#kingdom of the cursed
This is a scrumptious scene from Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco! – voted on by my wonderful Patreons for November’s Sketch-a-Wish! (I did Emilia a solid and excluded her wine-drenched front for the photo-op)
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So very excited to finally reveal this papercraft design, inspired by Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. The original design for this papercraft, (before a quick wardrobe change) was featured on a booksleeve included alongside a beautiful pin in the Beacon Book Box Bitty Box for the special ✨✨GILDED-EDGES✨✨ edition of the book!
From the very beginning I’ve always loved the design of this piece, in particular the snake/skull imagery. Kerri’s Pinterest board was SUCH an inspiration for the art direction and really helped me settle into the mood for this design.
Since Wrath was described favoring long robes, I really went ham on the golden snake, wanting to show off his freakin’ cool tattoo in some fashion. The apple was a fun allegory to the temptation of the Garden of Eden’s serpent, except here Wrath is offering his hand (in partnership) rather than the apple. You’ll also find some other nods to the summoning scene in the bones/candles/fern imagery in the surrounding branches. It’s such a witchy-moody-broody piece, and really high up with my favorites so far!
The book was such a refreshing setting to romp around in, and I love the direction it’s heading into its sequels. But hoooo boy if you all pick up this book, do NOT read it hungry.
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convincing you to read kingdom of the wicked because the sequel comes out in 10 days!
this post won’ t contain any major spoilers, but a few slips might happen-
Let’s start out with the premise :)
It’s basically a historical fiction- a murder mystery, based in the 1800s in Italy. BUT IT’S NOT JUST ANY OTHER MURDER MYSTERY, it has witches and super hot demons and not so hot hunters and- and chefs<3 AND POSSIBLY THE BEST FANTASY ENEMIES TO LOVERS I’VE SEEN IN A WHILE.
I cannot begin to explain how beautiful the entire ambience of this book is,,, the town in Italy is a very warm, cozy, and welcoming place. So that makes the whole murder situation even eerier and more intriguing. This isn’t one of those mysteries where you can guess from the start who it’s gonna be, and the murder part isn’t that IN YOUR FACE. It’s delicately woven throughout the rest of the plot. There’s a lot of chilling stuff going on, everyone has secrets and everyone is super sexy and scary- all in all this makes for the perfect autumnal read :)
PLOT!!
We start out with two twin witches who’s family owns a restaurant (i mean those lucky bitches get to COOK AND BAKE AND DO WITCHCRAFT ALL DAY LIKE- *dream life*)
Emilia and Vittoria dicarlo- one of them is super outgoing and loud and EDGY- she isn’t like other girls!! she has secret affairs and gets in trouble all the time,,, the other is kind of chill and reserved and loving.
BUT THEN SOMETHING LIFE CHANGING HAPPENS- one of them makes a mistake and ends up six feet under.
Now, witchcraft is like super illegal because women with gifts and knowledge are a threat to society!! Witches have been ending up dead in many towns across Italy and since witchcraft is super hush hush, our protagonist can’t exactly ask the police for help. So she does one better- SHE ASKS THE FUCKING PRINCE OF HELL- wrath. Go big or go home honey :)))
The magic system in this book is really interesting because it’s quite realistic- they use herbs and blessed candles and chalk and really aesthetically pleasing things. Some witches practice dark magic and go nuts because they have these visions which is so cool. The twins come from an ancient family of witches and their nonna is super badass and grumpy i love her.
The villains(seggsy antiheroes?) are the malvachi aka the princes of hell. Each prince has domain over one deadly sin(pride, envy, wrath etc). And they can like control those emotions which IS SO SICKK aaahhhh. Throughout the story, the main characters meets these princes and gets influenced by them but also learns new things to uncover the bigger mystery going on and they’re all very intriguing and sexy.(I’ve used the word sexy so many times like is that not reason enough to read it?)
