Title: Sinners Heart
Series: Hellraisers bk 3
Author: Zoë Archer
Genre: Historical Paranormal
DEMONS OF THE PAST
Abraham Stirling, Lord Rothwell, was a fighter once, a soldier in the Colonies. But Bram returned to London with more nightmares than tales of glory. Now he drowns his senses in the arms of countless women, while his friends, the Hellraisers, ensure he needn’t sin alone.
Until, that is, the Devil himself grants them each a wish, undoing their camaraderie as they explore their wicked powers. Bram finds himself magically bound to Valeria Livia Corva, the sensuous priestess who raised the Devil the first time—and died to send the demon back.
She may be a ghost, but Livia is no angel. The raw passion she witnesses in Bram’s memories isn’t much different from her behavior when she had a body to enjoy. But it doesn’t make it any easier to convince Bram to become a warrior again, lest all London burn. And the fierce desires reawakening within her might just start the blaze..
Sinner’s Heart is Zoë Archer at her writing finest. I’ve read the other books in the series and while I have liked them I didn’t love them. They weren’t books I’d necessarily re-read. That being said in each of the previous books I was intrigued by Bram, and why he was so against Whit and Leo. I couldn’t wait until he got his book. I wasn’t disappointed either.
I’ve read a lot of books where the hero is tortured or haunted, but never both. And Bran is both tortured and haunted. He’s tortured by events in his past, and haunted by those same events. He’s also haunted by the ghost of Livia. The woman who has helped his friends get their souls back and is the current bane of his existence. He never expected to come to like and then love the ghost who won’t leave him alone and wallow in his decisions in peace.
Livia has a lot to make up for and she is determined to get Bram to help her. Tied as she is to him, she has full access to his memories and comes to have feelings for him. Feelings she doesn’t think she deserves to have. She sees no hope for them as he is flesh and blood while she is a ghost.
I honestly wasn’t sure how Zoe was going to pull this off. The hero is real, the heroine a ghost, and they had to battle the Devil not only for Bram’s soul but for the world. I should have trusted her because pull it off she does and in a way that had me cheering for Bram and Livia. Their road to HEA was not easy and was full of peril and attitudes, but it was so worth it.
As a couple I enjoyed Bram and Livia together. They had the perfect combination of you irritate me, and yet I find you oh so sexy, go away, no stay close. When the finally put aside their animosity for each other their connection was that much better, and powerful. There is this one scene before Livia becomes mortal again that is oh my so good. It may be my favorite scene in the book it’s that good.
There is a lot I could say about this book, and what happens but I feel that if I do I will spoil it for you. I will say that when Bram does what he does to make Livia mortal I cried a bit, and then cheered when it worked.
This was an excellent end to the series. If you like your historicals with a little paranormal thrown in then you won’t want to miss this series. I know I’m glad I read it.
Grade A
