I got this book from the books-by-the-pound sale at a local thrift shop, attracted by the cover-art. It's the first in a dark-fantasy series featuring twin sisters from a family of streghe - witches who live secretly among humans to avoid persecution from witch-hunters, and who have a long history of rivalry (or outright enmity) with the seven princes of Hell, demons who seek to gain their freedom by acquiring artifacts held by the sisters. [Side note: the setup of the story immediately gave me pause. These two sisters - children at the time - were given two halves of a powerful talisman meant to protect them against those demons. But at the same time, they were warned that the two halves must never be joined, because that would free the demons. So... handing over potentially-disastrous trinkets to children who were unlikely to understand the consequences of playing around with them - not a good idea?]

The setup did include some intriguing elements, including the lavish descriptions of the Renaissance-era-esque surroundings and the delectable foods created by the family (and especially by main character Emilia, one of the twins). But when Emilia finds her beloved twin dead, horribly murdered, with a handsome stranger looming over the body, she immediarely swears vengeance at any cost and proceeds to break all the rules her family has established over the generations. (She's oddly reluctant to believe that the stranger IS one of the princes of Hell; for someone reared in a supernatural family she's surprisingly naive at times.)

Once the whole vengeance/demonic-bargain bit kicked in, I found myself losing patience with the story. Looks like it's going to be a very dark, angsty, love/lust/hatred/magical-bond kind of thing, with few if any examples of good relationships {wry grin}.

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this warm, sunny day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

Released for:

** 2024 May Royalty challenge **

** 2024 April Showers/May Flowers challenge **