Wretched
Wretched by Emily McIntire is a dark romance retelling of The Wizard of Oz. You are encouraged to visit the author’s website for a list of TW.
A woman can be great, and terrible too.
Evelina Westerly has always been the bad guy. As the brains, brawn, and botanist behind her family's drug empire, she's her father's ruthless secret weapon. With her days divided between perfecting her greenhouse, seeking revenge for her sister's murder, and putting a gun to the head of anyone in her way, Evelina doesn't have time for anything else. Especially not for love. After a one-night stand with a gorgeous man at a nightclub, she's sated her urges and is back to her criminal ways. That is, until that same man shows up as the new Westerly lackey...under a totally different name.
But Nicholas Woodsworth's real secret is much more dangerous than an alias. He's an undercover DEA agent, and he's hell-bent on destroying the drug trade that devastated his family. When he realizes the youngest daughter of the Westerly empire is the same woman he's been fantasizing about since that night at the club, attraction wars violently with disgust. Evelina embodies everything he's against, and he's been sent here to be her downfall. Yet the more they learn about the darkness in each other's hearts, the more alike they seem, and when hatred turns to something more, Nicholas will have to decide whether he can love a wretched woman, even if it means bringing both of their lives to ruin.
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
*Rating is based on the CAWPILE system and an average of book club members and their ratings of seven different categories.
Wretched is set in Kinland, a city two hours away from Chicago. One of our main characters, Evelina is the youngest daughter of an Irish mob boss. So, we chose to stay on theme and meet in Ireland.
The food and the service were amazing! Nothing like an angus burger cooked to perfection, topped with a fried egg and bacon, and I washed it down with Smithwick’s.
*The recordings provided are unedited and not professionally produced. They are raw captures of our meeting, complete with background noise, laughter, and bloopers for a more authentic experience.
We spoil the hell out of this book.
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐
Atmosphere/World Building: ⭐⭐⭐
Writing Style: ⭐⭐⭐
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐ Intrigue: ⭐⭐⭐
Logic: ⭐⭐⭐ Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
*Rating is based on the CAWPILE system and an average of book club members and their ratings of seven different categories.
Wretched is the third stand-alone installment of the Never After series. Have you read any of the books in this series? Which Emily McIntire novel would you recommend?
Our Next Book!
Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis
The Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks…
It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing—from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess—is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all—who does he want to be?
