• book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Godless by L. Eveland

    The Ferrymen: Godless – L. Eveland

    His bite marked me. His kiss ruined me. His return damned me.

    LORENZO
    I was built to kill—flawless, heartless, and loyal only to the man who made me. Now he’s my next target.


    When a rare Judas Coin forces me to hunt Dionysus, I need his son: Rafael. A fallen priest I marked with my teeth years ago.

    I don’t need a partner. I don’t need a conscience. But I’m stuck with both. And every moment we spend together reminds me what it feels like to want something I was never meant to have.

    RAFAEL
    I was damned the moment he touched me.


    Now he’s back with blood on his hands and a contract on my father’s head.

    I should run. Pray. Turn him in.

    Instead, I’m hiding him in church basements, watching him bleed for me. Kill for me.

    Lorenzo is temptation wrapped in violence, a sinner sculpted in scars.

    And the more I fall, the further I drift from the God I once served.

    If redemption is still possible, I’ll find it in him—or burn beside him trying.

    GODLESS is a dark, high-heat MM romance about assassins, fallen priests, and what happens when the devil you fear becomes the only one who makes you feel alive.


    Godless by L. Eveland, the second book in The Ferrymen series, expands its John Wick–style world of assassins steeped in Greek mythology. This time, the story follows Lorenzo, Luca’s best friend from Ruthless.

    Once a feral child muzzled like an animal, Lorenzo was bought and trained by the South American Director Dionysus. His rather memorable childhood encounter with Rafael, Dionysus’s son, resurfaces twenty years later when Lorenzo is ordered to kill a cardinal. Rafael, now a priest, is sent to hunt the assassin, only to discover it’s Lorenzo.

    The dying cardinal hands Lorenzo a Judas Coin, binding him to kill whoever ordered the hit, which turned out to be Dionysus himself, the man who raised him. Failure means death, but killing a regional director is equally fatal. Caught between Scylla and Charybdis, Lorenzo must also convince Rafael that the cardinal is tied to child trafficking. Reluctantly, the two join forces, pursued by Pantheon and Vatican agents, as they uncover a high ranking traitor.

    When Lorenzo was introduced in Book 1, he was a drag race watching diva with fabulous hair. Here, he barely had time for a beauty regiment while fleeing from safehouse to safehouse with Rafael, Diego, and Jasper. We get glimpses of his playful side, had no qualms seducing a priest, but he’s mostly serious. He seems like a different person, understandable given their dire situation.

    Rafael, ooh the good father brought all the angst and the pining, devastating and deliciously heart-melting. Not much Catholic guilt, he quickly abandoned his faith when he felt betrayed, a.k.a his mother’s and brother’s untimely deaths, things he was taught were lies and that he was sentenced to death for questioning orders.

    He then turned all that intensity into a ferocious obsesession of Lorenzo, the only true thing in his life, discovering a biting kink he’s eager to explore. They were primal and savage that even right out in the middle of a storm they were a nuclear explosion. They didn’t even catch pneumonia. Their transition from enemies to lovers, building the trust, the teamwork and passion was fast but done convincingly,

    The villain is as hateful and manipulative as in the first book. I hated that he used eagles for his evil machinations. It might be triggering for some but just know these magnificent birds did not have a happy ending.

    The most thrilling part was Rafael and Lorenzo having to survive a labyrinth and defeat the bad guy for Lorenzo’s sentence to be reversed. It was a claustrophic and deadly experience, they were in pitch dark, lost their map and chained together at the ankles. However, it was never explained why the bad guy could somehow see in the dark.

    The plot barely lets Rafael, Lorenzo, and their friends rest, moving fast, throwing curveballs, and keeping me intrigued with Pantheon politics. The mysterious head of the Pantheon, Zeus, has yet to make his appearance but his schemes have far-reaching consequences. We might finally see him in the third book.

    Godless is a story of betrayal from the highest places and choices between lesser evils. Overall, it delivers an eye-opening mission, an all-consuming truth, and earth-shattering decisions.

    Rating:
    4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step away

    Soundtrack: Godless Soul
    Artist: Sad Lovers & Giants
    Album: Headland

    P.S.

    The Ferrymen books is best read in order.

