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Book: “The Wretched Divine” by Adalyn Grace
Publishing Info: Feiwel, September 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Aurelie Chantelune was born to serve. Raised as a knight in a kingdom ravaged by demons, she’s spent her life honing her blade, driven by the memory of the monsters who tore her family apart and by the knowledge that she’s one of the few who can stop them.
If Aurelie can claim her first kill, she’ll inherit a legacy passed down through the Chantelune a soulbond with Yuriel, an angel whose power is vital to her kingdom’s survival. But when those she loves begin turning into the very monsters she’s sworn to destroy, Aurelie is forced to seek help from the last place she ever imagined. Desperate, she forges a second and far more dangerous bond with Severin, a demon she can hardly trust, but who claims to know how to end the war for good.
With their lives and fates entwined, Aurelie, Yuriel, and Severin must team up to hunt down a cure capable of turning demons back into humans. But the more they learn about one another and the deeper their relationships grow, the more Aurelie begins to question the war and her place in it. With both of her bonded on opposing sides, she’ll have to make a continue to stand with the angels, or risk everything by trusting a demon.
Review: I promise I won’t go on another rant about love triangles in this review. For one thing, the book summary does a great job of making it pretty clear that that’s where things are going. And for another, while I still didn’t love the love triangle, I actually didn’t hate this one as much as others. Mostly this was because there wasn’t an obviously preferred choice right from the start.
Just to jump right in from there, I actually really appreciated the fact that both love interests were given a decent amount of page time, and even by the end, it wasn’t super clear which direction things were going to go. I was a bit nervous when I read the original setup that we’d get the typical romantasy character types here: the goody, blond angel character who is clearly not a real candidate, and then the dark, mysterious demon character who’s the obvious endgame from the very first moment. But, if anything, I found my actual interest in these two going the opposite way. Yuriel seemed to have a lot more depth and character to him, in many ways making him my favorite character even above Aurelie herself. Severin, on the other hand, was rather bland and predictable. So while the book didn’t make it incredibly clear which direction the romance was going, I definitely had a preference, and it was refreshing to see the “dark bad boy” archetype shucked a bit, with the angel character ending up with more depth between the two.
I also found Severin and Aurelie’s chapters and scenes together to be some of the weakest, writing-wise. Here, we had the stereotypical “enemies to lovers” banter, and it all just felt so tired. It wasn’t bad, necessarily, but it was so familiar that you will feel like you’ve read these exact same exchanges many times in the past.
Aurelie’s chapters in particular were a challenge. While the book is marketed as new adult, Aurelie very much reads like the worst examples of YA heroines: impulsive and lacking any true depth to her emotions or motivations. At best, I didn’t care what was going on with her, and at worst, she would actively annoy me with the nonsensical approach she would take to situations.
All of this said, I still enjoy this author’s writing style. It’s very approachable and free-flowing. For all my frustrations with some of the character beats and the romance, I still sailed through this book at a steady clip. So, while this wasn’t my favorite book by this author, I definitely think it’s one worth checking out if you’ve enjoyed her books in the past and don’t mind love triangles as much as I do.
Rating 7: While I didn’t love the love triangle, it was nice to find that the angel love interest was actually more compelling than the demon. Dear lord, spare me from another dark, mysterious love option who’s immediately the obvious endgame.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Wretched Divine” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Romantasy TBR 2026 and Most Anticipated Adult Fantasy & Sci-fi of 2026.
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