Sins of Our Fathers Review

I recently subscribed to Kindle Unlimited again. KU is a great way to try out new books without having to purchase them because let’s face it, you’re not gonna like every book you try to read. So with my new subscription, I started browsing around my favorite romance genres. I like dark romance and sci-fi the most. I went through several pages until I stumbled upon Sins of our Fathers by Ella Burns. The description of this book really stood out to me because I love a good captive story.

Never has it been so easy to buy a human being. The more innocent, the higher the price tag.

Ginger Vincent took the underground world of human trafficking by storm with her technology-based black market. As a woman, she’s got her work cut out for her when the vultures begin to circle, closing in on all she’s built.

When someone more beast than man is taken on a routine acquisition run—who has no name other than Sin—Ginger’s curiosity gets the better of her. She decides to keep him close to learn his secrets. Little does she know, Sin is there for a reason, and that reason is to take her down.

With equally bleak histories and jaded world views, they both begin to question everything they believe in the face of one another.

When two dark souls collide, will the world burn, or will they?

When I started reading, I was instantly pulled in. I finished this book is less than a week. It had a great flow. As I turned over every new page, my interest was piqued and I had to know what was going to happen next. There was hardly a dull moment in this book. But before I officially start the review, there are some things I want to address.

Unless you have an actual trigger, don’t read the trigger warnings. You will be spoiled. The other thing I want to bring up is the prequel. I saw several reviews mention it. It’s also mentioned in the front of the book. It’s suggested that you read it first. Don’t. I can’t see how this is a good idea. Surely it will ruin the surprise twist. And if you’re one of those people that don’t mind knowing the surprise, then by all means, go ahead. But for me personally? I like figuring it out for myself.

Speaking of spoilers, I’m going to avoid them for the first part of this review. So no worries there. If you aren’t bothered by spoilers, there will be a tag towards the bottom.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about this story. I read in the author’s notes that she was inspired by the movie Hostel when she wrote this novel. It didn’t really feel like Hostel to me. You never see outside of the trafficking facility. The whole story takes place inside it. A big part of what made that movie so fun was seeing how the people were lured into that sadistic place. That said, this novel is gory like the movie. If you have a hard time tolerating blood and gore, I would skip this one. This is truly a very dark romance.

This story revolves around Ginger, a tough but small redhead that runs a human trafficking ring with her brother Kris. I have to admit, I first thought it was a little unrealistic that such a small woman could be taken seriously by men who work in dealings with buying and selling human beings. But as I got to know the character, I came to understand her more and accept her in such a powerful role. She was strong-willed, tough, and didn’t take shit from anyone.

So now that we’ve met Ginger, bring in the male lead, Sin. Yep, that’s right, his name is Sin or at the very least, that’s what he likes to go by. Sin is pretty much your typical bad boy. He’s a giant of a man with scars all over his body. He’s cocky and he’s tough. A real brute. You find out quickly that he has a hidden agenda and has purposely allowed himself to be captured. But other than that mystery, he didn’t really stand out to me as a character. I’ve seen his type many times before.

The build-up between these two was fun. At first, Ginger is intrigued by this man. He refuses to tell her his real name and she can find no information about his life. He’s basically a ghost. They butt heads but there’s some serious chemistry between them that neither of them can ignore. If this was a normal situation, they might act on those feelings but Sin is there to be sold. He’s her prisoner and she has no problems making sure that he knows that.

What I liked the most about these two was that the tables never truly turn. I’ve seen it over and over in romance novels. Usually the tough girl will get overpowered by the man and she’ll turn into a submissive weakling and do whatever he wants. Ginger isn’t a weakling. She doesn’t roll over for Sin. She’s tough all the way through this novel. And although she does take a submissive role during their intimate times together, it doesn’t feel like she’s being bossed around. It’s hard to explain without giving things away but I’ve read a lot of romance novels, and I really commend Ella Burns for allowing Ginger to stay a strong, dominant female. Not every female lead needs to be manhandled and kiss the male lead’s ass.

Now when it comes to steam… I will say the sex scenes in this book did little for me. I did like some of the interactions between the two characters but I could also see how those same interactions might turn people off. I would guess this book’s audience isn’t very broad. It’s not a book for everyone.

To really talk about why this book isn’t for everyone, I’m going to get into spoiler territory. So this is your warning.

Don’t read ahead, if you don’t want to be spoiled!

Towards the end of the book, we finally find out who Sin is and… he’s Ginger’s half-brother. Not only that, but her other half brother, Kris, is also in love with her. There are a few different sex scenes with her and Sin, and one with her and Kris. Yes, this book is about an incest relationship. That didn’t bother me, but I can see how it would bother a lot of people. Especially if they didn’t know about that ahead of time. Which… is why the trigger warnings are there. They do list incest. But in my opinion, I would have found the book more interesting if it had been a surprise. Unfortunately, I saw it coming. And if you read the prequel, I think it would be pretty obvious who Sin is from the start.

Another spoilery thing I want to mention is a very gruesome scene where Sin cuts the skin off of someone’s face while he’s alive, then he proceeds to cut open his chest (he’s still alive) and make his ribs pop out of his chest. I’m a horror fan. I’m perfectly fine with gore. But up until this point, the gore has mostly taken place behind the scenes and was not written out. This scene seemed really out of place to me. And I can see this part of the book turning people away. Especially if they weren’t prepared for it. It’s honestly quite shocking. But then again, a lot of this book is outside the norm for dark romances. Most dark romances are so tame in comparison to this one.

END SPOILERS

For my rating, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It’s gruesomely dark and taboo but I honestly enjoyed it. It held my attention the whole way through. If Ella Burns decides to write a sequel, I would definitely be interested in checking it out.

I recommend it for horror fans such as myself who aren’t bothered by blood and gore. And for people who are open to taboo themes. For example, books like Flowers in the Attic.