“It’s Angels and Demons meets Suicide Squad mixed with a little Devil’s Advocate.” – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Book BoyfriendsI fear no evil…Twenty-two years ago, I was cut from a cold, sodden womb, and cradled in the filth and poverty of Chicago’s concrete arms. Statistically, I wasn’t supposed to survive these streets past the age of eighteen.Fate had a different plan.I was bred for one … had a different plan.
I was bred for one purpose and one purpose only: to unleash death and destruction on my world.
My thoughts are power.
My words are weapons.
Evil created me then grace tried to save me. But first… they tried to kill me.
They call themselves the Se7en. They are sin and salvation, and everything we’ve feared from the beginning of time. And their leader is the deadliest of them all.
He doesn’t lose.
He doesn’t compromise.
And most importantly, he doesn’t distract himself with mortal weakness.
Not until me.
Kill one to save a million.
That’s what he told me when he took me as his prisoner.
Kill one to save a million.
That’s what he’s been trying to tell himself ever since he took me into his arms.
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This book is about the search for redemption, the price it may cost.
Eden has darkness in her soul and the ability to make people do her bidding with just a whispered word. She thinks she’s just a freak with no connections. Then one night her world is changed and her illusions shattered and she discovers that there is more to the world than she ever knew.
The Se7en is a group of demons who have been fighting to save humanity while trying to find redemption and Eden is now part of the plan. She might also be the thing one of them has spent eternity searching for if she can be kept from Lucifer.
This is the first book in the series and includes a cameo from some of the characters from The Dark Light series. Be prepared to enjoy.
This series is EVERYTHING! Hot enemies to lovers with heaven and hell in the balance!
4.5 stars
I loved this book! It was full of deep, dark secrets, sexual tension, intense characters & was a complete page turner. I’m over-the-moon happy that I’ve found a new-to-me paranormal romance series to binge on!!
But WARNING… this book does end on a CLIFFHANGER.
*****SPOILERS*****
That lowdown dirty b*tch… Lilith. I wanted to rip out each of her freshly manicured nails & shove them up her demonic a**. She was a traitor, she was a fake & a big fat frickin’ fool. Legion can’t kill her soon enough, for my liking. *deep breath* Now that that’s off my chest…
The prophecy, the calling, that Eden started experiencing in this book was very intriguing. It drove me batty how so many times a scene was interrupted by someone bursting through a door, a hail of gunfire rang out or someone suddenly lost their voice because I wanted, no NEEDED, answers about what was really going on. While frustrating at times, it’s what kept me flipping the pages. Did Legion truly want Eden? Would Adriel jump back out of her body? Was that actually Lucifer in the bathroom scene? How would Legion get the King’s brother back? How would he come back from Hell? When would more changes occur in Eden? Would the Queen help her out in the future? And… Well, many, many more. GAH! See?! #unputdownable
Super excited to one-click the next book in the series, End of Eden! That cliffhanger was so cruel!!
The very best kind of PNR – action packed, complicated and kick ass heroines! My favourite
This series is so addicting, I would read SL Jennings GROCERY LISTS at this point! GIVE ME MOREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
What a crazy story!!!! I’m so glad to have stumbled upon this author. Jennings has such a way with words that completely captivates you. I absolutely loved the entire book and could not put it down. I was hooked half way through the prologue.
I wish I could talk about the ending because OMG!!!! What a fucking ending that was. I thank my lucky stars that I don’t have to wait months at a time and can dive in to the next book immediately because that cliffhanger was no joke.
Jennings has seriously become a one click author for me!
At first I saw this cover and thought okay another New Adult book, awesome. Then I read the blurb and thought okay this has got to be a supernatural New adult. It is but that really doesn’t cover it.
Eden was born tainted. She can make people do whatever she wants just by saying it. While arriving at work early one evening, some mafia looking men come in to see her. What she doesn’t know is that they want her dead. Enter L. L saves her only to drag her back to his place and holds her prison.
This was amazing. I loved it. I was hooked the entire time. The quotes from this book. I had quite a few favorites. The author’s description is one of the best I’ve read this year.
“There’s a stain that poverty leaves on everything it touches. It coats your palms when you’re cold. It bleeds onto your lips when you’re hungry. It paints your skin when you’re sick. You can try to scrub it away, but the result is always the same. You’re one of society’s forsaken. ”
The is only one POV which is Eden’s. She was a laugh riot. She made me laugh many times. There is one point that is of L’s POV but it’s not till the end.
“Surely I’m seeing things. Murderers don’t play X-box One. They should be skinning cats or designing necklaces made of ears.
I know I’m right. Life is short, L. At least for me it is. I might as well die happy covered in orange Cheetos dust than waste away eating air-crisped cardboard.
Aw, come on. Sour Patch Kids are an American staple! And look- they’re fruit flavored. That has to be healthy.”
There were also times when a character just says something that totally gets right to your soul. Eden says something like this for me.
“Music has always been sacred to me, my escape from the crumbling world outside my headphones.”
See what I mean. And the author put one of my points out I have mentioned to Wy a time or two. Lucifer is mostly cast as an old guy or a creepy horned guy. Why?
““I swear, they always depict him as some dark haired, old guy. Humans.”
