It was a pretty good book. I liked the characters and the plot. I hope to read more books by this author.

Original Sinner by Kait Ballenger is a dark romance set in a world where devils roam the earth. Charlotte grew up in a religious cult but escaped and ended up working for Lucifer. I really enjoyed the banter between Lucifer and Charlotte and the forced proximity boss/subordinate tropes throughout the book. I can't wait to read more from this author!

I enjoyed this book and thought it was an action packed fantasy romance.

Things I loved:
❤️ High stakes. There were so many on edge moments. I loved this.
❤️ Solid romance
❤️ An FMC to root for

Things that had me a bit overwhelmed:
😕 There were so many characters and their specific skills to learn that I found it hard to keep track.
👄 I got a bit lost with all the fantasy wordings such as the week and times.

I thought it was a bit long too. Overall I enjoyed it but it left me stressed that I couldn't remember things so couldn't fully immerse myself in the story.

A short summary of this book would be if modern day NYC was ruled by the Princes of Hell, with major Fifty Shades of Grey vibes. 👀

Honestly this book was so much fun! It was spicy and intriguing and tbh exactly what I needed right now.

I was thorough hooked in the first half, but the plot got a bit lost after that. It’s a very cheesy book and not a literary masterpiece, however I loved the concept and it was an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed the banter between the FMC and MMC and the build of their tension/relationship. I do wish there was more background on the Originals but also we all know the story so understandable to be semi-vague. I felt like it adds to the mystery of the MMC as well.

A very different book to what I usually read and I really enjoyed it. A unique plot that I haven’t read before.

This has a lot of the tropes/scenes that I expected from this type of dark romantasy, but the premise and worldbuilding kept it feeling original. Charlotte and Lucifer’s POVs each had a distinctive voice, and the writing of being inside their heads was such that they felt real almost immediately. The world the author built — and the sort of religious dichotomy they played with — was really interesting, especially seeing how it was integrated into NYC. This was a strong start to what I think will be a really intriguing series.

This book was simply amazing. I loved everything about it and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of reading it. It was a blast.

I had high hopes for this adaptation of my favourite retelling (hades/persephone) but I was sadly let down as the story felt disjointed and incomplete in areas and over embellished in others. This left a FMC that felt somewhat contrived and a plot that at fell just short for me,

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. The premise of this book sounded good, but I battled to stay interested. I’d say the last 5% really hooked me, the rest was just okay.

The main characters felt one dimensional and there was not much said for the side characters, except for in a few chapters.

I thought her journey was appropriate if a little wobbly and rushed at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for access to this title. All opinions are my own.

A new series is hitting our bookshelves this March and it is a dark romantasy featuring that fallen angel, Lucifer. I was seduced by that delicious cover and I stuck around for the story.

If you're looking for a spicy romance with a devilish MMC, then this is the book to keep you up at night or early in the morning. Our setting is New York City, where the Seven Deadly Sins have their footprint on the Big Apple. It somehow falls to their brother, Lucifer, a successful billionaire to keep them all in line. Of course, Lucifer has problems of his own, he is enigmatic and successful and the media finds his rare appearances to leave them craving more. When his company hires the young Charlotte, herself fleeing her traumatic religious upbringing, the two find themselves caught up in a mystery and a fake romance.

Blame it on Tom Ellis but I kept picturing him as Lucifer all throughout this story even if that isn't who the author had in mind. 🤣 I liked the close proximity and fake dating element of the story. The jury is still out in how I feel about Charlotte, our main female protagonist. However, the fact that she had a crazy stalker ex did make the story more interesting.

Not that I need another series added to the TBR but I feel like I am going to stick around and see where we go after that ending.


#OriginalSinner #NetGalley.
Expected Publication 25/03/25
Goodreads Review 09/01/25

Original and spicy take on the Fallen complete with secrets, betrayals, zealots, and though focused on Lucifer the gang is here along with some visits from their not so fallen brothers along the way. Clever and highly entertaining!

