Wicked Flavors by Azalea Crowley Review
Rating: 5 Stars
On KU: No
Publication Date: May 8th, 2025
HEA: Yes
Version: E-Arc
WARNING: This is a horror romance with graphic depictions of gore, violence, death, slight themes of body horror, sexual content, panic attacks, brief discussion of colonization, and fearful scenes. The author provides an extensive trigger list in the front of their book—please make sure to check out the extensive listing prior to reading; your mental health always matters.
What are you willing to do to obtain the things you desire? Are you willing to sacrifice it all? Maybe get your hands a little messy?
Dear readers, this book had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t put the book down—listen to me when I say, it was a wild ride worth every fright and shock. Azalea Crowley is a horror writer that gives the reader moments of ease until you get slapped around with the creepy, gory monsters that hide underneath your underwear—I mean bed. Yep, underneath your bed.
Remember this is not your average story, baby, we are in horror land with a one-way ticket to a dark, twisted love. This book was eerie yet alluring and holds your attention as a reader from the first introduction. While the horror is more of a slow ebb, Wicked Flavors does not disappoint in the gore, fear factor, and horrific imagery.
I’ll break down the plot without too many spoilers; Gwendolyn lives an otherwise ordinary life at thirty-seven. She works at a crafts and hobby store, keeps to herself, and tends to hide herself from public view. The one thing that brings her joy is her craft of dollmaking. One day, she’s approached with the chance to work on the doll of her dreams—the only issue is the doll is stuck in the show window of some unknown antique shop.
Here’s where we meet Antiquarian owner, Ambrosius. This beautiful forty-four-year-old man is everything that Gwendolyn avoids in life—bold, boisterous, and tempting. He’s pretty much trouble wrapped in a cyan blue bow, and Gwendolyn wants nothing more to do with him outside acquiring the doll of her dreams. So, imagine her surprise when the only way to get the doll is to make a unique deal with Ambrosius. While unique in nature, Gwendolyn thought the odds were in her favor and thought, “what can go wrong?”
Everything my friend, EVERYTHING.
Wicked Flavors is a horror romance the pushes the reader out their comfort zones by forcing them to think about how cool it is to be evil—I mean be yourself. It was a journey filled with banter, gore, awkward co-worker moments, spiders, and a few inopportune deaths. Gwendolyn is taking on a journey of unmasking due to the deal she’s made with Ambrosius and it was an epic ride! The illusive deal brought chaos and freight into Gwendolyn’s life that upheaved her environment of safe zones while recreating her life like the dolls she customizes. The deal unveiled the façade she’s been living and forces the reader to be consumed by the unnerving sensation of emotions. Sound’s fun right? It’s downright delicious. This book was creepy with a delicious play with classic tropes of forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and a demon creature who oozes, “daddy” energy with his shadow hands.
Okay, whew! It’s hard as hell to not spoil but talk about the book. Hopefully you caught the plot, ha get it?
Any who—let’s get to what you filthy animals are here to learn about, the spice. The spice was well-balanced and dare I say, DELICIOUS! The sexual content was a slow build, but the spice and tension is HOT since the first meeting of Gwen and Ambrosius in his shop. We begin with sexy nightmares, delve into nail-biting tension that comes to a full boil until BAM delicious spice. Plus there’s a somnophillia scene, so you can imagine it was a delicious ride.
Each character in Wicked Flavors provide a unique tone and message within the story. Ambrosius was a deliciously insane character that never truly unveils himself until he wishes for the reader to learn about him. I mean, how can we not want to know more about a charming demon with unique features and shadow hands? This is what the people loves to see and while Ambrosius isn’t partial to humans, I think he loves to play with the need in us. His character was a fun play on temptation while exploring the theme of developing within a society that dark and evil in its inception.
Gwendolyn was a relatable character from her experiences and journey with unmasking. When we first meet her, Gwendolyn is consumed by the masks she wears. Just like the dolls she creates, Gwen presented herself to the world with a pretty, painted façade that protects her from the nasty bits of humanity. Yet as the story develops, we see how the creatures that scare her unfurl her true nature of a strong, boisterous woman that brings her victims to their knees.
In addition to the fantastic characterization and wild romance storyline, Crowley creates parables that carries far beyond catchy lines to further the plot. The nature of the body horror within the book forces the reader to deconstruct the falsehoods of conformity and confront the irrational need we have to perform for those surrounding us, in thus changing who we are at our core. Through Gwendolyn and Ambrosius, we see various messages of societal conformity and masking for survival, commentary of colonization, and other deep messages that’ll be with me for days.
Listen, this book was such a great read! Please take a chance and read this darling, horror romance.
Listen, if you want an amazing horror romance with alluring characters that are unrepentant, dark characters with representation of neurodivergence, and Hawaiian/Filipina representation then this is the book for you!
Tropes:
Dark Horror Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Demi Representation
Gore? You Mean An Average Tuesday
“Daddy? Mommy?” Yep. Let’s Panic.
Chronic Pain Representation
Hawaiian/Filipina Representation