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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
REVIEW: Oh my, what a story! ROMAN BRIAR! You complicated, beautiful, possessive menace of an MMC—I am obsessed. I need a prequel with every angsty, tormented moment of his past. 📖
And Eden? My heart ached for her. The way she fought through the pain, the way she protected her brother, Aiden—I just wanted to wrap them both in a big, cozy, non-traumatizing blanket. 🖤💔
If you think this is just a dark romance… oh, buckle up, bestie. 🚨 While, yes, there’s spice (oh, there’s spice 👀), there’s also a dark and twisty plot that goes way deeper than you expect. Trust me, check those trigger warnings before diving in. 🔪🩸
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SPICE: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
QUOTES:
And Eden? My heart ached for her. The way she fought through the pain, the way she protected her brother, Aiden—I just wanted to wrap them both in a big, cozy, non-traumatizing blanket. 🖤💔
If you think this is just a dark romance… oh, buckle up, bestie. 🚨 While, yes, there’s spice (oh, there’s spice 👀), there’s also a dark and twisty plot that goes way deeper than you expect. Trust me, check those trigger warnings before diving in. 🔪🩸
---------
SPICE: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
QUOTES:
📖 "And while my devotion to God is unwavering, I fear you just might become my greatest sin."
"Flashing one last time, the camera captures something I’ll remember for a lifetime. The moment I knew I was truly in love with Roman Briar."
VIBES: 🔮 Dark. Twisted. Possessive MMC. Emotional damage. Plot twists. Spice with a side of "WTF just happened!?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book. Priests in forbidden, angsty romance? Yes, fucking please.
This is advertised as a dark romance, "darker than Haunting/Hunting Adeline," and I don't know if I'm just jaded or what, but this wasn't dark. It was hardly romance. Insta-lust, basically insta-love. The writing is so bad it feels like AI (which seems to be on brand for the author.) There are references to things that didn't happen at all. There are plot lines opened that never resurface. There are disjointed scenes that make no sense--on one page he has her strip tease, and in the same scene two pages later, he's pulling off her clothes that she specifically already removed.
The only character I liked in this whole book was Hannah.
There is a lot of art throughout this book, but it's all inconsistent, AI generated garbage.
The names are unimaginative and the plot was stereotypical and predictable.
If the author paid for someone to edit this book, she deserves a refund.
If you want a delicious, kinky, well-paced, well-researched, and well-written story with a domineering dominant priest, go read Tiffany Reisz's ORIGINAL SINNERS series. Søren can take my confession any day.
This is advertised as a dark romance, "darker than Haunting/Hunting Adeline," and I don't know if I'm just jaded or what, but this wasn't dark. It was hardly romance. Insta-lust, basically insta-love. The writing is so bad it feels like AI (which seems to be on brand for the author.) There are references to things that didn't happen at all. There are plot lines opened that never resurface. There are disjointed scenes that make no sense--on one page he has her strip tease, and in the same scene two pages later, he's pulling off her clothes that she specifically already removed.
The only character I liked in this whole book was Hannah.
There is a lot of art throughout this book, but it's all inconsistent, AI generated garbage.
The names are unimaginative and the plot was stereotypical and predictable.
If the author paid for someone to edit this book, she deserves a refund.
If you want a delicious, kinky, well-paced, well-researched, and well-written story with a domineering dominant priest, go read Tiffany Reisz's ORIGINAL SINNERS series. Søren can take my confession any day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Minor: Child abuse
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Forgive me father for I have sinned by liking this book so much. I already know this book isn’t for everyone but I really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to read more by Katerina St. Claire!
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got this book out of a morbid sense of curiosity - I do read a good amount of "dark romance," am not adverse to "spicy" books, and thought the concept of a priest breaking his vows was a set-up for some great angst.
Boy was I wrong. I read all the disclaimers and trigger warnings and was prepared, but as much as I like spicy, dark romance books, I prefer them to be between two consenting (and consensually kinky) adults. This was not that. Edith falls into the category of barely legal, while Roman is almost thirty, and while that age difference might not seem like much in terms of numbers, it felt like a grooming story, especially with Eden being set up as a shy, highly traumatized, and thus highly susceptible to abuse, girl from the beginning of the story. I could have gotten over that, maybe, if Eden and Roman's story was a little slower-paced, but they are fully finger banging in his car only a few hours after meeting.
Overall, I thought this book was very inconsistent in its characterization of pretty much every single character. Eden's actions and thought processes were all over the place, and seemed highly unrealistic given what she had already been through. Roman was even worse, as a male protagonist he wasn't flip flopping between black and white with zero shades of grey. Somehow the most realistic part of this book was that there was an underground sex trafficking ring being run out of a Catholic church.
I thought the premise had some promise, and was actually hoping Eden would be one of those FMC's who learns to own her sexuality and becomes somewhat of a femme fatale. Sadly, the execution was highly lacking for me and there were several times where I almost DNFed. If you are able to overlook the glaring lack of consistent characterization and are just in it for the spicy scenes, you might enjoy, but otherwise read with caution.
Boy was I wrong. I read all the disclaimers and trigger warnings and was prepared, but as much as I like spicy, dark romance books, I prefer them to be between two consenting (and consensually kinky) adults. This was not that. Edith falls into the category of barely legal, while Roman is almost thirty, and while that age difference might not seem like much in terms of numbers, it felt like a grooming story, especially with Eden being set up as a shy, highly traumatized, and thus highly susceptible to abuse, girl from the beginning of the story. I could have gotten over that, maybe, if Eden and Roman's story was a little slower-paced, but they are fully finger banging in his car only a few hours after meeting.
Overall, I thought this book was very inconsistent in its characterization of pretty much every single character. Eden's actions and thought processes were all over the place, and seemed highly unrealistic given what she had already been through. Roman was even worse, as a male protagonist he wasn't flip flopping between black and white with zero shades of grey. Somehow the most realistic part of this book was that there was an underground sex trafficking ring being run out of a Catholic church.
I thought the premise had some promise, and was actually hoping Eden would be one of those FMC's who learns to own her sexuality and becomes somewhat of a femme fatale. Sadly, the execution was highly lacking for me and there were several times where I almost DNFed. If you are able to overlook the glaring lack of consistent characterization and are just in it for the spicy scenes, you might enjoy, but otherwise read with caution.