Book Review: Gilded in Venegeance by Lyssa Mia Smith

Official Synopsis: ''Two girls attended a magical ball, but one was never seen again.

At least that’s what those who betrayed her believed.'

Two years after being framed for fraud by the Society of the Charmed, an exclusive club of New York’s wealthiest—and most magical—citizens, Emmy Vallillo wastes away in prison, utterly alone.

Until her cell wall explodes, revealing Jack Fontaine, one of the Society’s favorite sons, now imprisoned for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. They make a deal: He’ll help Emmy escape if she helps destroy those who’ve wronged them.

Using Emmy’s magic to transform their appearances, the two break free and, unrecognized, soon become the Society’s new darlings. Now their enemies want to dine with them. Attend lavish balls with them. Marry them. But ruining lives requires Emmy to trust Jack with hers, despite his dark secrets—and the infuriating attraction between them.

When another betrayal brings their enemies to their doorstep, Emmy must choose: complete their revenge, or give up the money, the magic, and her safety in this cutthroat world for the most treacherous thing of all—love.

Gilded in Vengeance is the sophomore novel by Lyssa Mia Smith. Her debut novel Revelle was one of my favorite reads in 2023 with it's Moulin Rouge inspired plot. Gilded in Vengeance follows Emmy, who was wrongfully imprisoned after her best friend went behind her back and painted her as a fraud. Emmy has been stuck in prison, utterly alone and still in the shreds of the gown she was in when she was arrested. When Jack Fontaine shows up at the door to her cell after taking out the guards and saves her. He is handsome, but cocky, and has a plan that he needs her for. He brings her to a mansion that him and his friends are hiding out in, introduces her to the plan, and hopes to help her gain her magic back.

Using a relic of Jack's sister, Emmy is able to use her magic to help transform their faces, allowing them to not be noticed as they work their way back into the society that has already tried to destroy them both. As Jack and Emmy weave their way into society, they also have plans to dismantle the powerful people who worked against them. Jack wants revenge for his sister's death, the one he has been blamed for. Emmy is hoping to take away her former-best friend's new life of luxury, especially after Emmy's arrest lead to her father being killed as well.

As they continue to play a dangerous game of wits and magic, their complicated feelings for each other start to grow. But Emmy starts to worry that Jack is falling for the face she gave herself, not the one she was born with, and Jack is convinced he is going to die within the year, due to a vision from his sister. Both Emmy and Jack try to fight their feelings, and jealousy, as they work their way into the lives of the people who hurt them. Jack has a lot of secrets that he isn't willing to share, making it hard for Emmy to trust that this plan won't end with her going back to prison, or worse.

I really liked the magic system in this book, there was only so much magic available to everyone and everyone in the society seems to have a different power that was their specialty. Emmy had a transformative magic, the same as her father, but he used it to heal whereas Emmy isn't specialized in that. She is able to manipulate matter, but its a permanent change. Jack has the power of fire, specially black flames, that made it easy for him to be convicted of killing his sister, when black flames burned down the house. When they learn that Emmy's former best friend, Grace, has the power to bridge, or use other people's magic, they start to realize that there are even more secrets within the society and the events that lead to them being arrested.

I also liked the background of 1800s New York, similar to Revelle. There is a lot of mention of different issues that would have been present in that time period as well. I think the society that had magic was a high powered one, but also still had to remain a secret to those without magic.

Overall, I really enjoy Lyssa Mia Smith's writing and the addition to magic in some older time period. I am excited to see what other books she comes out with in the future. I also really liked the love story of Emmy and Jack within the book. Being young adult, there definitely isn't anything too crazy in the text, but you can see the subtle ways they start to fall for each other even when they shouldn't. This book had a lot of twists and turns, moments where you thought they were finally going to pull it off but something else would happen instead. I liked seeing how the plot played out overall and the ending was nice too.

This book was a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars for me! I enjoyed the magic and characters, but wonder if I would have liked it a bit more if it was adult.

Gilded in Vengeance comes out November 4, 2025!

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