Tag Archives: Fallen Saint

Review: My Cruel Salvation (Fallen Saint #3) by J Kenner

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Title: My Cruel Salvation
Author:  J Kenner
Publisher/Year:  Martini & Olive 5/18/21
Length:  358 Pages
Series: Fallen Saint #3

Overview

He’ll keep her safe, no matter the price.

Investigative reporter Ellie Holmes has uncovered billionaire Devlin Saint’s dark and dangerous secrets, and he has both stripped away her protective armor and tamed the wildness within her. Bound by a shared past and the hope of a blissful future, they grow even closer, each exposing more of themselves as their love deepens. 

But now that Devlin’s true identity has been publicly revealed, old enemies appear, intent on destroying Devlin. And while he vows to enlist all of his resources to protect her, Ellie soon realizes that the only way to save them both is to take the last, final step to fully join Devlin in the dark. 

My Thoughts

Just when we didn’t think that their story could get any more complicated – the rest of the secrets come out. It was only a matter of time but that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach. On a night that should have been something amazing not just for Devlin but for DSF as well, turns into a monster of a night where his identify is leaked, outed and what he’s worked his adult life for is on the end of being ruined.

We know Devlin and Ellie are not the type to shy away from confrontation – they are going to take their opponent on head first, and while that’s happening, we just have to worry about who’s going to get caught up in the crosshairs. There are inklings of who leaked the information, especially now that Anna’s dead, and there’ a plan in place to take that person down once they have enough concrete evidence.

It’s a race to the finish here – with several of our favorites meeting a less than stellar fate. There were so many sub plots that were on the move to being something great, and those lines of story are cut short.

Brandy and Christopher were on the road to happiness – we know Brandy’s path and were so happy to see what she was able to overcome with Christopher, however the challenge that we see her face is the notion that Christopher was not who he seemed. He is the brother of Joseph Blackstone and while they weren’t on great terms, there’s manipulation going on behind the scenes and we don’t yet know if he’s trustworthy. He goes missing at a prime time and there’s evidence shared that doesn’t paint him in the best light, and that means that we really don’t know if he’s good or bad. What we do see though is Brandy is stronger than she appeared to begin with, and this is just a bump in the road for her – an opportunity for her to find her footing and come out on top.

Then there’s Lamar and Tracy. Lamar is the consumate cop – the man who’s always trying to stay on the right side of the law, even when it doesn’t seem like it’s directed to him. He’s struggled with what Devlin does within his organization, but after a variety of things transpire in this third installment, he walks the fine line with our friends. Tracy is a character that we’ve enjoying watching grow in her role at DSF and her relationship with Lamar really starts to take a new phase. It’s cut short when circumstances of revenge come into play and this is another jumping off point for bigger and better things to happen for the crew.

We fall back into Ellie and Devlin’s story over and over again, and what this third book does is that it takes us on a journey both in the past and then back to the present. There are moments and memories that come through in sub chapters so that we’re able to see what caused things to happen, what put things in motion in Devlin’s past to make him into what he is, and to give us hints at who was potentially behind all that’s going on.

There are a few snippets here and there that make it clear to me as the reader who we need to watch out for, but the journey that our amazing author J Kenner takes us on is a bit round about and doesn’t give us the direct route. It’s adds to the tension and it makes us question some other characters that come up from time to time, but that’s what gives us the resolution and closure that we need.

We know that we want a happy ending and we know that it’s possible if certain dominos fall into place but there’s really no direct answer on how that will happen, and who will be left standing. We have the notion of long lasting true love – good v. bad, family – and all that pays itself off as we see this part of the journey come to an end. I”m really happy with the way that this story plays out even if it doesn’t mean a happy ending for everyone. We’re left with more questions than answers for several people, but that’s what makes a good book good right? you don’t want everything buttoned up nicely, We see a glimpse of hope of a new romance coming along, and I think that’s what we get in the next spinoff – Sinners Game, so i’m going to track down when that one’s available and hopefully dive right back in. Enjoy!

Review: My Beautiful Sin (Fallen Saint #2) by J Kenner

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Title: My Beautiful Sin
Author:  J Kenner
Publisher/Year:  Martini & Olive 1/26/21
Length:  372 Pages
Series: Fallen Saint #2

Overview

Everything Ellie thinks she knows is about to change.

Despite his dangerous past, billionaire Devlin Saint finally has Ellie Holmes in his life—and in his bed. Yet shadows still cling to Saint, obscuring his dark secrets and the confidences he swore never to reveal. 

An investigative reporter, Ellie is certain the man she loves hasn’t told her everything. And when she starts receiving anonymous warnings about Devlin, she vows to investigate. Soon it becomes clear that Devlin isn’t the only one with things to hide, and the more Ellie learns, the more she realizes that loving Devlin is dangerous.

His touch is her sin…

My Thoughts

We spent the first installment of this series watching as Ellie was trying to find the answers to all the questions that changed the trajectory of her life through the death of her parents, her uncle….what ended up sending her down a path of self destruction, especially as the boy that she loved up and left her. Fast forward several years and she’s found him again, although he’s not the same man, he dangerous and he’s got secrets, yet what we saw from them is that they are both willing to accept each other at face value since there’s a once in a lifetime love that’s between them.

Once Ellie came to the self realization that she couldn’t live without Devlin, and that she was willing to accept that he had secrets, that he was dangerous, we also watched her realize that she owed it to herself to find answers. The challenge though is that those answers would likely lead her to uncover information that she wasn’t ready to process and that Devlin really didn’t want her to know. He was willing to let that be the situation, but then he also felt that he owed it to allow Ellie to see every part of him.

