If You Need Something That's Fantasy Meets 'Succession,' Kathryn Foxfield Has the Perfect New Release

When it comes to the fantasy genre, it seems like we can’t escape romance as well. Sometimes, we want a fantasy with a bit of mystery and family drama rather than a love interest, and that’s exactly what Our Wicked Gifts by Kathryn Foxfield offers.

Succession fans who want some supernatural flair will certainly want to give the novel a read. The front cover offers some Clue vibes, but the family dynamics make it clear that there is one person to impress when it comes to skill: Allegra Winter.

Let’s just start with Allegra, who clearly believes that she is the best thing to ever happen to Earth. She is the head of the Winter family and of the company that this family has developed, and she will do anything she can to protect it all. That includes delivering souls to the darkness.

Yes, the Winter family made a deal with the Devil generations ago, and Allegra isn’t afraid to continue the traditions. She does it under the guise of protecting the family and everything they have accomplished, but she acts out of jealousy, fear, and control. After all, with her gift to get people to do what she wants, she’s used to having all of the control.

She becomes a character you love to loathe and despise. Throughout Our Wicked Gifts, you want to see her suffer and perish, although I will admit that the end is a little bit anticlimactic for her.

Meanwhile, we have Cecily, the black sheep of the family. She has always disappointed the family, becoming the one everyone can blame their problems on. Her brother Felix is a momma’s boy and can do no wrong, and her sister Octavia is the spitting image of their mother, Allegra. However, Cecily has something none of them have: a conscience.

We see the story through her eyes, getting to see how she develops as she finds out secrets and puts the mystery puzzle pieces together. As family members start turning up dead, Cecily takes it upon herself to really get to the bottom of it, making it clear that she doesn’t just want a scapegoat but the truth.

As with any family in power, there are skeletons in the closet that they would prefer to remain there. With hidden children, forgery, and much more, we follow Cecily as she learns more about the Winters and their dirty secrets than she ever thought possible. On top of that, she has to figure out if this is even a family that she wants to be in, and it’s one of the most realistic journeys ever to go on.

I want to repeat that. Cecily’s journey is realistic. She wants to be accepted by her family, but at the same time, she’s aghast at everything they do. As the black sheep, she has always wanted to have her mom say that she wants and needs her, even that she loves her, but she knows that actions mean more than words, anyway. It’s a difficult feeling to grasp and understand, but Foxfield does a wonderful job of explaining it through Cecily’s eyes.

There is a hint of a potential romance throughout Our Wicked Gifts, but it doesn’t overtake the story. Instead, this romance is more of a push for Cecily to uncover the truth about her family. It helps her decide whether blood means everyone else has to be pushed to one side, and it helps her realize that maybe there is someone out there to love her for her in a way that family never has. It has a plotted reason to be there, which I appreciated.

My favorite part? The ending. Cecily has to make the choice, and she makes the only one that she can. The best thing is that she’s not sacrificing something about herself to make that choice. I’m not going to give away the exact details of the decision she makes, but it’s not one of the two choices on offer. It’s something that she figures out along the way, as she finds out just how much bad her family has done.

In the end, there is an element of sacrifice, but not in the way that you would expect. It opens the door for a second novel, and I’m here if Foxfield wants to write it.