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Book Review: Wicked Like A Wildfire – Lana Popovic


Wicked Like A Wildfire
Author: Lana Popovic
Series: Hibiscus Daughter #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: August 15, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

All the women in Iris and Malina’s family are born with a gleam – a unique way of manipulating beauty through magic. Seventeen-year-old Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscopic visions into glasswork; her twin sister, Malina, interprets moods as music; and their cold, distant mother, Jasmina, bakes scenery into decadent treats at her confectionery in Old Town Cattaro, Montenegro.
Jasmina forbids Iris and Malina to share their gleams with anyone, and above all, she forbids them to fall in love – being discovered could shatter the quiet lives they’ve built in their tucked-away seaside town. But Iris and Malina are tired of abiding by their mother’s rules and rebel in secret whenever they can.
Yet when a mysterious white-haired woman attacks their mother and leaves her hovering between life and death, the sisters unearth an ancient curse that haunts their line – a wicked bargain that masquerades as a blessing and blinds the twins’ fates – and hearts – to a force larger than life. To save each other, they must untangle a thousand years of lies and reveal their own hurtful secrets. But even the deepest sacrifice might not be enough.
Wicked Like A Wildfire is debut author Lana Popovic’s first book in a sumptuous, bewitching duology about the power of love, death, and magic and the many faces of beauty.

 
First Sentence: My sister and I were born all tangled up together, both tiny enough that our unruly descent just narrowly missed killing our mother.

My Review:

First of all, please don’t read the summary of the book I provided in my review.

I took the summary of Wicked Like A Wildfire straight from the front cover flap of the finished copy of the book, something I always do when I provide the summary of the book I’m currently reviewing in my reviews. I feel like the summary of Wicked Like A Wildfire just tells you way too much about the book and spoils a lot of things for you. You still don’t discover most of the things the summary of the book reveals until after the halfway point of the book – the summary spoils that much of the book.

“Why…” She shook her head and swallowed. “Why did you have to grow up so strong? Why did you have to make it so hard?” (62)

Right off the bat, I noticed how different Lana Popovic’s writing was from other books I’ve read. Lana Popovic’s writing is gorgeous. Her writing is so smooth and flowery and it just flows. Lana Popovic definitely has an unique way of describing things. However, as I read on, I slowly felt that Lana Popovic’s writing came off as being extremely long-winded. Wicked Like A Wildfire is definitely a book you’ll want to enjoy slowly to fully enjoy the extent of the writing without it becoming long-winded.

I really enjoy the dynamic between the twin sisters, Iris and Malina. Iris and Malina have an extremely complex relationship – being twins, I expected them to be super close and they are close. However, their relationship comes with minor complexities – Iris privately thinks Malina is the purer twin and secretly envies her and her friendships with other people. Despite that, Iris often overcomes her jealousy. Iris and Malina are definitely a solid team.

“Maybe it’s the opposite,” he mused quietly. “Maybe there was too much of everything shared between you, and not merely the bad. Two magnets face-to-face, repelling.” (172)

Another thing I want to note is that Lana Popovic simply EXCELS at writing kissing and straight up sex appeal scenes. I was internally squealing when I read this one particular scene because it was so damn juicy. It gave me all the feels and get this…that scene was only a paragraph long. Yeah. She’s that good.

What ultimately kept me reading on was I WANTED TO KNOW THINGS. What happened to this particular character? Who are all the other characters that suddenly appeared and what roles do they play? How will it all end? The ending of Wicked Like A Wildfire certainly didn’t help as it ended with a cliffhanger.

Overall, I definitely recommend Wicked Like A Wildfire if you’re a fan of slow, gorgeous writing. I personally wouldn’t be reading the sequel as I have no desire to find out what happens next.

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-Kelly

Posted by Kelly on 8-14-17 · 1 Comment
Categories: 2017 book, book review Tagged: 3 star

« ARC Book Review: The Hearts We Sold – Emily Lloyd-Jones
Let’s Speculate: Decisions, Decisions »

Speak Your Mind

  1. Kyra Morris says

    8-15-17 at 6:00 AM

    This cover is so pretty! I’m not sure if I’ll read this or not. I’ve heard quite mixed things but maybe if my library gets it in I’ll give it a go! :)

    Lovely review.

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