Agent: Chelsea Eberly, Greenhouse Literary. This Vicious Grace: A Novel by Emily Thiede 4.5 (31) Paperback 12.00 BN Exclusive 14.99 Hardcover 18.99 Paperback 12.00 eBook 10.99 Audiobook 0.00 View All Available Formats & Editions Premium Members save an additional 10 and earn stamps to save even more.

Thiede weaves political intrigue, power struggles, and faith with intense romance in this immersive series opener. Though the worldbuilding is occasionally thin and familiar, it’s complemented by rich, descriptive writing and anchored by a clever heroine. His job is to keep her safe, and his presence helps Alessa wrangle her gift, but secrets from his past may yet lead to Saverio’s ruin. Finestra and Fonte are expected to collaborate, oftentimes through marriage, to save Saverio from Divorando, an apocalyptic day of reckoning on which Dea’s opposition, Crollo, would decimate the island with his “devouring minions.” Yet all three Fontes have succumbed to Alessa’s fatal power, and when her guards turn against her, convinced that her death will save Saverio, she hires outsider Dante, a “bronzed” muscled mercenary, for protection. As the Finestra on the island of Saverio, she has little magical ability of her own but can amplify the mystical powers granted to individuals, called Fonte, by the goddess Dea. Cued-white Alessa Paladino’s blessing is also a curse. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the islands only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her. Blessed by the gods, a thrice-married, thrice-widowed 18-year-old must learn to control her power to prevent calamity amid rebellion in Thiede’s mesmerizing debut.

This vicious grace book