    Witness the Pantheon’s top assassin burn the world for a plant-daddy therapist in Ruthless,


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  • book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Sins of the Father by Isabel Lucero

    Sins of the Father – Isabel Lucero

    He comes to me through a lattice in a confessional booth in my church.

    He’s brash, vulgar, and confessing to things that would send him to hell, and yet, I find myself intrigued by the mysterious man.

    His sinful words thrill me. His way of life, so different from my own, has me coveting excitement that’s long been missing. The more I’m around him, the more I realize how long I’ve been deprived of so much, and the more my own deviance begins to emerge.

    On paper, nothing about the two of us makes sense, and there are many reasons why I should keep my distance. I try to be pious, but if anyone were to find the skeletons in my closet, I’d be excommunicated from the church.

    When something from my past reveals itself, I find myself being pulled into a way of life I didn’t think would be in my future, and now I straddle the line between right and wrong. Morality vs necessity.

    I’m a priest. He’s a murderer. But we’re both sinners.


    Sins of the Father is a standalone novel by Isabel Lucero about a forbidden romance between a priest and a hitman.

    Father Carlo’s world shifts when a mysterious man delivers a cheeky non‑confession that awakens desires he’s long suppressed. The man, Javier, returns with provocative questions, eventually meeting Carlo face‑to‑face. His shameless flirting leads Carlo to discover a hidden taste for kink, turning a self-flogging session into eroticism

    Their affair is tested when Carlo’s estranged father summons him back to inherit a legacy he resists. With threats to Carlo’s life and unaware of their connection, Carlo’s father hires Javier as his bodyguard. Determined to protect his priest, Javier finds himself caught between loyalty and love.

    From their first faceless encounter in the confessional to the explosive finale, Javi and Carlo’s chemistry is electric. Carlo folds rather quickly, understandable, given his resolved is not iron-clad, having been forced into priesthood by a father who rejected his sexuality.

    While Carlo struggled, we are spare much of the woes about faith and sexuality by having our priest go on a sabbatical and thus free to sow his oats with clear conscience. Javi, delighted to have a bonafide priest, had plenty of fun with the priestly vestments. Despite it being kinky, their connection is also surprisingly tender, genuine and deep.

    Javi, a Latino hitman who hires his services to the mafia, shares a close bond with Carlo’s father, whom he’s also tasked to protect though has no idea of their familial ties. While some twists are predictable, the revelation of Carlo’s identity still lands with impact, especially told through Carlo’s perspective, where we only glimpse Javi’s reactions.

    The mafia subplot is as compelling as the romance, as we witness Carlo’s transformation from reluctant priest to newly appointed heir amid gunfire and betrayal. Their father and son reconciliation is bittersweet, adding weight to the story’s emotional core.

    Though Carlo trades one shackle for another, he ultimately embraces his legacy and really came to his own here with a violent yet liberating resolution, in a move worthy of Michael Corleone.

    Sins of the Father is a story of fallen apples that are ripe for the taking. Dark, sensual, and irreverent, overall, it proves that forbidden fruits are worth the fall!

    Rating
    4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits

    Soundtrack: Sin
    Artist: Nyline
    Album:


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  • book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Unholy by Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine

    Park Avenue Kings: Unholy – Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine

    He hears my confessions.
    Now he can’t unhear them.

    I keep showing up to church.
    I don’t speak. I don’t confess. I just sit there—close enough to remember what it felt like to be his.

    Father Rafael Vitale thinks he can keep this professional.
    Measured. Contained. Holy.

    I’m none of those things.

    I’m Alessio Trentacapelli—the technocrat of the Park Avenue Kings. I live in shadows, break systems, and protect my brothers at any cost. I still believe in God. I just don’t forgive Him for demanding the man I love.

    Rafael is discipline and devotion.
    I’m want and resentment and everything he was never supposed to crave.

    We were boys together. Then lovers.
    Then nothing we were allowed to keep.

    Now we’re orbiting each other again behind a confessional screen—through silence, ritual, and everything we refuse to say out loud. Every look lingers. Every boundary bends. And every time he tells me no, it hurts worse than the last.

    Because the priest with the steady hands and the quiet voice?
    He remembers me.

