This Vicious Grace (The Last Finestra #1) by Emily Thiede | ARC Review

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s 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. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.

Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?

Emily Thiede’s exciting fantasy debut, This Vicious Grace, will keep readers turning the pages until the devastating conclusion and leave them primed for more!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

grumpy but sweet bodyguard love interest, touch that can kill, wholesome romance, stunning character development—ALL OF THIS <33

I had zero expectations going into this like I genuinely thought it’d be a boring book and look how wrong I was??? IM IN LOVE. Everything about This Vicious Grace was spectacular.

“She might be but one stitch in the tapestry, but every stitch had a purpose, and threads couldn’t become art without them.”

For years, Alessa has been known as the Finestra—a figure blessed by the god Dea with powers meant to fend off demons who will attack her island on the day of Divorando.

This power though… well her touch can kill anyone it comes in contact with so it’s not really a blessing she considers.

Alessa must find the right partner who can contain all the power that’s stored in her and so far she’s killed all three of her potentials. With little time remainining until Divorando, Alessa must find the one for her asap while also worrying about being assassinated by her own people, and dealing with her ✨dark and alluring✨ bodyguard, Dante👀

“And you keep saying you aren’t the hero.”
“I’m not. You’re the hero. I’m just asking a girl to hold my hand.”

GUYS THEM. ALESSA AND DANTE ARE EVERYTHING. I adore them so so much. Each are unique in their own way and just how they support one another ohmygod the love I have for these two is unexplainable.

Alessa’s longing for physical contact and even just being able to talk to someone🥺 My heart broke for her so much especially with the way people feared (and some hated) her, my precious girl didnt deserve any of that. The way she bloomed into who she wanted to be was so beautifully written and I couldn’t be more proud. She’s such a relatable character and it’s not a “throw-in-your-face” kind of relatable but written so naturally of the feelings many of us had at times. Alessa is actually just so kind, funny and bold I love her so much ❤

Dante !! Literally from the moment he appeared I knew I’d love him. He was acting all grumpy in the beginning but even then he was never actually a jerk but instead it was the little things he did that were so sweet and caring. And my love just grew from there. Dante is basically that one person who keeps saying “Im CrUeL” but literally all his actions and what he says are the exact opposite.

“Sympathy, kindness, love, and friendship—all those precious human experiences that made for a full life—those were for other people, not her.”

THE ROMANCE. THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THE CHEMISTRY. THIS. I swear it’s the definition of precious. I didn’t realize how much I loved two characters just cuddling until I read this book. I was literally dying of happiness and squealing like a fangirl as if thats not what i am in all their cuddling and interactions with one another.

That moment where Dante offered to give Alessa a hug knowing how much it would mean to her after not having contact at all with anyone for years and him pretending that he was grudingly offering this hug but we all know he wanted it just as much—that. my friends, was one of the sweetest moments I’ve ever read.

OH and then Dante and Alessa getting drunk together and playing truth or dare + Alessa blatantly ogling shirtless Dante >>> PLEASE there were too many funny moments with these two I literally reread these scenes like 10 times. An excerpt:

“Ever since you called yourself stale bread, I’ve had wicked cravings.”
He paused, shook his head, then pushed back up.
“I adore bread. Especially baguettes. Long, thick, hot and slathered with—”
He hit the ground, shaking with laughter. “Enough. Mercy. You’re a champion of lewd baking metaphors.”

I could go on forever talking about every amazing scene + the bantering with these two but I’m sure you get the idea and plus you’ll want to see them for yourself hehe

The side characters were also super interesting, and my opinion changed on many of them compared to first impressions cough thinking of two people especially. I adore Kamaria and Kaleb ksdhfksghs also I feel like I sense something between two characters that might develop (??) in the 2nd book.

Now the only reason why this didn’t get 5 stars was because even though my heart stopped for second because of that ending… some of the things that happened were pretty underwhelming? It also felt sudden and kind of rushed thinking about the build-up that led to that moment. But something small like that wasn’t really a big deal for me hence the deduction of 0.5 stars.

ANYWAYS EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRY THIS. If me gushing about the romance didn’t convince you (although how could it not smh) then go for the character development in Alessa or miss out on falling in love.

If This Vicious Grace is only a debut novel I can only imagine how amazing the author’s future books will be.

(4.5⭐)

Thank you Wednesday Books for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!!