The Saint (The Original Sinners, #5)
Tiffany Reisz
1 ratings • 1 reviews
The Saint (The Original Sinners, #5)
Tiffany Reisz
1 ratings • 1 reviews
In the beginning, there was him. Gutsy, green-eyed Eleanor never met a rule she didn't want to break. She's sick of her mother's zealotry and the confines of Catholic school, and declares she'll never go to church again. But her first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Marcus Stearns and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. Suddenly, daily Mass seems like a reward, and her punishment is the ache she feels when they're apart. He is intelligent and insightful and he seems to know her intimately at her very core. Eleanor is consumed—and even she knows that can't be right. But when one desperate mistake nearly costs Eleanor everything, it is Søren who steps in to save her. She vows to repay him with complete obedience…and a whole world opens before her as he reveals to her his deepest secrets. Danger can be managed—pain, welcomed. Everything is about to begin.
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I listened to the audio version of this book. I sometimes find that the audio reading of sexy scenes is funny, which is childish but true! They are dependent on a good narrator understanding the underlying emotions and tone of the scene.
The narrator in this case did the best job with what the content was. I read this book because I'd read one other by Reisz with the same basic characters. THIS one is the "start of it all" as it is Nora's recounting of her teen years when she loved Soren and how their relationship started.
I did appreciate the writing technique of making the language and tone relevant to the character's age: there was no classing up the dialogue to make 16 year old Eleanor sound more mature.
I realized not long into the book that this would be Eleanor's introduction to the world of BDSM, and I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to see how the author dealt with it: would she make it feel like it was for BDSM participators in a fond memory sort of way? would she write it as any reader's introduction to this world as if they'd never heard of BDSM before? I think Reisz carefully walked this line, with enough description and internal monologue to address a newcomer's thoughts and questions, but with a number of comments and a few scenes (first time in King's house) that were certainly heftier.
I didn't mind the BDSM parts, but I had many many many cringe-worthy moments while reading. Pretty much all centered around the 30 year old priest being in love with the 17 year old girl. I just didn't get it. It's insta-lust for Eleanor, and later she is sure she loves him. HER feelings I can understand, as I was once a 16 and 17 year old girl and had crushes on teachers or actors. But I did not understand why Soren was interested. This was creepy, pretty much every step of the way.
Also, I mentally understood that Soren is a sadist and that this is how he gets off, but this concept does not jive with me at all nor do anything for my libido, so these were struggle scenes too.
Probably a more realistic view of BDSM than Fifty Shades, but this book and more like it are not for me.
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