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Series: Sinners #1
Publication date: October 20th, 2021
Pages: 378
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Cole Blackwell values control. He's the hottest sculptor in San Francisco, wealthy, successful, and respected. His only weakness is the dark impulse he carefully conceals...
Mara Eldritch is a nobody. Broke and damaged, she works three jobs while creating paintings no one will ever see.
A chance encounter throws Mara into Cole's path. When Mara escapes what appears to be certain death, Cole is intrigued. He starts stalking her, realizing there's more tot he struggling misfit than he ever would have guessed.
Cole becomes obsessed with Mara, breaking the rules that keep his true nature hidden. Mara knows he's dangerous, but Cole is the only person who's ever recognized her talent.
Cole is teaching Mara to get what she wants... what does he want in return?
The Lark Notes:
I have always been fascinated by true crime, as well as by villains and anti-heroes. A serial killer is, of course, the ultimate anti-hero--the baddest of the bad boys. Redeeming a character who starts so evil was a challenge that inspired me to entirely new heights and entirely new depths. Come on this darkly sensual and utterly brain-bending ride with me! -- Sophie
"There Are No Saints" is the first book in the Sinners Duet.
Readers be warned: this book contains extremely dark themes that might be triggering to some. This is a steamy serial killer romance that will take you on a journey through the twisted mind of an artist on the brink of madness.
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Review:
Fate as a funny way of playing with people. If Mara had avoided the art scene and gone on to do something else with her life she never would have crossed paths with two dangerous men. One wants to use her to destroy the other and the other wants to protect her despite all his instincts telling him to walk away from her and pretend his interest isn't piqued. When Mara survives an attempt on her life she thinks this is just another instance of something terrible happening in her life that nobody wants to believe to be true. She is used to being unheard and unseen, such is the life of a starving artist after all. But it seems that someone sees her in glowing fluorescent light. And he may not be the type that she wants hyper focused on her. He is deadly and could kill her between one breath and the next but she can't deny he is brilliant and alluring. His artistic flare and hunger to create things beautiful from the macabre draws her in and before she knows it she is trapped in his clutches. But the danger is still lurking and waiting to finish the job he started.
Being as I am not an artist in any extent of the word (sure, I can slap together some graphics for my blog and a few other ventures, but I wouldn't call that a true artist), I struggled to find a true connection to the characters. They were the typical serious artists who know all the greats in history and can see beauty in things that otherwise would look like a pile of junk to someone else. Perhaps that is why I couldn't place myself in the story and feel what the characters were feeling. That and the fact I am not a psychopath like the main male character. The characters just felt very one-dimensional for me. However, if someone were more in-tune with art, perhaps they would feel more of a bond with the characters to truly appreciate their lives and the drama that surrounds it.
Being as I am not an artist in any extent of the word (sure, I can slap together some graphics for my blog and a few other ventures, but I wouldn't call that a true artist), I struggled to find a true connection to the characters. They were the typical serious artists who know all the greats in history and can see beauty in things that otherwise would look like a pile of junk to someone else. Perhaps that is why I couldn't place myself in the story and feel what the characters were feeling. That and the fact I am not a psychopath like the main male character. The characters just felt very one-dimensional for me. However, if someone were more in-tune with art, perhaps they would feel more of a bond with the characters to truly appreciate their lives and the drama that surrounds it.
I am a sucker for a good Beauty and the Beast type of dynamic between characters usually. Cole was anything but warm and cuddly. He was cold, aloof, and stoic in the way he moved around his life. The only passion he put on display was within his art and most of that was simply a deprecating chuckle to those who chose to find beauty within the grotesque secrets he encased in metal and gold. That is until he met his sweet beauty, Mara. All of a sudden the Beast was starting to feel things that he never had before. He saw colors and faces that he would have normally overlooked. She brought out the good in him and he corroded her with his darkness. Before long they were two ticking gears moving in sync but also fighting against the pull their bodies were forcing them to engage in. The slow burn of their gears starting to turn together faster and faster made the explosive way they finally started moving together without resistance a thing of beauty (even if it took 90% of the book to get there).
I am eager to see how they work together to thwart their mutual enemy and where that will take them once the danger is overcome. Will Cole sink back into the darkness and leave Mara standing under a streetlight alone and vulnerable once more? Or will they find a way to live through their experiences and create art as one?
