Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Book Review: My Fallen Saint

I feel like the rest of this week is going to be bananas so I'm starting a new book (a thriller) tonight and maybe I'll finish it for Friday. We'll see. Today though? You're going to like it. 

My Fallen Saint - J. Kenner

His touch is her sin.

Her love is his salvation.

Charismatic. Confident. Powerful. Controlling.

A brilliant investor with a Midas touch, Devlin Saint turned a modest inherited fortune into billions, and now operates one of the world’s foremost international philanthropic organizations. He’s a man determined to help the underprivileged, to fight injustice, and to make the world a better place. And that, at least is true.

It’s not, however, the full truth.

Because Devlin Saint is a man with a dangerous secret. One he’ll do whatever it takes to protect. And when investigative reporter Ellie Holmes turns her attention to an unsolved murder, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue and passion as Devlin draws her closer and closer. But as the intensity and sensuality of their relationship grows, so do Ellie’s suspicions. Until she is no longer certain if the heat between her and Devlin is real, or only a facade he constructed to hide his dark and twisted secrets.
Do you remember forever ago when BDSM books became a thing, and suddenly the romance genre in general kind of blew up and got super popular again? We were all looking for our next author that could do it well, and of all of them, J. Kenner was at the top of my list. It isn't whips and spreader bars but it's equally hot but also has the emotional pull to it, and I discovered her with Release Me. I feel like a lot of us did, so when I saw she had a new series coming, I absolutely jumped on board because I knew this would be good and IT WAS. 

In this book we have Ellie, she's a reporter now but she used to be a cop and that was because she has an entire history of people dying or taking off on her. Her dad and her uncle were both murdered, and the love of her life took her virginity and then disappeared. She's gone over a decade not handling the trauma of any of it, and she spends a lot of time thinking about Alex and wondering why he would just up and leave. 

Fast forward to now, she's having to go back to the city it all began, the one she ran away from, to do an article on this charitable organization with an elusive man at the helm. I'm just going to leave you there because I am 99% sure anyone with a brain already knows where that story line is going. The story doesn't end there, Ellie is also there to find out more about her uncle's death and see what he got himself involved in before his death. A whole LOT of secrets come tumbling at her throughout the book, let's put it that way. 

I have to talk about the good and the bad. The good, I loved Devlin Saint, he's good and he's a tough cookie to crack but it is very clear he has it bad for Ellie. I loved his organization and the work they are doing, even though I think they maybe have something else going on and I'm not sure that I'm going to love that, but we'll see. The bad, I really don't like Ellie. I shouldn't say that. It's not Ellie so much but she is coming of as a little over the top. She's obsessive, she's terrible at reading between the lines, she's completely oblivious to the potential danger for her. I can't tell if she's actually that stupid and haven't watched enough Law & Order or if she's just stubborn with a death wish. I mean, jury's out there I suppose. The rehashing of what Alex did and how she felt about that got to be a little bit much, by mid-book WE KNOW what he did, I don't need a reminder every time she's feeling some kind of way. 

Overall though? I really enjoyed it. Enough that I am really excited and anxious for book two. I felt like we had conclusions, but there is a bit of a cliff hanger here, enough that made me say, "WHAT NOW?!" out loud. The book had the right amount of suspense, we've got a dangerous undercurrent going through it, we have a solid best friend in Brandy, plus the intimacy between Devlin and Ellie is pretty great and worth the read. Nobody is being whipped but someone is tied to the bed, how's that for a rating scale? 

Thank you to Social Butterfly PR for having me on this tour! 
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