This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

There Are No Saints was such an incredible read and I couldn’t seem to get enough of this book. I will be honest in that I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one here. I will be frank in that unfortunately this author just hasn’t worked for me in the past. I have really admired her for quite a while and it has been hard to not enjoy her books like I have wanted to. This duet was my last run with this author I was pretty sure and I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to discover that this book won my heart in so many ways. There are so many complex layers to this story, and I was hooked pretty much from the beginning of this one. It’s not going to be one that will work for everyone. It does deal with some darker content (I mean the hero is an assassin) so there is that. However, Sophie Lark really worked her magic in this story and showcased a romance that seemed to just work in a variety of ways that you don’t quite expect to find.

And yet . . . not all of us were drawn to Prince Charming. Some little girls ate up the stories of ball gowns and castles and knights who slayed the dragon . . . While some little girls read the stories of a dark pathway into the woods . . . a twisted mansion with black windows and fog covering the grounds . . . That’s where we wanted to go. No matter what we might find inside . .

The story is this, our heroine, Mara is an artist and she gets caught in the middle of a rivalry between two artists who are also assassins. Cole has a cold exterior and only lives for his heart. He doesn’t like people but he has one rival, an enemy, that he despises more than any other….Shaw. But when Shaw plays a game and the beautiful Mara gets caught in the middle, Cole’s priorities begin to shift toward Mara. He doesn’t understand his consuming thoughts on Mara but for some reason, she is a woman that is delicate but has a spine of steel. She has a strength and talent that surpasses any other woman he has ever known, and before he knows it, he will do what it takes to protect the woman who is beginning to hold the heart that has been locked away for so long…

Mara warps who I am. But in the moment, when I’m with her . . . I like it. I see things I never saw before. I feel things. Hell, I even taste things differently.

Mara warps who I am. But in the moment, when I’m with her . . . I like it. I see things I never saw before. I feel things. Hell, I even taste things differently.

This story was such an incredible read and I am not going to say that EVERYONE should be reading this one, because frankly, not everyone should because it does deal in darker elements. So unless you enjoy dark romance, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. I will say that if you enjoy this sub-genre, then you definitely need to grab this one up. I really was impressed with how this author handled this assassin type of hero and see the depths of the story that we are given here. I didn’t know what to expect with this story but it was so captivating. I honestly couldn’t seem to put this story down….NOT ONCE. I just had to read this and I was hooked on the connection that Cole and Mara were building with each other. The beginning to their relationship isn’t easy, but seeing them find a connection was such a beautiful thing to witness.

“I don’t want to be taken care of,” she says. “I want to be seen.”