Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco is a fun, semi-dark, romantasy mystery that will have you hooked every second. In this first installment of the series, you follow Emilia di Carlo, a witch who lives in late 19th century Italy, along with her family, including her grandmother (Nonna) and her twin sister, Vittoria. When Vittoria is tragically murdered, Emilia sets out in a rage of fury and plans to avenge her sister. She tries summoning one of the feared demons that her Nonna has told her so much about in order to strike a bargain for her sister’s avengeance. She ends up summoning Wrath, one of the Wicked, a true prince of Hell. Emilia and Wrath, an unlikely pair, must work together to figure out who is going around and killing not just her own twin sister, but other witches as well. However, it is rather difficult with tricky demons and other princes of Hell constantly getting in the way. In the end, Emilia is faced with a difficult choice in order to avenge her sister- stay in Italy with her family where it is safe, or journey to Hell in order to hunt down the answers she’s been searching for.
This book series is a solid 5 stars for me. I enjoy this first one in particular because you pick up on things you wouldn’t before when rereading. The innocence of the first book is also something that sticks with you as you get further into the series. I love the character Emilia as a whole, as we don’t see angry women represented as much as we should, and she is certainly strong-willed and driven by fury. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fun dark fantasy/mystery with more romance later on in the series.