loved their interactions and the fact that their romance wasn't so "we meet and are instantly in love and get married".
I enjoyed the plot of this story and the way the Italian influence showed up. I like the idea of god-given gifts, demons, curses, all of it! It was fun to see it all together in this story and watch the plot unfold.
All that being said, you can tell this is a debut novel. More than that, I didn't appreciate how the romance became the focal point of the story with everything else becoming background. I get that the love between Alessa and Dante is important, but the story was not a romance.

This Vicious Grace is the first in The Last Finestra series by author Emily Thiede. Alessa has a gift but it comes at a terrible price. She must find a suitor before she faces a hoard of demons and unleashes the full potential of her power. The problem is she keeps accidentally killing them before they can begin their training. I loved the chemistry, the banter, and the concept of deadly touch. Alessa teams up with Dante, a fighter with dark and mysterious past, reluctantly being hired to be her bodyguard. The plot itself was solid, the action, the drama, the romance, and everything was perfectly balanced, which made this Italian-inspired fantasy an impeccable and delectable treat. For YA fantasy lovers, I highly recommend this book

High fantasy and a slow burn romance. I was hooked from the description. A must read. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to an e-arc.

This Vicious Grace features a religiously ordained savior who isn't getting the job done, instead accidentally killing the people whom she is meant to partner with as a conduit for their power. Three spouses have already come and gone, dead from Alessa's touch, a touch that is necessary for her to amplify their magic and fulfill her sacred duty as Finestra. She's the next in a long line of Finestras tasked with protecting her island home from a hoard of insect-like creatures, and they're on schedule for their next attack soon. Alessa can't face them alone, but she also can't seem to partner up with anyone as she must. In the meantime, someone is trying to assassinate her, apparently in the hopes that a less hopeless woman will be chosen by the goddess Dea to take her place.

I love a touch curse for the angst, and this book piles on the extra emo trope layer of a bodyguard romance to make things super fraught with forced proximity and forbidden pining. Alessa's crush on her rough-around-the-edges bodyguard, Dante, is also intense because both are isolated, lonely people-- Alessa for her dehumanizing role and inability to touch anyone and Dante for the looming secrets in his past. I wasn't convinced by the love story at first, but it grew on me in the second half (which is good because that's more the focus than the fantasy plot). The author is skilled at portraying the little moments that make the story feel close and emotion-laden rather than a plot spinning out at a distance. That's what won me over. I admit that "doomed romance" vibes irritate me even when I anticipate it will eventually be resolved happily, but the doomed angst doesn't taint every tender moment so I was grateful for that. There's also a nice little conversation about consent, and I appreciate that Alessa unabashedly asks for what she wants and seeks physical affection when and how she wants it. She isn't some passive being waiting for someone else to make a move.

Alessa's friendships also have good vibes with the kind of loyalty and support that the author makes palpable for her readers. I was just left scratching my head a bit about how we ended up there in the first place. We start with everyone being afraid of Alessa's power but end up with bonds that can weather treason, life-threatening danger, and political trickery. The scenes between points A and B didn't have the level of depth I would need to make this growth feel natural.

Similarly, Alessa undergoes such a rapid switch in her attitude and actions that I was left unconvinced. She goes from bumbling and self-pitying to decisive and commanding just because she met a love interest? It bothers me to see sheltered girl protagonists who learn the evils of their societies from knowing, jaded love interests because it makes it feel like it's another person's job to teach people how to act right, and it also seems to suggest that you can have a dramatic perspective shift overnight without any further thought or mistakes. Another character also does a personality 180 with little explanation for the sudden, welcome improvement. Dante doesn't have quite so dramatic of a turn, but he is a predictable, trope-y love interest in that he's mysterious in an obvious way, i.e. being a creature that is viewed as a monster but is actually just misunderstood and only dangerous in an alluring way. He's also brooding and romantic under a tough demeanor. I actually quite enjoyed him as a character, but he felt more like an ideal than a complex person.

The book ends with some resolution but also with a question about what comes next, definitely cliffhanger adjacent. Now that the characters are a bit settled and their relationships are solidified, I am curious what they'll do next and how they'll continue to grow as they face new dangers side by side. Pick up this book for the ya romantasy vibes and you won't be disappointed. Thanks to Wednesday for my copy to read and review!

I love a fantasy with some emphasis on romance. This cast of characters was great and I loved getting to know them some and look forward to continuing that. A bodyguard romance is always a bonus for me! The world building was a little lacking for me, but with this being a series I look forward to learning more about the world as well infuture books

A refreshing addition to the YA fantasy space. I love supporting debuts and this one did not disappoint. I can't wait to recommend this and hype up the sequel.

I tried giving this a shot in multiple formats thinking maybe the problem was me. But I just couldn't get into it. I read until about 75% before I realized I just didn't care what happened to the characters. It was unfortunate because I really was excited for it. I had used it as my WoW and everything. It just wasn't meant to be I guess,

‘This Vicious Grace’ by Emily Thiede was such a riveting, emotional, swoony ride! Definitely recommend!