Book Review: Sins and Secrets

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

A Word of Warning: If you are squeamish, DO NOT READ this review.

There is an unspoken rule of sorts that I have also been following, to not give low ratings and bad reviews to Indie authors with only a few ratings.
Because I didn't want to be that bitch who messes up the algorithm and discourages a writer.
But sometimes you stumble upon a book like this and you just can't keep silent.
Because... Damn!
We all know there's some bad stuff out there but this really hits the cake right in your face.

It's an MM historical romance featuring Robert, an extremely pious young man, and his unruly brother by adoption - Frederick. Sparks fly between them and slowly but surely, Frederick seduces Robert into his bed, waking up all sorts of feelings and desires.

The premise of the book is good, but the rest fell a little short for me.

The prose is convoluted to say the least. Or plain bad, if you want me to be precise. And coming from an English professor with a love for the classics, this should say something. But you don't need to trust my word for that. here is just a little snippet for you to decide for yourselves. The first paragraph of the first chapter.

"A single beam of late autumn sun, cold and sharp, speared the mullioned windows of an old church house, and lay like an enormous golden shard of broken glass on the stone floor, encasing Robert Hayward within its ethereal glow like a precious stone within its frame, his gilded silhouette serving as a kind of beacon for every wandering gaze and every stray thought of the small congregation therein. His broad shoulders and slim waist, perfectly accentuated by the cut of his dark greatcoat, were dwelt upon with eagerness and devoutness that neither the text of the sermon nor its important message on godliness and goodness seemed to merit."

I don't know about you, but I had to backtrack twice to properly grasp the meaning of all that. And this is just an example.

As far as the plot's concerned, things are glossed over, or accepted in a bit of a weird manner. Some scenes are too detailed and stage centred, while others confuse you to no end and the characters themselves lacked that little something that makes them leap from the page.

But what really took the cake was the smut and the way it was written.
I'll gloss over the fact even that was confusing, and you can't really quite tell who's panting, vibrating, or shaking around the other. Yep. Those were words from the book, in case you were wondering. Vibrating body included.
But what I really can't gloss over and actually made me go WTF is this:

'Frederick began to convulse and blindly sink his fingers and teeth into Robert’s flesh as he spilled his load within Robert’s welcoming hole.'

He began to CONVULSE! Like.... Are you shitting me?
Apart from the fact that is sounds awful and absolutely cringy, as the parent of a child suffering of convulsions, I find the use of this word in such a manner downright offensive.

To convulse is 'to suffer violent involuntary contraction of the muscles, producing contortion of the body or limbs'. And it happens to people affected by epilepsy. It's messy and frightening and all around horrible and it has nothing to do with any pleasure or sex. Using this term in a smut scene in this manner is insensitive to say the least.
But then, this might just be a personal opinion triggered by a special situation and the word might not affect other readers the same way.

So I let it rest and moved on. To the remainder of the smut scene that made me literally want to retch.
Because after the guys are done with all the coming, Frederick 'licks and laps up his own come out of Robert’s hole, thrusting his tongue and swirling it inside as though it was the most natural thing in the world.' He licks Robert clean, 'his mouth glistening obscenely in the candle-light', then they kiss and Robert tastes 'what surely must be equaled to a forbidden fruit.'

And I'm like WTF! Girl, please!!!
He fucks him in the ass with no prep no nada then licks him all clean and it tastes divine?!!
I'm outta here!

A much as I love hot smut of any variety, the taste of man cheese and shit won't ever be equalled to that of a forbidden fruit in my book. And yes. Just thinking about it makes me wanna puke.

I get that some people are into it and have nothing against it. We all have our kinks and as they say: to each their own. But this is not my jam.
And I would have really appreciated a warning.

Suffice it to say that marked the moment when I closed the book and sent it straight into the virtual trash bin. I think there were just 2 or 3 pages left till the very end but I couldn't be bothered to read them. I'm calling this a DNF and moving on.

This book has been recommended for my MM romance feature this month and I read it on KU.
My first book by this author but definitely my last and I wouldn't recommend it.

Check out this book and more of Farida Mestek over at http://www.faridamestek.blogspot.com/