Book Review: Something Wicked by Falon Ballard

Official Synopsis: 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.

So when you tell me a book is comped to Moulin Rouge you know I'm about to be all in when it comes to reading and reviewing it. For what it's worth, there is definitely some connections to how that story plays out, with a mix of more politics and definitely more magic than the movie/musical have. That being said, this is definitely an adult read, with a lot of spicy moments simply because of Cate's job as well as some emotional sequences as well.

Lady Cate has been working as a courtesan, along with her twin sister Andra, for years. Cate possesses the power to manipulate people's emotions, but only when they orgasm in her presence. When the owner of the club gets married to someone, Lady M, who seems determined to change how everything works, Cate knows that it might be time to get her and her sister out of there. The problem is they are both Gifted, which means the rest of the

world is not safe for them either. As the Uprising calls for someone to kill the current king, it is getting more and more dangerous for everyone.

Callum is the crown prince, and with there being a call for his father's head, he knows he has to be the one to do it. The only way for Callum to stand a chance in getting rule over Avon. The issue is Callum isn't sure he can do it, but when his sister suggests that he uses Cate's powers to help him feel better about what he needs to do, he is unsure. He doesn't trust the Gifted and for sure not someone who has that much power in intimate moments. The thing Callum doesn't expect is to immediately find himself drawn to Cate, even without her using her powers.

Now they are meant to spend a week with each other, with Cate working with Callum purely for the money and Callum hoping to learn to trust the Gifted. But they both have other plans too, plans that should help they get what they want, but when everyone around them seems to be lying, they realize they might only be able to turn to each other. As two people who wish for something different, they both find themselves in the middle of a plot to kill the King and another that brings Gifted people into power in any way possible. Unlike other books I have read recently, I think the main focus of Cate and Callum is actually the best part of the book, instead of finding myself much more amused by the side characters like I have in the past few things I have read.

Overall, there were a lot of fun plot points in this book, though at times it felt like too much. There were the main plot lines, mixed with many side plots and then getting the POV of both Cate and Callum while trying to understand what each of the characters know. The private moments between Cate and Callum are definitely spicy, with each time they meet having them get closer to each other, even without Cate's power. As the plot starts to thicken, the frequency of the spicy scenes seems to as well. This book definitely falls into the romantasy genre, with the romance, magic and overall politics of the novel being pretty evenly spread out. There are definitely parts of this novel and the way that it is structured that I wish was done in other novels that claim that 'romantasy' genre too. There is just enough politics and magic to really allow this book to have that fantasy title as well.

As for saying there were a few things that felt like 'too' much within the overall plot, having Callum and Cate somehow get 'fated' felt like a 'fine okay' moment to me, especially because everything seemed to be working out okay without that tidbit of information. Harold and Lady M are also fated and I feel like we only learn about that to prove that Harold can't kill Lady M and someone else would have to. The book itself also mentions that Andra and Cate don't know their bioparents, and then we learn who those people are along with the fact they have another sister somewhere in this world. I am excited to see how that plot line plays out, especially since it seems like this book is leading into a series of some sort.

Throughout the book there are breaks in the chapters that have letters and journal entries from Harold and other characters that give a bit of background on the girls, and I actually enjoyed that. I like not having a lot of information dropped on us through the characters but through these letters.

I did really enjoy this book but could see how it might be too much for other people, especially once Callum and Cate 'get going' but if you want something with a bit of Moulin Rouge comparison, some good politics and overall a fun story to read, I definitely recommend it.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars!

Something Wicked comes out December 2nd, 2025!

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