I mostly enjoyed this book, it gave more YA than NA though. The romance between the two characters wasn't fully believable but the banter was good and I enjoyed the spicy scenes. Often times it felt as though it dragged on. I also didn't grow up in a religious household, so it was hard for me to relate to the FMC. I wanted to like this and I was hooked at the start but then started to lose interest around the 70% mark. Then the ending felt very rushed and I struggled finishing it. I wish I enjoyed it more, but I struggled, even with the spice.

Thank you for the arc read!
This book was HOT, if you're into the idea of the seven deadly sins then this book is for you.

Charlotte, escaped from her abusive very religious family to NEw York to start a new life the way she wants to, no parents breathing down her neck on what she can and can't do. She gets a job working for Lucifer as an assistant and somehow ends up I'm a fake marriage with him.

The smut was 😘👌 where can I find my own Sin?! I was hooked from the start!

I do not think this book was for me, I stopped reading about 20% of the way in. I just couldn’t get on with the writing style, it felt clunky and a bit immature. As I did not finish it I have not written any reviews on my platforms. Thank you for the opportunity to read it though.

If you think you’ve seen every Seven Deadly Sins trope, Original Sinner rolls in, serving up enough wit and originality to steal the show.

Charlotte, fresh from an abusive, hyper-religious upbringing, bolts to New York with dreams of crafting her own life - no rules, no guilt trips, and definitely no one telling her how to live her life.

Naturally, she lands a PR gig working for Lucifer, Himself. Yes, that Lucifer, His Infernal Majesty. Filthy rich, witty, gorgeous, and frustratingly narcissist to his core, he's unapologetically all the things she's been warned away from daily, since birth. Vexed and charmed by him, in turn, before she knows it, Charlotte finds herself fake-engaged to the Prince of Darkness, in order to straighten out a PR nightmare right out of Hell.

I was hooked and read it in one shot. There's a little mystery, plenty of laughs, and a lot of delicious steam! Even the supporting cast shines, making me preemptively obsessed with the stories of the other Sins (hurry up and publish those already!).

I’m absolutely diving into the rest of the series, the wait is going to kill me!

All in all this was a very entertaining take on Lucifer as the morally gray anti-hero. I enjoyed the story and the characters. I wish more time had been spent building the relationship. There were some inconsistencies in the story that took me out of the moment, especially in the spicy scenes, but I’m sure that was fixed in the final version. Might check out others in the series in the future.

Thank you to Kait Ballenger and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.


Wow! I really wasn't sure what all I was getting myself into here, but I was not disappointed. This is obviously a "darker" romance, but I really enjoyed how the MMC didn't feel as controlling as others in this genre typically are. You felt like the FMC had some modicum of control over the things she did in the book, after she'd finally escaped her old life back in the Midwest. And I really felt for her as a character because all she wanted for herself was safety. She wanted to feel as if she could choose her own path in life, and not have to live as an abused daughter in an abusive, arranged marriage. Things that literally shouldn't be too much to ask for.

I've never read another novel where Lucifer himself is the MMC, so it was interesting to get inside his head from his POV for once. He's written in such a way that you really feel like he's not the evil entity that society has made him out to be. I wish we would have seen more of his siblings, The Originals, who were the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins, but perhaps they will be explored a bit more in book 2, which I cannot wait for!!!

Lucifer may not be the book boyfriend we want, but he’s the book boyfriend we deserve. And truly what an angel he is.

I do wish there was more depth to the story and I wish that the date of the met gala hadn’t been changed, because it felt so strange to have the story take place in summer/early fall when nothing else mentions that. And maybe it was just a show of his power over the city but there had to have been a better way.

💥ARC review 💥
Original Sinner @kait.ballenger

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Oh boy did I devour this book. I am hooked. I want more originals and I cannot wait to see what happens next. Small cliffhanger to set the mood for the next book. Lucifer is everything you would want in an MMC. He’s tall dark and handsome, plus brooding and the ultimate villain who will do anything for the one he loves✨ I hope I can read the next books in the series because this one seriously left me thinking about the next one