Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Something Wicked is a historical-esque paranormal fantasy romance set in an industrial era world that mixes kings and queens and magic. The Uprising has overthrown the royal families to secure equal rights for the long disenfranchised Gifted.
When Prince Callum kills his father the King to secure his right to become the next ruler, he begins seeing Lady Catherine to ease his guilt. Cate is a known Gifted Courtesan who can manipulate emotions, and she is kind and deeply protective of the people around her.
Callum and Cate have to fight the burning chemistry between them while a nefarious plot created by other Gifted begins to target everyone Cate loves, pulling both of them into danger as tensions rise in Avon.
I jumped into Something Wicked mostly due to the playful Moulin Rouge retelling premise and the gorgeous cover that I could not keep my eyes off. While the premise was good enough to keep me engaged, some of the insta lust and loosely put together plot elements made me want more for the majority of the book.
Read our full ARC review of Something Wicked by Falon Ballard below.
Something Wicked
Description
The country of Avon is in deep turmoil. The Uprising has overthrown Avon’s monarchial rulers, and a decree has been issued. Candidates for the first presidential election will be selected by the completion of a special task: to kill the former monarch of their home province.
Callum, the son of the recently dethroned king, is determined to be in the running. But to do so, he must come to terms with killing his father, the key to which lies in the hands of Lady Caterine, a Gifted courtesan at La Puissance, Avon’s premiere sex club.
Lady Caterine has always had the magical ability to manipulate the emotions of anyone who experiences an orgasm in her presence. If Callum can only open up to Cate, he will be able to commit the newly fated murder without suffering the guilt and take his place as the rightful candidate from his province. But Callum has a deep-seated mistrust of the Gifted. And the last thing he expects is to be confronted with an undeniable connection with Cate that neither of them understands, nor wants.
With the fate of the country at stake, Callum and Cate search for ways to bare themselves to each other, and discover a darker force building within La Puissance, one that might ruin the future of Avon for good. To stop Avon from violently falling to ashes, they must sacrifice everything they have . . . even if it requires betraying each other.
Tropes
- Magic
- Friends to Lovers
- Fated Mates
Review
Overall Impressions 😊
I wanted to like this. I loved Moulin Rouge and I could see hints of something great in here. But I cannot tell if it is the editing by the publisher or the awkward writing style, but I just could not enjoy this.
There is some peak yearning here that kept me engaged. Callum and Cate’s chemistry is sizzling and the attraction they have for one another is basically oozing out of the pages.
But the rest is strange. The plot has a chance to be great but it throws together random plot elements to tie it all together. The insta lust is kind of a letdown and there is a lot of exposition.
I just could not connect with it. I did not get to discover any of the elements myself and it feels like I was told everything that is happening or going to happen.
The beats were off too. At certain points I was captivated but other times I just wanted to get to the next chapter.
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
It is promoted as a Moulin Rouge retelling and it is kind of like that. So if you enjoy Cinderella retellings, Moulin Rouge, Pretty Woman, or any story where a courtesan becomes something much more to the person in charge, this will be enjoyable.
It has hints of a modernish industrial world mixed with magic. I always enjoy seeing magic mixed with daily life, so if that magical realism is your cup of tea, this might be a good fit.
Characters 👥
Callum and Cate have the potential of being great. I thought about this over and over again, trying to understand why I really was not impressed by either of them, and I figured it out.
They are one dimensional. They have no flaws and are defined by their sole purpose in the plot. Callum wants to be a good leader. Cate is the perfect woman, strong, beautiful, talented, and she somehow does everything right. They just feel like the idea of characters and not really well fleshed out individuals.
The same goes for the side characters. The sister is witty and charming, the king is regal and wise, the foster dad is tired and tries to do his best, and the stepmother is the cliché. Everyone in this plot is just their one faceted stereotypical representation, and I could not invest in any of them.
I liked seeing Cate and Callum’s devotion to one another and their friends.
What could be said about the characters is that they were designed to do one thing, either by the author or during the editing process, but they did that very well. So they have that going for them.
Plot 🗺️
The premise of the story has the potential of being great. Who does not love a dystopian novel with a Moulin Rouge twist. But unfortunately there are some concepts that are just mentioned in passing in the third act. I am not sure if the author planned it the entire time and it just got lost during the editing, or if the plot just did not come together and later on this concept between characters was thrown in to make it work.
The pacing feels off. The scenes between Cate and Callum are spicy, mostly because of Cate’s position in life, but it almost feels like there is spice for the sake of spice, like her role was invented so there was an opportunity to put these spicy chapters in there. Which is very ehhh. I really dislike intimacy between characters just for the sake of scandalizing the audience or claiming the book is an adult book, which just does not do it for me.
And I just could not get invested in any of it, because I was never given the chance to put anything together myself. Everything is just tell, tell, tell in dialogue.
The third act plot device is my least favorite for a reason, and it is not even done in a meaningful way. It lasts about two pages and then it has no impact.
I also truly disliked Cate’s powers, like… did we really need it to work that way, with no impact on plot what so ever? It’s one thing if you can imagine something like that and make it a whimsy, fun plot element but it had no impact in the overall plot one bit.
It all felt a bit like fanfiction that resolves everything too quickly with no editing, and I was frustrated because such an exciting premise is not executed in a way I could enjoy.
It is not all negative though. The emotions between Cate and Callum are displayed well, their connection is lovely, and the yearning was enjoyable.
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
This just was not my style at all. I did not like the character design, I did not like the tell heavy dialogue, and I did not like the plot elements that felt like magical world details that contributed nothing to the overall line.
But the thing I liked least outside of the “hey I need to feel better about getting rid of my own dad and I need to do it with magic moments of intimacy” was this: why did these characters refer to one another with full names. They are naked or in a compromised position and she is referring to him with his entire first and last name in the full scene. It was just weird and it contributed to the fanfiction vibes overall.
The romance is very consistent and the author commits fully to the longing and heat between Cate and Callum, which does help the emotional moments land a bit better.
Spicy Chapters
How Spicy is Something Wicked by Falon Ballard): 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Something Wicked overall has a gorgeous cover and an enticing plot that is riddled with bad choices all around. I think the plot might have gone the right way if the author leaned into the comedy of it all, because the premise is absolutely unhinged.
I am not sure if the author’s work is for me. I might consider other books in the future if they review well, but I am not sure if this is a good match.
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