Something Wicked by Falon Ballard

TL;DR: A lot of work on the sex, not so much on the actual plot.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: There is an attempt at a political engine here, but I think the story was written for the sex and the characters.
Characters: These two read identical in their voice. They had different ideas and abilities on paper, but the sounded the same in reading.
Setting: The only setting I can remember is the pleasure house, and even then it’s not clear.
Romance: No thanks.

Summary:

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.

Thoughts:

This, and I don’t say this to be mean, but this felt a bit like our author had an idea for two characters who were on opposite sides of an idea but one needed to give the other sex lessons, and boom, they fall in love. The world and politics around these characters, the actual situation? It’s all so sketched out it doesn’t feel developed.

The bulk of this is sex and sex lessons. Cate is a sex worker who can muddle people’s emotions after sex. She is a Gifted, which in this society means she has little to no rights. Callum is the son of the former King, one of the men who enforced this lack of rights and Callum is a big hater of the Gifted. From there we begin sex lessons and that’s most of it.

The politics don’t make a lot of sense, the world is overly cruel at times while the characters are being beat down. The insta-lust is waved away as a sort of fated mates hoping we’ll see it as love (it’s lust). As with the politics the characters were not overly deep. Don’t worry, you won’t drown in these two’s personalities any time soon.

Would I recomend this? Probably not. As many others have noted this cover is amazing, but it does not properly represent the story within. This is one I think I’d say pass on.