Review: Interesting concept, lost during the "telling"
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2014
There's no worse feeling than the one you get when you anticipate something so much, only to find utter disappointment at the end. But it was all my fault for requesting before fully checking the genres, I suppose...The Sinster sisters... Seven sisters, each of whom has one of the seven deadly sins in her soul. Those sins are to be activated as soon as the sisters meet their destined mates - men that belong to the Valendite Breed, a vampyric race that can only mate with women like the Sinsters, those belonging to the Circle of Magdalena. Layla, the youngest, is the first to experience this, as she meets Madden Santucci and her soul sin, Lust, makes her want to jump his bones. But lusting after someone and loving them are different things in her romantic mind, and she's not ready to submit to their bond and give him such control yet. Still, Madden is not one to wait. He's found his mate, he's had her once, and there's no way he's letting her take more time than necessary. Enemies that he has gained thanks to his leading position in the Terrorist Elimination Unit (TEU), a CIA branch very few know about, are closing in. And if he wants to keep not only his secret, but also Layla, safe, he will have to rush things a bit despite her wishes...While Lustful Cravings looked like it needed some work in the writing and development department, I enjoyed the concept of soul sins and some of its characters. Unique and untried before, with a heavy dose of steamy love scenes - which, up until Anton came in the picture, were pretty damn hot. Madden tore her bra with his teeth - I repeat, his FREAKING teeth!The only problem during the sexual acts was Madden's mouth. That's right! My close friends know I'm a sucker for talking during the act, but in Madden's case, I just wanted him to shut up and do his job. Why? Because, despite the fact he was wonderful when it came to speaking words of romance and eternal love and belonging to Layla and what-not, in bed he would keep talking like this. While being rough. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but when you're roughening it up, you're not supposed to keep up the sweet talk - heck, even when he would demand something and use the F word he would sound like he was asking for the bill at a five-star restaurant!!!And that was the least of my problems with the main hero. Because I have a list. Oh, yes, I do!Wanna hear more of my complaints? Of course you do. Ok, then, here we go.At first, it was pretty nice. Sort of controlling male who likes to feast on the heroine's nether regions early in the morning, who speaks like he got possessed by Shakespeare's spirit, and knows how to be a beast in bed and speaks in Italian at random moments. Who doesn't like that, right? At least, what we saw of Madden at first. Because after Layla was secured in his mansion, our dear Santucci heir shows another side of him - one that disgusted me and yet surprisingly turned Layla, such a wonderful and seemingly reasonable woman, on!Sort of controlling? Ha! As if! He turns into uber-controll mode just like that - I think the only thing he forgot to direct, was WHEN Layla was allowed to breathe! Master Madden suddenly was the one deciding everything for Layla, and while one would expect her to put up a better fight, the woman did the opposite and submitted way too easily!Then, we have his obvious anger - I mean, he was growling, it doesn't get more obvious than that - when his little brother showed interest in Layla at the family dinner. All is well with that, or, well, it would be, if the disgusting creep hadn't shared a couple of times his mate with his best friend before said dinner! I. Hate. Menage! WITH A FLAMING PASSION! Never mind the fact Layla let him do that, what man in his right mind shares his lover with his best friend?! What's the point of mates if it's a bond for more than the two of them?! And why getting pissed off at your brother for staring when there is another guy at the other side of your woman that has your permission to touch her freely?! (speaking of Anton, who I ended up hating merely because of the part he played in this effed up relationship, there were two parts, concerning candles and drawing a bath for Layla, that were pretty much identical - he even thought the same things when looking at her!)I'm not going on with the list, it will be too much of a spoiler. But, yeah, you get the point.I guess it was my fault. I should have checked the genres carefully, but I got hooked with the blurb - which says nothing of Anton, by the way, and that's a major mistake seeing how important he came out to be - and then started obsessing over the rest of the series. By the time Anton entered that damn bedroom, my warning bells were dancing the tango! And when Madden got that mental click and the whole Tre Adoro theory started, it was too late to stop it. I had to finish it, at least to see the important details needed to go on with the other sisters.Let's hope the other Sinster women are not that foolish. Not that Layla seemed stupid at first. She was sensible, and reluctant, and I liked that - the fact she wanted a book-worthy romance, that she refused to compromise in the blink of an eye. And while she lusted after Madden, we could see it was mainly because of her soul sin, which was nice, it showed her morals and how she fought to keep her personal control. Too bad that idiot broke her mind or something (could it be he accidentally slammed her head on a wall or whatever and I missed it?)...At least there is no more menage - I should know, I double-checked! And I can't wait to get to Eloise's story and leave the tragedy that was the first book behind me!***I was given a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.***