“Who”
“Lucifer,” he answers flippantly. “Doesn’t anyone crack a book these days? He was God’s favorite, the most talented and beautiful of all the angels. Why the hell would he look like an over-the-hill, saggy-balled, short dude?””
Makes sense doesn’t it. Why make evil always look ugly. If it looked like that evil wouldn’t be so tempting now would it? Now onto L. He is a puzzle but damn is he hot. And delivers one of the best one liners ever.
“But he’s Kanye West. And trust me, it’s not an act. He sincerely believes his own bullshit.”
Good thing I was home and not at work when I read that one. I was laughing out loud. Wy just looked at me weird till I read it to him. He agrees with L. Plus with L he is knowledgeable. When Eden starts to say he wouldn’t have her because of the things she does, he steals our hearts with this,
“We’re all sinners, Eden. Some of us just sin differently than others.”
Then when Eden is talking about her sister and he delivers yet another knowledgeable quote.
““There’s nothing false about hope, Eden” he says, his voice trembling with a nostalgic timbre, as if he once had felt, tasted, and held hope in his palms. “It can be blind-foolish, even- but it’s never false. Not if you truly feel it in your heart.””
Great start to the series. Can’t wait to start the next book.
I have been meaning to get around to this series for a while.
Previously reading The Dark/Light books by this author and loving them Born Sinner (Se7en Sinners, #1) by S.L. Jennings has been on my TBR pile for quite some time.
And while this didn’t draw me in initially quite as quickly as previous books I have read by this author I did get there in the end.
And when I did fall I was captivated by this vividly portrayed world.
Born Sinner tells the story of the seven.
Seven demons trying to redeem themselves by whatever means necessary, led by their leader “L” Legion.
Who can I just say is totally manalicious and super bad ass.
“Because I once was seraphim,” he pronounces, his all-commanding tone rumbling the floor beneath my socked feet. A blast of sweltering heat radiates around his entire frame, forcing me back. “But now… I… Am… Legion.”
There mission to stop the called, basically like Lucifers sleeper cells, dormant till activated to do horrific actions and “Eden” is one such cell.
“Kill one to save a million” is the motto they live by and how they justify their actions.
But Eden is something more and as L does a complete 360 and decides he needs to protect her maybe at first on account of the angel “Adriel” he senses inside her.
“Adriel” his first love who he fell from heaven for.
But also because he finds himself completely captivated by the enigma that is Eden.
“Because from the first moment I saw you—through the dingy window of that store, your headphones on, oblivious to the dangers right outside the door—I knew that I would die for you. So please…live for me. Just for a little while longer.”
So this book had everything a damaged anti-hero and one stubborn as hell heroine that’s ready to fight her feeling to the bitter end.
Drama, angst and betrayal from where you expect it least.
Just when you think you know where this is going it changes directions on you and scrambles your thought process once more.
And it has Angels and Demons, So, Man whats not to love here.
I absolutely fell hook line and sinker for our L, he was such a damaged but deep individual and I loved how hard he fell for Eden willing to do whatever it takes to protect her and keep her safe.
“When you find something worth living for, you won’t hesitate to die for it.” A small, sad smile rests upon his lips. “We’re all dead, firecracker, yet no one really dies. Don’t worry. I’ll make my way back to you.” “You promise?” I whisper. “Even if I have to crawl my way out from the depths of Hell, I’ll never leave you. Not again.”
Sigh so heart-thumpingly swoony.
Eden was that bit more difficult to get a handle on, she was a product of her upbringing and had clawed her way to adulthood with a tenuous hold on life.
While I admired her resilience and ability to adapt like a chameleon I also felt she was her own worse enemy on a course of self-sabotage she fought every good thing that came her way, I believe she had sentenced and judged herself to a solitary existence a long time past.
The secondary characters in this series were amazing, I adored them all especially the seven.
I also loved the added bonus of revisiting the Skotos family from Light/dark series that was a lovely touch and I loved that this also occupied the same world.
Only a couple issues here that bothered me and whilst this didn’t dampen my enjoyment here I thought I would just flag them for others.
I thought Legion went from Mr nasty to Mr nice without explanation and I did find this a bit odd.
There was no real explanation for his big turnaround and the second considering L tells Eden he was captivated with her from the very beginning I don’t get the original overall animosity he directed at her when taking her captive.
But as I said no biggie I still really enjoyed this, I was just slightly puzzled by these two facts.
So Born Sinner ended on a big Cliffhanger, like a real I need the next book right now cliffy.
And I was super, super shocked here, didn’t see that one coming at all.
So to conclude this was a fantastic gripping read with fantastic world building and an engaging storyline that I really enjoyed and highly recommend.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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I love paranormal romance. It’s so hard to find good PNR series. I think with this one SL Jennings did a good job and I’m looking forward to more from her.
There was nice sexy time parts, lots of angst, and some good gritty mystery. I think it was balanced well through out the whole book. I liked L and Eden and they were smoking hot togther.
There was a few scenes that I think were either off or seemed to not help the story flow. I also feel that there could of been a little more of something that would of helped keep my attention more. Either way I did enjoy the book regardless of these things. I think SL created a neat world here and I look forward to more from this series. Paranormal books are always fun to read because they take you to a whole new place and I like that SL was able to do that.