    And then we cross a line we both know by heart.

    If he makes me choose between losing him again…
    or giving in to something we can’t take back—

    I already know which sin I’ll commit.


    Unholy is the finale of the riveting billionaire romance series, Park Avenue Kings by Ella Frank and Brook Blaine. The series follows the key members of the secret society, Libertine, known as the Kings. With the bad guys already vanquished in the last installment, the focus here is the romance.

    Our final King is Alessio Trentacapelli, the billionaire hacker not-so-secretly in love with his childhood friend, Father Rafael Vitale, the Kings’ confessor. Picking up from the events of the previous book, Ruthless, Alessio is haunted by his failure to find the bad guys and his guilt only intensified his pining for Father Vitale.

    Until one night he appears on the confessional drunk, baring his soul so raw it shakes our good priest to his core. And set them on a forbidden path of no return.

    With all his brooding in the entire series, especially over a man he can’t have, I expected this to be angsty and boy, did it bleed angst. With his brothers happily coupled up, our boy Alessio is bitter that he can’t have his HEA. The amount of pining made my heart ache, especially with Rafael so close yet so far and Alessio can only watch him on his camera and window while he secretly lives across the street from the church.

    I expected the drunken confession, yet the scene is still a devastating hit to the kokoro. I recommend audiobooking this for maximum impact.

    Rafael and Alessio were boyfriends when they were teenagers. Their paths diverged when Rafael’s parents died and in his grief he turned to religion. Alessio remained loyal for 15 years. It’s ridiculously romantic how they were each other’s first and only. Their chemistry is absolutely nuclear!

    I loved how the writers handled the religious theme. Despite his conflicting feelings, Rafael’s struggle is almost gentle rather than tortured. It took him a while though. Ultimately, faith was not condemned but rather reconciled with love and never preachy. The resolution affirms all forms of love, culminating in an uplifting epilogue where the Kings and their families celebrate together.

    On a super minor note, it seems every other Italian character’s last name is Vitale, Morelli, or Moretti. I’m happy Alessio’s last name is Trentacapelli. Also, we barely see the rest of the Kings, I wanted more interaction with them.

    Unholy is a story of forbidden love and enduring devotion where faith and sexuality coexist. Overall, a beautiful conclusion to an epic series that affirms what is truly hallowed: the courage to choose love, no matter the odds.

    Rating:
    4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step away

    Soundtrack: Unholy
    Artist: Lilith Czar
    Album: Created From Filth And Dust

    P.S.

    Park Avenue Kings is best read in order and easily one of the most bingeable series out there now that it’s complete.

    Savage – Lachlan and Cooper making masks and disasters work

    Devilish – Lucien and Kai finding the ideal dynamic among books and constellations

    Immoral – Benoit and Dmitri doing a dance of danger and seduction

    Merciless & Ruthless – Theo and Shep navigating friendship, desire, and abduction


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    UNHOLYAmazon UK | Audiobook

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  • song,  Uncategorized

    SOUNDTRACK: Enemy Mind by Priest, Sin So Sweet by Walter Zeiders, & Kiss Kill by Michelle

    Soundtrack to The Morelli Family: Enticed By The Enemy by Leighton Greene

    Enemy Mind by Priest for a book about a broken faith in justice, an alliance between enemies, and a life on the line.

    I heard you calling to me softly
    Your bones were shaking in the wind
    Your face was glowing like a halo
    Concealing everything within
    Look at me my faith is shallow
    You make me want to back away
    And if I feel like this tomorrow
    I know we’ll never be the same

    Try to run from the enemy fire
    Take a breath and try to open my eyes

    Soundtrack to The Morelli Family: Seduced By A Sinner by Leighton Greene

    Sin So Sweet by Walter Zeiders for a book about innocence, religion, and desire.

    Hang up your wings, crawl into me
    Cover me up under your sheets
    Roll back your eyes, sink in your teeth
    Show me that side nobody sees
    I’m addicted to you, you’re addicted to me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet

    Soundtrack to The Morello Family: Kissed By A Killer by Leighton Greene

    Kiss/Kill by Michelle for a book about betrayal, murder, and forbidden desires.

