Series: Sinners Duology
Author: Sophie Lark
Publisher: Bloom Books
Pages: 272
Publication Date: October 3, 2023
She knows he's no saint, but she has no idea she's dancing with the devil.
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. In truth, he's not just an he's a predator, and the city is his hunting ground.
Mara Eldritch is a nobody. Broke and damaged, she works three jobs while creating paintings no one will ever see.
When a chance encounter throws Mara into Cole's path, her escape from certain death fascinates Cole. More than that―it fixates him. He begins stalking her, discovering there's more to the struggling misfit than he would have guessed. She makes him feel things he never thought he could feel. Want things he thought he'd never want. He doesn't know if he should protect her at all costs or destroy her before she ruins him. He's losing control, breaking the rules that have kept his true nature hidden from the world.
Mara knows he's dangerous, but Cole is the only person who's ever recognized her talent, and it leads her heart astray, straight into the dark. Cole can teach her to get what she wants…but what might this vicious killer want in return?
Content Warning: serial killers, blood, dubious consent, graphic murder, graphic violence, mentions of child abuse, kidnapping, stalking, emotional abuse, self harm, sexual assault, alcoholism, torture.
A new book review after....years! Sadly it's a 2 Triquetra rating for me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it.
Cole is a sociopath who can't feel most emotions and values control. Mara feels things very acutely and together they are a complete disaster, but I sort of liked how messy they were together.
Cole is a sociopath who can't feel most emotions and values control. Mara feels things very acutely and together they are a complete disaster, but I sort of liked how messy they were together.
What I didn't like is that everything just sort of fell flat to me? There wasn't any true magnetism and everything felt a little forced? I mean, both of them have their traumas and mental health issues so I'm not sure what I was expecting, per se, but I was just hoping for more?
The big main spicy scene was also a bit lack luster for me. There was no true tension or build up, and while it's a giant scene (both in the writing sense and the BDSM sense), it felt a tiny bit forced. Maybe I'm the problem with this one because the scene flow seemed a tiny bit choppy.
Maybe because Cole was treating Mara like a problem to be fixed instead of really liking her? Like I said, he's a sociopath and she's a new problem in his life to fix. He's obsessed with her not because he really likes her, but because she's different and unpredictable (mostly because she's a damned disaster, girl do your laundry instead of going commando, ffs).
Even after their big spice scene when he decides not to kill her, he mentions something like he wants to hear her perspective on his unfinished pieces so she can help him fix them. So...wants the mental labor? Sure, he might like talking with her, but his actions, words, and inner thoughts don't really match up. Which made me not super invested in the story, to the point where I probably won't read the 2nd book in the duology because I really don't care what happens.
Sophie lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. Her favorite authors are Emily Henry and Freida McFadden. She’s an Aquarius who loves fitness and looks forward to Halloween every year.
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