Having read an arc of this vicious grace, I was desperately waiting for This Cursed Light to come out. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I was given an arc for it!

As one of my most anticipated reads for 2023, I couldn't wait to get into it. I missed the world that Thiede built in TVG, and I was so glad to be back in it. It took me a little bit to get to grips with where we were in the story when I jumped back in, because we were a few months after the events of TVG but once I found my feet it was everything.

The perfect way to finish the duology, I know I will be going back to reading it again in the future, because I love Alessa and Dante so much!

A beautiful finale for this duology. Emily Thiede writes such a lush environment of a fantasy based on Italy with characters that are so incredibly human, albeit ones with incredible powers. Alessa and Dante are arguably some of the best main characters I have read in awhile. They just go together so perfectly, and seeing them truly come to terms with their pasts and various forms of grief was development I really enjoyed seeing. Some of these passages really hit hard too, but were healing in their own way. One of the issues I had in the previous book was that the secondary characters felt very flat. I was pleasantly surprised with this installment in how much I enjoyed more exposure of these characters and really getting to know them a lot more. Although Alessa and Dante's relationship changed at the start at the book (imagine wanting to touch someone SO badly, but you couldn't), the pining and tension they had was sizzling, and I think it worked out for the best. I hope that Thiede comes back to this world to dive more into them. I don't think I'm ready to leave this world Thiede has created!

The only issues that I have with this book at the moment is that it doesn't quite read YA and the pacing was still a bit off to me. For a book that is marketed as YA, there sure are quite a few implied sex scenes and several sexual innuendos throughout the book. The pacing for the book was good for a majority of it, but having several chapters being focused on training for a huge war/battle, for it to only last such a short amount of chapters was anticlimactic. In all, I did enjoy the ending. I thought it wrapped up the book very nicely, I wish there was more of a focus of the world after Crollo's army was defeated. I just don't think I was completely ready to leave Alessa and Dante so soon!

Again, I REALLY hope Thiede comes back to this world, as it was so much fun to be immersed in. I cannot wait for her next book! Definitely an author to keep an eye on.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

First off, thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review. While I enjoyed this sequel, it was really just ok for me. It’s cute and wraps up everything, but felt a little empty and for whatever reason it reads way younger than book one. And while the MCs retain their characterizations, the supporting characters that are left by the wayside. They’re only brought in for spurts of relationship advice or to lend their powers as needed.

The relationship is also not the same from the get-go. The trope of the book is “I think I’m not good enough and I can’t communicate.” The spark, wit, and tension just isn’t there anymore as they get stuck in the same communication-loop. There are a couple fade to black sex scenes, but they appear out of nowhere and lead to nothing.

And finally, the ending. While it wraps everything up nicely and answers any questions, it’s not strong. Just like in book one, we spend the whole book being told it’s the apocalypse, but then the evil is defeated within minutes with little fuss. And the motivation for the evil? So anti-climatic. We read about this army training for 200 pages just for them not to be needed?? Because just kidding, this is all about the MCs and the rest of the world is incidental.

All that being said, if you read book one and enjoyed it I would recommend this as well. You get all your answers and it’s still a captivating plot.

This Cursed Light

The heart felt moments were truly beautiful. And there is a seemingly diverse cast. But overall, it was pretty anticlimactic. It’s possible that it was just because I was able to guess the twists early on. I really wanted to love this one and no one is more upset than me. 😭 It was just them prepping for another war, only this time, they didn’t know what was coming. There were some more moments of growth and self reflection which was great. It just seemed like it could have been done in the first book. Or maybe the side characters could have become the main characters for this one because they stole the show. I could have read a whole book focused on the new romance that was introduced and would have loved it so much more.

LGBTQ Rep
Content: innuendo, off page intimacy, violence, war, death of children

3 and a half stars. Rounding up to four.

Alessa has done her duty as the Finestra now she’s ready to live in peace with Dante. However, Dante is convinced that Crollo is preparing another attack, and he no longer has his ghiotte powers. Convinced that finding the exiled ghiotte is the only way to defeat Crollo, Alessa, Dante, and their friends set off. If that’s not complicated enough, Alessa is silently struggling with deadly complications from the last war. Can Dante and Alessa save the world one final time?

This Cursed Light is the final book in The Last Finestra duology by Thiede. In this installment Thiede expanded her world building by taking the crew to the continent. It was really interesting to see how the ghiotte made a life for themselves in an area no one else wanted to inhabit. One of Thiede’s strengths is her ability to craft descriptive worlds where you feel like you’re part of it. The other strength that really shines in Thiede’s writing is the found family character relationships. That’s primarily what kept me invested and reading. The banter between characters is so fun and natural feeling, not to mention Alessa’s never ending innuendos. Unfortunately, the plot pacing felt off for me in that it slowed down too much at times and became so focused on Dante I actually forgot Alessa had her own issues. Overall, though, I thought Thiede created an engaging tale of good vs evil.

