Wicked Beauty Review

by Katee Robert

Rating: 3/5

She was the face that launched a thousand ships,

The fierce beauty at the heart of Olympus,

And she was never ours to claim.

A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Helen of Troy, Achilles, and Patroclus that's as sinful as it is sweet.

In Olympus, you either have the power to rule...or you are ruled. Achilles Kallis may have been born with nothing, but as a child he vowed he would claw his way into the poisonous city's inner circle. Now that a coveted role has opened to anyone with the strength to claim it, he and his partner, Patroclus Fotos, plan to compete and double their odds of winning.

Neither expect infamous beauty Helen Kasios to be part of the prize...or for the complicated fire that burns the moment she looks their way.

Zeus may have decided Helen is his to give away, but she has her own plans. She enters into the competition as a middle finger to the meddling Thirteen rulers, effectively vying for her own hand in marriage. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather see her dead than lead the city. The only people she can trust are the ones she can't keep her hands off—Achilles and Patroclus. But can she really believe they have her best interests at heart when every stolen kiss is a battlefield?

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This was definitely not as enjoyable for me as the previous two books. While I know this series is supposed to be sultry and smutty, this book felt like it had a lot of unnecessary sex.

Honestly, if it weren’t for knowing all the books play into each other within the universe, I might not have finished it.

The main premise is set around a tournament to choose the next Ares. And the setup and details around the tournament kind of reminded me of an adult mashup of The Hunger Games and Divergent. Mostly for the secluded training center for The Hunger Games, and then the types of challenges we see in Divergent. I truly did find this premise unique and interesting!

I just wish we got to see more of this premise than we did. The challenges felt very short and rushed. And there was definitely a bigger focus on the sex. Though I think that’s more due to the fact that in this book, there are three partners, this is an MMF romance. We saw moments between our two male MCs, individual experiences with our lady MC and each of the MMCs, then occasional group moments.

This was just not my preferred when it comes to the sexual moments. I much prefer two people and more intimate moments. Plus, as I mentioned, I just wanted more of the plot in this one.

While this was fun and enjoyable, just not a favorite for me in this series. But it gives us some new details within this universe that I found interesting too! I’m curious to see what happens next.

If you enjoy smutty urban fantasy retellings set around Greek Gods, definitely check this series out!