The restaurant- I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ARC. It just enhances the reading experience by adding these touches of how invested the characters are in their recipes and flavours which makes it so comforting and also hilarious because one moment someone is like “OMG NO LOOK A CORPSE aaahhh” and the next they’re like “hmmm i want your recipe for cannoli *puppy eyes*”
vibes you can expect- mysterious, spells, herbs, candles, witches, church, family love, demons, betrayal, forced alliance, grumpy + sunshine trope, revenge lotsss of revenge, angsty, comforting yet also somehow on the edge of your seat feeling, secrets and darkness, hidden agendas, AND LOTS OF ITALIAN CUISINE.
The romance<333
aka the reason I picked up this book. At this point the romantic interest could be like “aahh you’re ugly i hope you die” and then two seconds later be like “you’re the most beautiful thing in this world you are the sky and the sun and you could walk over me do you want something to eat? do you want a kitten or a blanket or a cup of tea??maybe we could bang and get married????” and you have the AUDACITY to call that enemies to lovers????
BUT THIS BOOK PORTRAYS that hate to forced alliance to secrets to betrayal to mistrust to slight understanding to maybe some hints of romance. The slowburn is just *chef’s kiss*
I ADORE how you can never tell what the love interest is gonna do and you’re like daddy??sorry-daddy?? sorry. NO DON"T MAKE ME HATE YOU…..da-
ALSO there’s a slight corruption arc because the main character is so driven by her rage and that for me is the cherry on top.
AT ONE POINT, THE DARK ANTIHERO kisses the protagonist to save her life(?) AND SAYS “LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO HATE ME FOR THIS” LIKE SIRRRR??
Quotes you might like-
“I feel your gaze on me when you think I’m not paying attention. You track the dagger every time I move. You need to know where it is.“ No ma'am he’s looking at you-
"Young women died. Life resumed. Such was the way of the world, at least according to men.” I didn’t come here to cry but okay-
“I couldn’t begin to understand why Wrath had said “my Emilia’s.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if the demon even remembered my name since he only ever tossed around “witch.” EEEEEHHH THE POSSESSIVENESS TROPE
“You have something I want.” “If it’s my still-beating heart, I’m afraid I must decline.” “No, but I imagine you’ll end up giving that to my brother one day.” excuse me WHILE I GO SCREAM.
"My sister was the adventurous one—I was satisfied with safe, clean fun. Give me a steamy romance novel with forbidden love and impossible odds. That was the kind of adventure I could get behind.” same, literally same.
This book as Taytay songs because why not?
•Look what you made me do
•No body, no crime
•Treacherous
•Dancing with our hands tied
•Mad woman
•I did something bad
•Wildest dreams tv THISSS SO MUCH
•Delicate
•Haunted
•So it goes >>>>
Just before you go,, THE SEQUEL HAS THE “I DON’T WANNA KISS YOU UGHHH”// “LIAR” trope and also the “YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T GIVE AF ABOUT ME”// “I LIED.” trope
so you don’t wanna miss out.
I love it when characters say “Please don’t punch me for this” or “Live long enough to hate me for this” before kissing their love interest IT’S THE SUPERIOR ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE
“Instead of being ruled by fear, I could become fearless.”
So happy I can share this artwork with you guys I had a pleasure to work with amazing @kerrimaniscalco ❤️ you guys… The first sketch I did was way steamier you will eventually know when you read the book hehehe hope you all like this piece. At this point Ive draw Emilia and Wrath so many time they have special place in my heart ❤️❤️
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Hey guys~ I painted this piece for @fairyloot as the reverse dust jacket for kingdom of the cursed book.
characters are Wrath and Emilia from Kingdom of the wicked book series by @kerrimaniscalco hope you guys will like it xoxo
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men who literally bring down mountains for you ❤️
mr wrath…spare crumbs pls <3
Just in case anyone missed it, here’s Chapter 1 of Kingdom of the Feared by the amazing Ms. Kerri Maniscalco ♀️
Kingdom of the Cursed prediction
KINGDOM OF THE WICKED
wrath and Emilia
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