Delightfully magical with that same enticing magic of book 1, This Cursed Light gave me the same tug of This Vicious Grace with approachable fantasy and world building, and a to-die-for romance.

This Cursed Light is the sequel to This Vicious Grace and while I enjoyed it, I definitely wanted more from the story. I just felt like there was a lot of build up that lacked an appropriate pay off. I wanted a little more from the ending. I still loved the characters and I really enjoy this authors writing style so I will continue to read whatever she writes. This was just a little bit of a letdown for me.

5/5

This Cursed Light was absolutely worth the wait after This Vicious Grace. I am awed, I am bereft, I am crying, and I am so happy. This Vicious Grace was so important to me, and the sequel is equally so. It pulls at just the right strings for me.

I really loved this book — it was a solid sequel. I think Thiede managed to return perfectly to this world and drop her readers right back where they started, but with new faces and additional adventures. I loved it. 4.5/5 for me.

The big, propulsive emotions and romance of the first book were lacking here. The success of book was was the heart of it: Alessa and her angst, and the romance between her and Dante. In this, the sequel, I felt like that was missing. I didn't feel for the characters.

The romance, since the couple already got together in book 1, turned into petty drama between them. Even in the resolution, it was never satisfying.

There was a big feeling here of "teens hanging out and sometimes bantering." From beginning to end, the book was pushing side characters at me without also pushing why I should care about them.
There was also a lot of deepening of the magic system. Which, could have been interesting, but just came off as convenient deus ex machina and infodumping in the end.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle

Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of this novel to review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the conclusion of Alessa and Dante's story, but I did sadly feel that the second book lacked some of the spirit and soul of the first. I definitely wanted to love it more than I did. It seemed to me that there was less banter, less suspense, less compulsion to read and finish the story. The characters are as loveable as ever, and the plot is good, I just felt that the book needed a bit more polish and filling out. And I missed the quotes for starting each chapter, too.

This is the final book in the Last Finestra duology. If you haven't read the first one (This Vicious Grace), you should definitely read it because it was in my top 10 books that I read last year. If you have read it, you should definitely finish this duology!

This was a good finish to this duology. It wasn't quite up to par with the first one just because of the amount of miscommunication between the characters in this one. The miscommunication trope is super frustrating for me to read. But the storyline was beautifully written.

Learning to accept people's differences is something that I think a lot of people in this world need to do. This book was a masterclass in this concept. The characters journey in love and acceptance was beautiful. The end was very predictable, but this was a YA book so I kind of assumed it would be. Overall, this was a lovely conclusion for this debut duology!

Thanks @netgalley for a copy of this book! All opinions shared in this review are my own.

It was such a pleasure to be around the characters of This Vicious Grace again. Particularly Alessa and Dante, but the rest of the cast was equally delightful.
The romance part isn’t always easy to land when our MCs already got together, but the premise of the romance plot in this book worked great to build and maintain the tension between Alessa and Dante. Making them unable to touch each other was genius (and I wish Emily Thiede had leaned in the UST even more!!). While it was crystal clear they loved each other, it was also wonderful to read about this perfect/imperfect relationship, Alessa and Dante are extremely endearing characters for that—strong yet filled with very human flaws, so in love with their partner yet unable to see what the other loves so much about them.
As it was the case with the first book, I felt like the build up to the final “battle” was a bit longer than necessary. As a result, my reading of the book grew much slower past the second half.
It doesn’t really change my overall appreciation for the world Emily Thiede created (mixing in her Italian roots to create a place and culture that was familiar yet unique) nor her characters. I enjoyed this duology a lot and will recommend it to fans of fantasy and romance alike, as these books strike the perfect balance between the two genres.

This Cursed Light
Emily Thiede
Pub Date: December 5, 2023
St. Martin's Press
YA/TEEN
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I recommend This Cursed Light to my book list especially those who have read book one. You have plenty of time to read that one if you haven't read it yet. I can't wait to see what Thiede publishes next and if you can grab these books on audio, I can vouch that the first one is really well done so look forward to grabbing This Cursed Light in that format as well! Thiede does a great job on writing this book. I highly recommend it.

I absolutely loved the first book and was so excited to be able to read this one before the release. It was a nice tie up for the characters! There is a lot of details but it was well done and I enjoyed the setting, the theme and the characters’ development! The angst and banter were just so on point!

This Cursed Light is book two in the The Last Finestra duology and if you haven't started book one yet, now is a perfect time to do it so you can just slide right into this book when you finish. Here's my warning - don't go any further with this review if you haven't read as while I won't intentionally give spoilers...it won't be possible to talk about my feelings without saying a few things.

I loved this series and I'm sad the journey for these characters is over but Thiede definitely took them through enough that they earned their HEA's! I can't say too much here as I don't want to give anything away but Dante and Alessa have made it onto my list of favorite couples...that's for sure.

This book picks up shortly after the end of This Vicious Grace and Alessa and Dante have been on separate paths for the last few months. As they come back together, they have to get reacquainted with each other and I'm happy to report that they didn't lose any of the love they have for each other...the banter is also still there which is one of my favorite parts. That's not to say things haven't changed. With Dante's powers gone, it creates quite a conundrum on how they will make things work.

This book has more to it than the relationship piece (even though that's always a favorite). If you recall, Dante had a vision at the end of book one and as this book picks up, we find out it is supported by visions Alessa is having and they realize they have another mission. They need to find the exiled Ghiotte and convince them to fight this last battle alongside the Finestra and Fonti and this is the core of the story.

I thought Thiede did a great job of giving us more on Dante. Yes, we saw pieces in the first book but when they find the Ghiotte, I felt like he truly became a main character as we got to learn so much more about the Ghiotte and his history with some key people.

As I mentioned, A LOT happens in this book and I almost thought I was going to have heart issues but Thiede ended this one perfectly and while I experienced almost every feeling you can imagine in the last few chapters, I'm happy with the closure.

I recommend book one to everyone I know and will now add This Cursed Light to that list! I can't wait to see what Thiede publishes next and if you can grab these books on audio, I can vouch that the first one is really well done so look forward to grabbing This Cursed Light in that format as well!

Content Warning: violence

I enjoyed the first book in this series, This Vicious Grace a lot and was very interested to see where the story would go.

+ Alessa and Dante are back together with their banter but there are many challenges between them. Dante has lost his powers and Alessa’s powers hurt when they touch so they can’t be together physically which makes the tension between them rise. But I like how they can also focus on the matter at hand and that is trying to defeat Crollo. There is a few steamy scenes between them but it lacks the details to make it spicy so I’d say it’s pretty PG-13.

+ We get to learn more about Dante’s past and present and people who used to be in his life. He takes on a leadership role as he tries to make the ghiotte into an army that can help them in their fight. It takes a lot of trust and revisiting his feelings about his past though but Dante really overcomes and rises to the challenge.

+ The found family with Alessa and the side characters are one of the things I liked about book one. They are here again supporting Alessa and the fight against Crollo.

~ So this happened with me in the first book where the whole story is a lead up until the battle that lasts only a few chapters at the end of the book. It happens in this book as well where all we hear is Crollo is coming, the chapters even tick off the days leading up to the battle but I feel like nothing much is happening during those days except relationships being fixed. Yes they are building an army but there is so much going on like: Alessa and Dante’s relationship and not being able to touch, and the secrets they are both are keeping from one another. Also Dante’s past and being with his people again conjuring up all kinds of feelings that he has to work through. I felt like the battle again was anti-climatic after the whole book being so much about the build up to it.

This Cursed Light is one of my most anticipated releases this year. I had a high expectation with this one but it just fell short. The pacing was too slow and full of discussions scenes for the first half, and the plot basically followed the previous book where everyone was busy training only for the battle to end in a few pages.

Dante really shined in this book, I enjoyed following his story finding his true self and home. In the contrary, Alessa didn't get to show her improvement in power and her ability. I only remembered that she and the others were always kept inside, waiting for Dante to come and join them.

Even though this final book felt so underwhelming to me, I would still recommend this book to those who enjoyed This Vicious Grace. I will still be looking forward to Thiede's next projects in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I was offered a chance to read an ARC of this book, I jumped at the chance. Ever since I finished This Vicious Grace I have been dying for more of this series. And I was absolutely not disappointed with This Cursed Light.

As far as second books go, this one wrapped everything up so nicely. Closing up some of the questions that I had at the end of the first book and building on the relationship I had only just fallen in love with. Alessa and Dante are some of my favorite book couples right now. I didn't even mind the small romances that took place in the background of the story they were well written and honestly a perfect addition. All of the characters jumped out of the page at me and the pacing was perfectly done.

The big twist at the end left me so shocked that I could not put the book down until I was finished because I could not let the thoughts of how it was going to go settle.

Overall, I adore this book and I adore this series.

It was what i wanted after the first book. It was just amazing, I liked it and the story continued. I can say I like the first book more but this one was good.