Author: J. Rose

Series: Harrowdean Manor

First Published: 19 July 2024

“Being trapped by the same evil doesn’t automatically make them good people. Victims can still be monsters.”

I will start by saying that I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank so much J. Rose and the team over Valentine PR for sending a copy my way!

“Look into the camera, Ripley.
Tell us what happened in Harrowdean Manor.”

Serving a three-year sentence after a violent manic episode, I own this psychiatric institute and every last patient in it.
 
Dealing contraband to the desperate and disturbed has earned me this kingdom. To survive, I simply sacrificed my soul.
 
They all fear me.
Worship me.
Hate me.
 
But no more than the demons I barely escaped last year. They thought they’d broken me with their greed and depravity. Instead, they made me ruthless.
 
Now, my enemies are back.
And they’re out for blood.
 
Lennox wants to kill me.
Xander wants to break me.
Raine just wants to feel alive.
 
But in here, it’s kill or be killed. As the horrifying reality behind Harrowdean’s lies starts to surface, a bloody battle for survival begins.
 
Their social experiment is set to burn.
And I’m the one holding the matches.

I love being back in this world. Sin Like The Devil is dark, it’s twisted and I am 100% hooked. I haven’t read the first series in this universe, The Blackwood Institute, but I am dying to pick it up after reading this. It will be the perfect hangover fix I need after that ending.

Ripley’s invited to be interviewed as part of a documentary about the infamous Incendia Corporation. The company funded six private psychiatric institutes. These institutes were sold to the British public as pioneers of mental health treatment and a safe place for patients. But behind the glossy marketing campaigns, these institutes are modern-day asylums where lost souls with no family or friends often disappear without a trace. It’s been ten years since Ripley has left Harrowdean Manor and she’s finally ready to tell her story. And while she was a patient, she did her fair share to keep the chaos going and enabled the inmates. There’s no doubt that Ripley was the queen of the institute and would do whatever it took to keep her title. While the role might have started as a way to survive, she thrived with the power. Her rule is under threat with the arrival of inmates for one of the sister institutes, Priory Lane, which includes two men she left for dead. And they will stop at nothing to get their revenge.

We love a morally grey character and, honestly, I have not read nearly enough morally grey female characters. Ripley has been sent to an Incendia Corporation institute after a manic episode left her attacking a pizza delivery guy. I enjoyed seeing flashbacks of when she joined the program and how scared and unsure she was of herself. Ripley is taken under the wing of Holly, who runs the institute. It’s through Holly that Ripley learns the best way to survive. I adore Ripley’s complexity. Yes, she feels some guilt over providing pills to addicts and razors to cutters. She’s very self-aware of her part in other’s downfall. Yet, simultaneously, we see the thrill and security she feels in being untouchable.

What a love about a why choose romance is how the relationships have their own flavour and develop at different paces. We really get the best of all worlds. Ripley’s relationship with Lennox and Xander is a slow burn as Ripley wants to kill them and vice versa. The pair killed her friend when they took over the rule of Priory Lane. In retaliation, Ripley sends them to the Z wing, hoping to kill them off. Lennox and Ripley actively try and harm and kill each other. The events in the last part of the book do bring them close together, essentially trauma bonding them together. Lennox realizes that Ripley is part of their family and lays down his sword. Ripley and Xander have a complicated history. Xander is a sadist, which intrigues Ripley. Their relationship sours when Xander engages Ripley in an intense scene as a ploy to keep her out of the way while Lennox kills Holly. Ripley is still drawn to Xandra despite wanting him dead. Xander’s sociopathic tendencies have led to him being obsessed with Ripley. He wants to be the one to break her and protect her from everyone else.

And then we have Raine, our music prodigy and drug addict. Raine is blind and I felt the representation handled well. Ripley and Raine connect through their love of art – she is a painter. They find a safe space in each other where they can take off their masks and expose their vulnerabilities. Their relationship is complicated as Ripley agrees to provide him with drugs. While she limits his intake, he has been using it for too long to withdraw without medical assistance safely. Ripley knows the staff are actively mistreating patience as part of a broader experiment. We also get the vibe that Ripely will also end up with one of the guards, Langley. He is an absolute sweetie. I am excited to see how their relationship progresses in the sequel.

I am fascinated by the dark dealings of the Incendia Corporation. I also loved how the story unfolds. We get scenes of Ripley in the present day on set getting interviewed. