Oh I so wanted to love this one! The premise and cover were to die for. But some of the world-building was confusing and hard to follow; same with the plot. The chemistry between the main characters was to die for, though!

This book is sexy, alluring, unique, and utterly bingeable!

Something Wicked feels fresh and different in a genre where too often books feel like slightly distorted carbon copies of those that have come before it.

Fallon Ballard took a risk jumping from contemporary romance to romantasy and I think she’s on to something great. This wasn’t a perfect book but it was a great debut to the genre and I’m excited to see what comes next from this author.

What’s to love…
- MMC with red hair AND curls ::::swoon::::
- fast-paced and utterly binge-able
- perfect blend of Macbeth and Moulin Rouge
- interesting magic
- top-tier chemistry between the MCs
- FUN, this was a blast to read
- perfectly hateable villain
- SPICY! A book with this much spice can sometimes feel like they’re banging constantly for no reason and you can’t get a single break. This was NOT that. They are definitely doing lots banging but it’s sprinkled throughout in a way that gives you a bit of a breather between sessions and always feels purposeful.
- sex lessons
- Bi FMC (although we only get one WLW interaction and its no longer discussed BUT still worth mentioning imo)
- I really enjoyed that this book gave an interesting (and positive) take on sex/sex workers with Caterine's magical power. The idea that sex/orgasms can be to used to heal is so powerful and certainly true under the right circumstances.

What not to love…
- World-building, I think this would be a good book for those who don’t mind a superficial world or are new to the genre, but those that want a fully fleshed out world and high political intrigue may find this to be a bit lacking.
- A bit predictable. I usually don’t remark on this, because I am autistic and pattern recognition is one of my strong suits, BUT I think its safe to say that in this case others may find it a bit predictable too. Mostly I found the letters/journal entries at the beginning of chapters to be a bit too obvious.
- Pacing. This was certainly fast-paced and easy to binge but it felt a little too rushed during the climax/falling action. I wanted more.

🌶️- This one is SPICY. The FMC is a courtesan in a smex club, we get scenes right from the start and they continue to be sprinkled throughout. Sorry I don’t have chapter numbers for you this time, the ARC was in PDF format and my kindle was really struggling with syncing and saving bookmarks! Just know it’s SPICYYYYYYY.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been excited about Something Wicked since Ballard revealed that gorgeous cover (look at how beautiful). And while it’s not a perfect book, it’s fun, seductive and spicy as hell - we’re talking McCormick levels of spice.
Okay, so Cate and Callum are super hot and fun MCs who you totally root for. However, some of the side characters don’t feel very fleshed out. Like some of the other courtesans and Callum’s sister Dom feel like they were stuck in there to help move the plot along or to be sacrificed for MCs’ character growth. Hopefully this is the beginning of a series and in future books these characters will be further explored?
The world building is good and keeps you interested - the idea of gifted women who are used and bodies are regulated felt apropos of the current times. And the transition from a monarchy to a democracy was compelling. However, a lot of the political plot kept me wanting more and didn’t seem fully fleshed out. Including the Uprising - but again, if this is just the first book of the series, hopefully there are plans that would expand on that plot.
At the end of the day, I had fun and I loved the parts I loved and they more than made up for the parts that fell flat for me.
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the eARC!
4/5⭐️

2.75
So… this was a little addicting at first, but overall it made little sense. For a fantasy the world building was pretty nonexistent. Where are we? When does this take place? The nuances of the world were introduced but not really explained (Bonds and Gifts). The villain was one dimensional and annoying. Ultimately I just didn’t care about any of the characters or anything that happened. The spice was nice, but there was a ton within a handful of chapters and then none. It all just felt a little pointless and like there were no stakes.

First of all the cover is everything. I was very excited to see Falon moving into Romantasy. I really enjoyed this one and am very excited for the next. There was just something missing that I usually get out of falons romcoms. I wanted to connect to the characters way more than I did. Overall a great read tho.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great quick read in between series and I loved the prose of the book. And the description.

Obsessed, I hope this turns into a series because I am hooked. The setting, the characters, everything felt sumptuous and engaging.

I loved the love story and the cliff hanger at the end. There were some high stakes losses which I appreciated because some writers are unwilling to kill off characters and find silly magic loopholes to bring them back.

In the past I have sometimes found Ballard’s characters to be a tad flimsy, but I enjoyed these. I just don’t quite think the characters overall were strong enough to support the more complex plot at times. Still, very interesting concept and I think this will be a fun one for the fall/winter time. Absolutely love the cover design!

3.25 on StoryGraph

I want to start this review off by saying I have really enjoyed Falon Ballard’s other books. I’ve been delighted by her writing style and how she handles her main characters, so being able to snag this book was super exciting for me and I was excited to dive into the world.

I’m bummed I didn’t really enjoy this book. The setting seemed super interesting and the tension and magic system were really interesting but they were not really explored much in this book. The saddest thing though was that the characters felt more like plot devices instead of characters. Even the emotional punches and twists in this book that impacted our cast felt more like a choice to move plot forward or at least somewhat rationalize choices instead of reflecting on the characters.

Even our main pair falls to this problem. There’s insta love here and yes there is reasoning behind that, but honestly there’s only a couple of scenes where our main characters build their relationship up more strongly outside of the bedroom. I sorely missed seeing them build up a connection and more of the why behind their relationship.

Overall, the world here is interesting, there’s a lot that could have been added to the plot if some of the minor world building items were fleshed out and given a bit more time. I’d forgive the world building piece if the characters felt more alive.

There’s potential for the sequel, I hope that it gives our characters more time to shine and builds out the world a bit more.

(Falon, still love your other books, and will still pick up what you write next!)

This is a different world in which Avon's monarchs have been overthrown, and the candidates for the first presidential election can kill the monarch. Callum, the son of the dethroned king, would like to be able to accomplish this. To avoid the guilt that would come with that task, he turns to Caterine, who can manipulate emotions.

The cover to this book drew me in, and then when I read the description I knew this book was right up my ally. I could have used more world building with this book - there are a lot of layers here with the monarchy, the new political climate, and the Gifted. I really, really enjoyed learning about all of this, but was left wanting more. What did work very well was the chemistry between Callum and Cate. There is a lot of spice in this book, and it pairs very well with political scene.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

HEHEHE I was SO excited to read this book and it DID. NOT. DISAPPOINT!! The romance was MWAH!!! SO good!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for this eARC!! I was intrigued by this book almost immediately when it was announced & loved the cover and premise.

Okay, for most of the book I kind of felt like that one gif of the guy with all the question marks around him.

I kind of suspected this would be the case because of the premise. Our FMC Cate has the ability to manipulate people's emotions if they orgasm in front of her, and our MMC needs her help because he has to kill his dad to become president and feels understandably shitty about that. So, I knew going into this book that I would have to suspend my belief... a lot. But it was a bit too much for me. I think as a lot of other reviewers said, the premise is really unique and intriguing, but I just wanted more from it. More world development, more fleshed out characters, wayyyy more questions answered (for all the sex that is being had I don't remember birth control being brought up??), and more romantic chemistry.

I didn’t need extreme world building but I needed more so that the plot would at least make sense. In the same sense, I needed the characters to act a bit more rationally, for their motivations to be clear, and for them to have some real emotional conflict connected to the choices they made. I found myself questioning why a bit too often, ever for a book with a bit of an unusual plot.

This read like a contemporary romance, which makes sense given the authors other works, but to make a romantasy work you need elements different than that of a rom com because it’s set in a completely different world. In a contemporary romance, you don’t have to ask how someone gets from point a to point b or why they made such a choice because you can make assumptions based on your own experiences; in a fantasy novel, you need to explore these choices just a bit more. Additionally, and this is kinda a final nail in the coffin, the romance fell really flat for me and does take center stage.

I think the part that really bothered me though is that in this world, the only people with magic (the Gifted) are an extremely oppressed class… and they are all women… who have no reproductive rights and need to be sponsored by a man to work!! I don’t even know if this is ever explicitly stated that only women can be gifted (and if it was it was so minor I missed it) but in our current political climate this story has sooo much potential here. I don’t know why this issue is not explored more? That is what I would have liked to see more of. It felt very weird and tone deaf to read a story where there are very real political mirrors… that are just never really addressed beyond oppression = bad.

This series has SOOO much promise and really is such a fun premise; I hope it gets one more round of editing to flesh out some of the world and characters though prior to getting published :)

i'm having a hard time reviewing this one to be honest. i finished it, didn't think about it for a couple days, and came back to it and i just have very mixed feelings. the premise is so cool and i loved the setting of la puissance. that being said, it just fell so flat in every other area: the world building as a whole is not fleshed out enough for me and i was left with so many questions. the other characters felt a bit one dimensional including cate at certain points. the political intrigue aspect could have been leaned into a little bit more as that was a bit more interesting. i think the main thing that really grinded my gears however was just how insta-love this was. i was missing the build up, the tension, the aspects that make it so interesting to read and this just felt so instantaneous and cliche. <spoiler>also of course they're bonded. this didn't even fit with the rest of the story well in my opinion. but we just have to take that as the explanation for everything because ~bonded~</spoiler>

This book is in the romantic, sci fi and fantasy genre. I absolutely love the cover and that is what ultimately caught my attention! It starts off strong, then slows down a bit. The spice in this book is intense! Whew! I think that Callum and Cate had a strong chemistry! I had a difficult time with the world building in this story, for some reason. This is a fast paced, hard to put down book. I read it in just one sitting. I know that this is the author’s first romantacy novel and I think she did really good with most parts of the book! Be sure to read the content warnings of this book. I will definitely be reading her upcoming books in this series! Overall, I rate this a 3 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Falon Ballard and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for this digital advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

It was decently written, I wish I could have enjoyed it more than I did. There was just a lot lacking from the plot that left me craving more world building but I didn’t feel connected to the plot at all.

