Kingdom of the Wicked

The review

Emilia and her twin Vittoria are secret witches living quietly among humans in nineteenth-century Sicily, working in their family's restaurant in Palermo. Then Vittoria is found murdered. Emilia reaches for forbidden magic to find the killer and summons Wrath, one of the seven Princes of Hell, who offers an alliance with terms of his own. It is a murder mystery wrapped in a demon romance, and it starts the slowest, most delicious burn on this list.

The atmosphere is the star. Maniscalco puts you in a kitchen full of lemons and spices, in candlelit streets where witches hide in plain sight, and in a city where something is hunting girls like Emilia. The mystery of who killed Vittoria, and why, drives the plot more than the romance does, and it keeps the pages turning.

Wrath is a prince of Hell who is arrogant, infuriating and, to Emilia's endless annoyance, often right. Their dynamic is all sparring and grudging respect, and the tension builds through bargains, near misses and a long list of things she refuses to admit. Readers who like their demons buttoned-up and dangerous fall hard for him.

The heat: two peppers. Book one is kissing and heavy tension with the door firmly closed. The series turns the temperature up in later books, but if you come here looking for open-door scenes, you will not find them yet.

Know before you start: this is book one of a trilogy and it ends with Emilia stepping into a much bigger story, so it is not a complete romance arc on its own. Treat it as the long first act. If you loved the slow build of ACOTAR book one or the tension in The Serpent and the Wings of Night, you will feel at home, and the payoff later in the series is worth the wait.

Read it if you love mystery, atmosphere and a slow burn. Skip it if you need open-door scenes in book one.