The cruel goddess of dark fantasy strikes again!

I KNEW I shouldn’t have started a series that’s not finished yet - especially considering Nash’s love of dramatic cliffhangers - but I never learn and I just couldn’t stop myself. Another read by an author that’s quickly becoming one of my favorites, it was so, SO good. While I loved Silk & Steel to bits and it’ll always have a place in my heart, Eternal Sin was so much better. The characters, the plot… even the writing itself was more mature and developed; the flow was perfect and engaging.

Angel/demon romance may seem like an overused cliché, but the brilliant execution and a few original tweaks turned it into something wonderful. I’d noticed before that this author has a gift for creating memorable and complicated characters that add exceptional depth to her stories, and that is also the case here. The roles of ‘villains’ and ‘heroes’ aren’t as firmly fixed as may be expected, and the lines between right and wrong blur… until at the end, it’s not clear who the bad guy really is.

Severn/Konstantin stole my heart from the get-go, but I wasn’t really surprised - my weakness for the underdog has been well documented. And what screams “underdog” louder than a lone wingless demon, deep undercover in an angel-only city, and on top of that - falling for his nemesis? He was at a clear disadvantage from the very beginning; adding to that the fact that for years, he couldn’t even feed or touch anyone for fear of his illusion dissipating? I wanted him to get his vengeance… But evidently, he didn’t suffer enough to get it yet. Although that bit at the end about his wings still being alive hidden somewhere in Mikhail’s closet gave me such sweet, sweet hope.

Mikhail was a different animal altogether. As a goodie, he couldn’t count on much sympathy coming from my corner - at least at the beginning. After he saved Severn and didn’t even understand WHY he did what he did, I warmed up to him, though - he was so naive and oblivious that it leveled the playing field somewhat. Watching him fumble his way through emotions was fun, but his black-and-white morals did rub me the wrong way till the very end. I’m looking forward to seeing him change - Nash excels at character development, after all, and the little snippet from the second book looked very promising.

The chemistry between the two MCs was through the roof, the sex scenes aplenty and each one of them scorching. I’d like to see more of Severn/Konstantin’s baddie side, though. I get that he’s fallen in love and mellowed - but remember your roots, man! He’s a powerful demon, not that pretty little angel he’d convinced himself he was. Bad things happen when you start believing your own lies… The thing is, I get the feeling that the next book’s not gonna go easy on him. Curse my tendency to fixate so much on characters whose destiny seems to be endless suffering.

I have only one complaint about this one: why in the hell is it SO SHORT! Less than 300 pages of such deliciousness - what is that supposed to be, an appetizer? It’s like half a book. And now, forced to wait who knows how long for the next installment… Cruel, so cruel! ( )

DNF at 40 pages. The writing felt like we were dropped right in the middle of a story and it felt very confusing. The lore wasn't set up and I had no idea who these characters were or what they were though it seemed I needed to already.