Early Review: Our Wicked Gifts

Our Wicked Gifts by Kathryn Foxfield

Published By: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: June 18, 2026
Date Read: February 28, 2026
Genre: YA – Paranormal / Thriller
Source: ARC from Simon and Schuster
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416

Add to Goodreads | Add to Storygraph

The daughter of a sinister magical family who made a deal with the devil must stop the man killing them off, one by one, in this deliciously dark fantasy thriller that’s House of Hollow meets Succession, laced with a kiss-or-kill romance.

Cicely is the black sheep daughter of the powerful Winter family, who made a deal with the devil in exchange for riches and ruthless magic. Soren is the boy her family banished to the underworld. Their fates intertwine when Cicely’s loathsome Uncle Dorian winds up dead at a masquerade ball.

Once overlooked for her lowly gift of discovering secrets, Cicely is now her family’s only chance at survival, tasked with finding the killer before he takes out every last Winter. With time running out, Cicely narrows her sights on Soren, who she suspects is back for vengeance.

Yet the more Cicely investigates Soren–and gets to know him–the more she begins to question how much family loyalty is worth. After all, when it comes to being a Winter, one can have love or power, but rarely both…

“Moths actually have an incredibly sensitive olfactory system, and you smell overwhelmingly like lies and narcissism.”

Wow! There are no words to really put into context how much this book completely blew me away! I was really excited to win a proof of this book from YALC 2025, but honestly I had never read anything by this author before, and so I didn’t really know anything about this book. I go into the majority of books completely blind, so when picking this one up the only thing I knew is that it was a mystery/thriller kind of book. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a paranormal mystery/thriller, and this was such a fantastic read. I couldn’t put it down.

Our Wicked Gifts is a paranormal thriller that follows the Winter family. They are billionaires who made a deal with the devil for power and influence. This book starts with the family making a sacrifice in order to keep these powers. Years later, Winters are dying in mysterious circumstances. As panic ensures, Cicely, the underdog of the family who has never really felt like she fit in, is determined to find out what is happening to her family. But is it the sinister spirit that Cicely can see and seems to be haunting her family, or is it something more mundane? How can she figure it out when it seems every member of the family seem to be hiding a multitude of dark secrets.

Honestly this book was utterly fantastic! I loved every single moment of this book and it kept me guessing right until the very end. I really loved how the majority of the characters were morally grey. Even Cicely, whose perspective we are experiencing is not really a good person. She is selfish and will happily hurt someone if it means she gets power or influence or her own way. I actually loved this about the book. I know everyone is obsessed with the morally grey men in books, but I really do think we need more complex female characters, and we definitely get that here.

I loved the paranormal / spirit element to this book. I just really feel like it upped the stakes that much more throughout the mystery. It really added to the depth of the story and the characters because you really are trying to guess (along with Cicily) whether it’s the ghostly spirit doing all of this or whether it is just someone ‘normal’ because god knows this family have enemies. It kept me on my toes all the way throughout the book and I truly think that that’s the reason I loved it so much. I remember getting to the 80% mark and I still had not figured out ‘who dunnit’… it really impressed me that by that point I was still like ‘I have no idea where this is going to go.’ It kept me guessing right until the end, and while I figured out some of it, I didn’t get the specifics. This, to me, means that it’s a fantastic book if I can’t guess it.

Our Wicked Gifts was such a phenomenal read. There were elements in the ending that weren’t entirely wrapped up, and I found myself wanting maybe another chapter or two after the twist ending but overall I loved this book. As soon as I finished it, I went and ordered Katheryn’s other books and I cannot wait to dive into them. If you’re a fan of creepy and spooky vibes, a fantastic mystery and a little hint of romance, then this book is not to be missed out on. I truly loved every single moment of it and I cannot wait to read more from this author in the future. Katheryn is a definite new-to-me author going on the favourites shelf!

“I think maybe the finality is what makes life matter. You have your time to do with as you choose, and that’s it.”