So the spice was absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed reading it but the magic system was a bit shaky and the worldbuilding was not fully rounded off. I think this will be very popular and maybe another round of edits could solidify the world because I did get confused at times.

Hm, I certainly worry my most feared suspicions were correct and my favorite part of reading this book might have been the cover 😔

Truthfully, I was pretty engrossed in the first 30% and I wholly bought into the premise from the start but by the time the characters were actually interacting, I found that a) the bond thing was so not fleshed out & very surface-level in a way that came off as insta-love with a side of “Mine” and b) their chemistry was not really much to write home about…

I did really enjoy the setting of La Puissance and certain aspects of the world-building worked well but truly majority of it felt half-baked & not in a way that even felt like it was in favor of the romance?

Finally, my biggest issue was with the subplot regarding Harold & Grecia (which ties in to the “Bonding” situation) and how I feel like it was never really explained why their bond was taintable (and Cate and Callum’s were not?)


Also, once I was past the 70% mark, there was a certain character death that fully took me out of the book, for some reason the logical implications + the fact that it just felt pointless in regards to the narrative…it just hurt idk I knew then I was going to complain about it in my review


Overall, this was my first time reading this author’s work & I know this is meant to set up a series (which I might quit while I’m ahead) but I would love to read their other works bc it was pretty decently written and paced, it just felt a bit like an obvious venture from the author’s comfort zone regarding the fantastical world-building but sticking to the contemporary romances may work more for me!

thank you so so much to netgalley and penguin group putnam for this arc to review!

Rating: 3.5 stars
Thank you Putnam Books for sending me an advanced e-copy of this book! As soon as I heard Falon Ballard had a Macbeth x Moulin Rouge inspired book coming out, I knew I absolutely had to read it. The cover art is gorgeous, and I’m a huge fan of Ballard’s contemporary romances. The chemistry between Cate and Callum was off the charts. I LOVED the idea of her ‘teaching’ him with the both of them having ulterior motives behind their meetings. Cate was an incredible lead, I absolutely loved reading chapters from her perspective. Callum on the other hand was a bit of a struggle for me because his prejudice was so unfounded, and it seemed as if he had no real principles and beliefs that he stood behind. I understanding changing your ways as you grow and learn new information, but his character growth felt instantaneous and not very realistic. I really loved the letters that were between chapters that allow you to predict and guess where the story is going. The premise of this book is so interesting, but as I was reading it some parts just fell a bit flat. I wished the world building and magic systems were a bit more immersive. I also wished we would’ve gotten to know the side characters a bit more, so I’m hoping for them to shine through in the next book. I would recommend this for fans of spicy contemporary romance as the fantasy elements in this are very minimal.

Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this book.

While I loved the premise of this novel--anything Macbeth-related tends to be a major win for me--and am obsessed with its absolutely gorgeous cover, I just couldn't get into it no matter what I tried. The writing felt stilted and hollow to me, with the author telling us more about the world than showing it organically. On top of that, the dialogue and I did NOT get along. It oftentimes read as unnatural and I couldn't really suspend my disbelief enough to believe that people were leading conversations like this.

I definitely tried to give it an honest shot though, and I do think it has a really interesting foundation. It may not have been my cup of tea, but I sincerely hope it finds it audience and is well-received on pub day.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an early copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Where do I even start here?

I will say the cover is great, and the concept of the story made me so excited to read it. But dear god….

This is an incredibly creative take on romantasy that somehow missed the mark on all the best parts of the genre. The world building was mediocre at best full with holes all over the place, the pacing was in rocket speed & nowhere near a slow enough burn to actually believe the characters were “in love”, and the plot was flimsy, messy, and read like a dramatic lifetime movie.

I would argue that the pacing of a good fantasy novel can make or break its strength. And this kind of pacing is a skill we don’t all have….

& don’t even get me started on the severely cringey dialogue

Despite all of the flaws, part of me actually really enjoyed this. It was very entertaining and showed small, albeit brief, moments of some truly creative storytelling.

I would have loved for a better, more flushed-out structure and character development, but some sick part of me would read the second one, and idk what that says about me as a reader.