Reviews - Skin of a Sinner

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1.47k reviews for:

Skin of a Sinner

Avina St. Graves

3.52 AVERAGE

moonjay's review

4.0

dark emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I loved how obsessed the MMC was with the FMC! It was a really good, fast, and easy read!

niesnovelnest's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely loved this—just the right mix of dark and dorky, and it totally worked.

Bella and Roman meet as kids at school and bond fast. Roman quickly decides it’s his job to look out for her, especially since her foster family is the literal worst. Then Roman disappears for three years, and Bella’s left thinking he abandoned her. But nope—he was in prison the whole time for standing up for her against some bullies. When he’s finally back, he goes full ride-or-die mode, taking out her abusive foster dad and brother to give her a shot at peace. But dragging her on the run with him? Yeah… probably not the safest move.

This book was wild—in the best way. So much happened in such a short span, I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to read more from Avina!

justiney91's review

3.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

kristinm88's review

3.5

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

natcrx's review

2.5

challenging dark medium-paced

Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me. I wouldn’t even call it a dark romance — it’s just dark.

Isabella seemed sweet in the flashbacks, but in the present-day timeline (which makes up most of the book), she feels passive and, honestly, useless. There’s no character growth. I kept waiting for her to step up, especially after being separated from Roman — to show strength, to fight back, to evolve. But instead, she’s just dragged through the plot without contributing anything. And when Mickey finally returns to her after everything he’s been through, there’s zero emotion or excitement from her?

We also don’t get enough of their teen years to understand their connection. Most flashbacks revolve around her being bullied and him getting violent in response. There's no real build-up to their bond — and despite everything, she barely seems to know him.

As for Roman (or “Mickey”), he starts off protective, but that quickly morphs into something far more disturbing. His violence becomes excessive and unhinged, especially in the scenes with Isabella. I can handle a toxic cat-and-mouse dynamic, but there was a lack of clear consent that made those moments feel more abusive than romantic. He claims he’s protecting her, yet constantly drags her around, ignores her questions, and handles her roughly. It didn’t feel like obsession in a romantic sense — it felt controlling and unsafe.

In the end, it read more like a story of abuse wrapped in the aesthetics of romance, without enough emotional depth or character development to justify it.

meljoness_'s review

4.0

this book lost its 5 star rating toward the end, but only because i started to feel bad for bella & wished her circumstances were different. nevertheless, here are my thoughts:

reasons i liked it:
- the flashbacks really had me in a chokehold. when bella started to have a crush on roman