A review by twiinklex
Evil Thing, by Serena Valentino

4.0

✨ "I was living the grandest life I could wish for. I was married to the love of my life; my mother was safely tucked away in my childhood home; I was rich, beautiful, and happy. I was Lady Cruella De Vil. But of course, isn't it always the case that the higher you fly, the farther you fall? And I would indeed fall, farther than I could have possibly imagined."

A very cool and interesting origin story of Cruella De Vil! This book focuses on her childhood and how the iconic villain came to be. The story was engaging and definitely made me feel sympathetic towards her.

I found this to be significantly better than the other books in the series. For once, it was a legit origin story instead of deviating from canon. No talk about politics and battles and 'The Odd Sisters' in a shared magical universe.

And unlike its predecessors, this book can be read as a standalone (there are very mild references to the magical realm but nothing hard to understand) which definitely added to my enjoyment. I also loved how this book focused on a tale that doesn't involve a Disney princess.

I don't usually comment on book covers but I feel that this one was poorly designed. The title is in black font and hence illegible. The taglines, author and cover blurb are in red font and thus hard to read against a black background. Strange choice of colours.