Alessa is a Finestra. She can draw from and amplify her partner's powers. However, she’s so powerful that she ends up killing her own partners in the process. Now she must find one capable of withstanding her before the next demon wave hits, and in the meantime, she must also hire a new bodyguard to protect herself from people trying to assassinate her. This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede paints an Italian-inspired and fast-paced fantasy romance. I think what I loved most about the story was Alessa herself. I found to be a sympathetic main character. She's lonely and touch-starved and she can't even hug her twin brother out of fear of killing him. On top of that, there were a lot of fun romance tropes and I really enjoyed the bickering dynamics between Alessa and Dante, her disgruntled bodyguard. However, asides from Dante and Alessa, the majority of the side characters fell flat and some of the characters’ choices and reactions were baffling to me. For a story whose magic ...