    My need, by me, so close I could taste it
    I pick it up to let you fall
    I want you out, I want it all
    Salivate, anticipate, brace for some kind of heartache
    I know it’s foolish to pretend
    I wouldn’t do it in the end

    Kiss kill, kiss kill
    Won’t you tell me which will, which will
    Falling for you downhill, downhill
    Crave another kiss kill, kiss kill
    Kiss kill, kiss kill

    Lean in, blown back, no feeling compares to that
    I brush it off to start again
    Knowin’ exactly how it ends
    Tempted, temptress, big dream made a big mess
    It hurts to covet how I can
    Pain and desire makе a man
    If I were less of what I am
    Wouldn’t bе dying to start again

  • quote,  Uncategorized

    I heard you calling to me softly
    Your bones were shaking in the wind
    Your face was glowing like a halo
    Concealing everything within
    Look at me my faith is shallow
    You make me want to back away
    And if I feel like this tomorrow
    I know we’ll never be the same

    Try to run from the enemy fire
    Take a breath and try to open my eyes
    Gave my heart to the charity line
    Try to run from my enemy mind

    Will we always sit in the front row
    Or will we have to slip out the back door?
    It’s not a mystery that you’re such a rare find
    But is it up to me is it all mine?

    How can we give back what is always there?
    What is the right track do you even care?
    I count on history for the reasons I find
    I want to hear the voices in the back of your mind

    I heard you calling me a savior
    Your bones were shaking like the wind
    But you’re still walking in my shadow
    After everything I did
    Look at me my breath is shallow
    I want to turn and run away
    And if I feel like this tomorrow
    I know we’ll never be the same

    Try to run from the enemy fire
    Take a breath and try to open my eyes
    Gave my heart to the charity line…

    Will we always sit in the front row
    Or will we have to slip out the back door?
    It’s not a mystery that you’re such a rare find
    But is it up to me is it all mine?
    How can we give back what is always there?
    What is the right track do you even care?
    I count on history for the reasons I find
    I want to hear the voices in the back of your mind

    Nobody knows your body so
    We’re leavin’ details in my mind
    If holdin’ you’s wrong, don’t call me right
    Lock me out of Heaven for the night

    Hang up your wings, crawl into me
    Cover me up under your sheets
    Roll back your eyes, sink in your teeth
    Show me that side nobody sees
    I’m addicted to you, you’re addicted to me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet

    No Novocain, wanna feel everything
    I want the pleasure, don’t hold the pain
    Light this ice-cold soul on fire
    Whisper all your dark desires

    Hang up your wings, crawl into me
    Cover me up under your sheets
    Roll back your eyes, sink in your teeth
    Show mе that side that nobody sees

    I’m addicted to you, you’re addictеd to me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet
    I’m using you, you’re using me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet
    Hang up your wings, crawl into me
    Cover me up under your sheets
    Roll back your eyes, sink in your teeth
    Show me that side nobody sees
    I’m addicted to you, you’re addicted to me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet
    I’m using you, you’re using me
    I’ve never tasted sin so sweet

    My need, by me, so close I could taste it
    I pick it up to let you fall
    I want you out, I want it all
    Salivate, anticipate, brace for some kind of heartache
    I know it’s foolish to pretend
    I wouldn’t do it in the end
    Become a lover then a friend
    Add to a stunning collection

    Kiss kill, kiss kill
    Won’t you tell me which will, which will
    Falling for you downhill, downhill
    Crave another kiss kill, kiss kill
    Kiss kill, kiss kill
    Won’t you tell me which will, which will
    Falling for you downhill, downhill
    Crave another kiss kill, kiss kill
    Kiss kill

    Lean in, blown back, no feeling compares to that
    I brush it off to start again
    Knowin’ exactly how it ends
    Tempted, temptress, big dream made a big mess
    It hurts to covet how I can
    Pain and desire makе a man
    If I were less of what I am
    Wouldn’t bе dying to start again

    Kiss kill, kiss kill
    Won’t you tell me which will, which will
    Falling for you downhill, downhill
    Crave another kiss kill, kiss kill
    Kiss kill, kiss kill
    Won’t you tell me which will, which will
    Falling for you downhill, downhill
    Crave another kiss kill, kiss kill
    Kiss kill

    Kiss kill