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There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark
Series: Sinners Duet #2
Publication date: December 1st, 2021
Pages: 376
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Cole and Mara's relationship has grown to consume them both. Cole is experiencing emotions he's never known, while Mara blossoms into a successful artist, shaking off the trauma of her youth.
For the first time in both their lives, they might actually be... happy.
But the past has a long shadow.
Alastor Shaw is the Beast of the Bay, a frenzy-killer who once hoped to share his hunting grounds with Cole. When he realizes the cold-hearted Cole has fallen in love, he plans to destroy him, using Mara as his weapon.
Cole will do anything to protect Mara... but is Mara strong enough to protect herself?
The Lark Notes:
I was so pleased how many woman identified with Mara's character - with her sensory issues and history of trauma. It sounds crazy to call this an "inspirational story of murder", but at the end of part two, I hope you will indeed feel inspired by Mara's journey. -- Sophie
"There Is No Devil" is the second half of the Sinners Duet.
Reader be warned: this is a dark and steamy serial killer romance that may be triggering to some.
Available at:
Review:
In the first book of the duet Mara was coming to terms with the fact that the man she was completely infatuated with was cold as ice and had a body count that had nothing to do with past lovers. Within the second she has accepted Cole, warts and all, and is attempting to find peace in her new life. Living with Cole she is exposed to all the finery that she never imagined having before. New clothes, a mansion, anything she could ever want and a man who loved to give it to her. But she can't shake the ghosts of her past. Even as she tries to make peace with seeing the killer of her best friend at every art event she dares to go to, her mother trying to drag her name through the mud, and Cole's attempts to persuade her to be done with Alastor Shaw once and for all, she finds away to turn it all into art that makes people feel every brushstroke. This story is all about Mara and Cole's past and their ultimate decisions for their future. Will they crumble under the weight of their opposers or flourish in their careers and relationship? And can they do it without blood loss or death?
One word of advice for anyone who chooses to delve into this duet: listen to the music suggested by the author at the points in the story she does so for a truly amazing experience. I read the first half of the first book without doing so and it was not nearly as good as it was once I started playing the music suggested. It always fit the scene and for someone who often finds music a perfect way to communicate without uttering a single word yourself, I was deeply entrenched in it. The emotions the characters were feeling in those moments was emotional and lively even when dark and foreboding. It was also a great homage to Mara who often used music to shut out the world when she was overstimulated.
I liked getting a glimpse into Cole and Mara's childhood. They were both so disturbingly traumatic that I can understand why they were so troubled. It was interesting how they handled it though. Mara carried the weight of it silently until she could run away from it entirely. While Cole faced it head-on and often with malevolence. The psychopathy was very apparent even to his mother and father. While there were attempts to correct it, Cole was who he was and grew in the man he was always meant to be. However, through Mara he found a whole different facet to his personality he didn't even know existed.
Mara and Cole's love story was dark and daunting but had the undertone of a strong refusal to ever be victims again. I enjoyed the second half of the duet even more than the first and feel that the duet was the perfect length for the couple to find their morally gray ever after.
