Skin of a sinner

What The Vibes Are

Stalker Romance — Masked Men — Morally Black Characters —
Foster System — Touch Her, You Die

What It’s About

No one tells you what to do when the boy who shattered your heart comes back to steal it.

Roman Riviera was my everything once upon a time. I found my knight in shining armor in the form of a fellow foster kid. He protected me and promised to stand by my side forever. 

But Roman Riviera is a liar. 

He left me with monsters. 

Three years later, I found him in the middle of the night, soaked in my family’s blood and carving his initials into my foster brother’s skin. He tied me up and dragged me away from the life I had made without him. 

I tried to run, but he chased me. I wanted to scream, but the sound never came out. 

He says that I’m never getting away from him. He says he’s back for good. I don’t believe him.

Progress Thoughts & Rants

12% // This is so violently adorable 

19% // Okay, but why am I ️*hungry* for their backstory. This is why my therapist has job security 

44% // How can this man be this violently romantic??? I don’t know if it’s a relationship goal or a deterrent…

65% // Roman is an absolute psychopath, but this childhood friends arc has me in a *chokehold*, gonna end up speed finishing this tonight. Ugh, so good.

What I thought about it

***Possible Spoilers below

Isabella Garcia was twenty years old when she woke up to her former best friend and childhood love slaughtering her abusive foster family. From there, we’re dropped into a whirlwind of blood, gore, sex, and toxic love. I enjoyed every second of it.

In flashback chapters, we learned that Isabella and Roman were in the foster system together; he was two years older. They met at school fourteen years prior, when she was six and Roman was eight. She found solace in his company, and he became her protector. As teens, they got separated for one year before Roman was able to track her down, then after her seventeenth birthday, Roman disappeared for three years.

The following three years consisted of s3xual harassment and abuse for Isabella while she heard nothing from Roman. Heartbroken, Isabella turned from docile and shy to snarky and quick-witted. When Roman returned and slaughtered her foster brother and father, it was revealed that Roman was shot and arrested the night of her seventeenth birthday after attempting to beat up the boys who were harassing her. He wrote her letters that she never received because her foster family hid them from her.

From there, most of the plot was Isabella fighting her feelings for Roman because of her pain from the last three years, and because he had become more violent than she remembered. While waiting for their fake IDs to come through, Roman picked up a match at the local underground ring as a way to make some extra cash. Some men who were attending that were from a cartel that Roman had pissed off, which resulted in Isabella almost getting kidnapped.

After attempting to run away, Isabella eventually forgave Roman for putting her in danger, and the couple proceeded to buy a van and started living the van life. Under their new false identity, of course. There was still a possibility that they were wanted for murder.

Conclusion

I enjoyed Skin of a Sinner; it was the perfect dark romance to cleanse my palette in between reads. The conflict of wanting and not wanting a Roman Riviera in my life is intensely real. 

If you’ve read Skin of a Sinner, leave a comment with your thoughts!

♡ G&P