What unfolds in this second installment is a story that’s quite the roller coaster for EVERYONE involved. We know that Ellie’s best friend and cop Lamar doesn’t like Devlin and doesn’t trust him. When he’s brought into the circle of trust to learn who Devlin truly is and what he’s done, that really puts pressure on everyone because we don’t know what the fallout will be. We know that as a cop, Lamar is bound by law to do the moral thing, but that would mean hurting Ellie and that’s something that would come at a price.

Along with that story line, we watch Brandy, Ellie’s best friend live her life. We learned about her past and how it’s prompted hesitation with men, how she’s never quite been able to get over being raped and the circumstances that fell afterwards, but we see the thriller author Christopher show patience and caring and we have hopes for the future for them.

That’s Ellie’s side of things – we also get to see how Devlin’s side of the house responds to the budding romance and how they are now so intertwined. We know that Anna has her story with being part of Devlin’s past and how she’s now a safe space with Devlin. No longer a threat to Ellie and we watch how that friendship helps Ellie get to the bottom of all her questions. There are things that Anna seems to be tied to and information that she has about Devlin’s past that make her uncomfortable, but how that plays out is anyone’s guess.

Then there’s Ronan – the guy that rubs Ellie the wrong way on so many levels, and a girl named Reggie that she can’t quite place but feels that she should. Seeing the two of them makes every situation that more uncertain and that’s not good for anyone’s livelihood.

Throughout this book we watch the roller coaster that is Ellie and Devlin’s relationship. We watch them fight tooth and nail to get answers and find their way to be happy together but we also watch them self destruct and do whatever they can to push each other away. There’s someone who’s trying to scare Ellie away from Devlin we think, threatening her with the notion that he’s not sharing everything with her and while she knows he isn’t, she’s not plussed by it. But when someone tries to kill her, several times, there are more questions than answers behind who’s doing what. Add to that a data breach from Devlin’s company and everyone’s on edge.

Unexpected information is uncovered, and paths that we thought would lead to answers lead to more questions. Everyone that we thought was on the right side isn’t and those that we were willing to forgive their sins were potentially not worth it. At least we have heat and passion between some of our couples to help glue this story together and where we net out at the end of this second book is a place that we hoped we’d never get to. When too many of the wrong secrets are revealed to the wrong people, we know that NOTHING good can come out of it. I’m worried for what this means for everyone and who’s going to survive the rest of the story. So on that note, we have to wait until May I believe before we see the resolution and I don’t know how i’ll wait. Enjoy!

Review: My Fallen Saint (Fallen Saint #1) by J Kenner

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Title: My Fallen Saint
Author:  J Kenner
Publisher/Year:  Martini & Olive 9/15/20
Length:  230 Pages
Series: Fallen Saint #1

Overview

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.

My Thoughts

WOW. That’s how i’m going to start this one because well….wow. We’re brought into a completely new world from the great J Kenner. A world that doesn’t even remotely touch on any of the other stories that we’ve gotten and that makes this one even more amazing. It’s romantic, it’s heartbreaking, there’s more than a touch of drug lord, sex trafficking and all that other bad stuff to keep this story moving at a quick pace. Top that off with some intense heat and passion….and well….there’s something combustable happening.

We start this story off through the eyes of Ellie, the leading lady here – watching her life crumble piece by piece as everyone that she loves and cares about dies, gets killed, or leaves her. She’s found solace living with her uncle, and has this insane attraction to Alex, a boy who works for him and when there’s nothing else good for her, she turns to him and they become more than best friends. It’s everything that a high school romance is supposed to be except that he’s not in high school and there’s so much that no one knows.

Ellie’s best friend moves away, her uncle is killed and Alex uses her and leaves without a word that Ellie grows up even faster and realizes that she can only count on herself and trust herself. Fast forward about nine years, there’s new information that’s brought to Ellie’s attention that draws her back to the town she ran from and the ghosts that she never wanted to face again. There’s information on who her uncle’s killer is and as an ex cop and now investigative reporter, she goes after the story. Little does she know that she’s about to run headfirst into her past in ways that she never knew were possible.

Enter Devlin Saint. A man that has a clean past that no one can really dig too far into, yet he’s a man that does so much good that people just let it be. He started a foundation to help rescue and rehabilitate people who were trafficked and he’s also now on the receiving end of Ellie’s story. We watch as he cancels interviews with her, yet stalks her and makes her curious. Only when his identity is revealed does this story truly get exciting. There’s chemistry between them but we know that Devlin isn’t a man to give into anything that he doesn’t have a value or purpose for. Until he realizes that there’s no point in fighting what he feels for ellie.

The bulk of this story is watching the game that these two play – dancing around each other – using other excuses to be together instead of just truly admitting emotions and feelings. there’s a lot of danger and a lot of secrets – some of which are revealed in this book and many that are not, and what that does is cause even more pain and heartbreak. There are so many lies in this story that you have no choice but to wonder what’s real, and then when the world crumbles because of photos and information revealed by a handful of people who are lucky to be in the know….it’s a cliff that we’re now on and I really can’t wait patiently enough for book 2 to come out. I have so many thoughts on wha’s going to happen and who’s going to get caught in the crosshairs. I also wonder who’s going to out some of the more severe secrets- so ……i’ll find something to keep me occupied until I can get this next book. Enjoy!