Book Tour: Review: Wicked Endeavors by Kamilah Cole

I will read Kamilah Cole’s shopping list, so you know Wicked Endeavors has been on my TBR forever. And I’m so glad it was because this was so good! Cole NEVER misses! Keep reading this book review of Wicked Endeavors for my full thoughts.

Summary

Caya was once the ward of Coventry’s royal family…until they were killed by the three witch Houses that now rule the peninsula.

Now eighteen, Caya plans to infiltrate the witches’ glittering world to enact justice. With the help of a mysterious benefactor, she adopts the persona of Marisol Vinyet, a disarmingly beautiful aristocrat. As Marisol, she’ll attend the annual Coronet, a cutthroat social season during which witches increase their power by binding new members to their Houses. The Coronet will draw even the prince of neighboring Domingo—Tomás Castellan—to the peninsula just in time for “Marisol” to kill him. After all, his family set the witches upon Coventry in the first place.

But Tomás is more charming than Caya ever anticipated. Worse, her estranged childhood friend, Bas Arroyo, is the prince’s protector, and she struggles to control her complicated feelings for him.

To take down the witches from within, Caya will have to keep both her identity and her desperate heart under Although she’s made herself a weapon, she might be the one to bleed.

Review

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

Wicked Endeavors has my favorite frame narrative flashback. We begin at the end, looking back at the series of (un)fortunate events which landed us there. We wonder how we could have ended up like this and Cole is only too happy to tell us. Wicked Endeavors centers on revenge. On the burning fire which we keep within us to fuel our every move. Cole’s recent release examines the ways this fire can burn us, recoil and singe our eyebrows, all while wondering what happens when, or if, it goes out. Wicked Endeavors hit the ground running and I loved this world of illusion magic. Cole uses illusion magic to force us to question what we see, what we believe, what we feel.

Wicked Endeavors examines the difference between revenge and justice. Between a feeling of relief and one of bereft emptiness. Caya is honed into a sharp blade as she figures out if fighting for her future is worth setting her past on fire. There’s the pressure of these lies, these illusions, all on top of her. The weight of the lies and covers we have to keep, stooping our shoulders. Wicked Endeavors had me guessing until past the very end as Caya has to learn that she might not know everything, that even the ones we hate can still surprise us. The injustices and cruelties we never saw before, but can’t unsee now. Cole explores the line between love and hate and how both can fuel us but to what end? 

Find Wicked Endeavors on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.

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Discussion

What is your favorite illusion magic fantasy release?

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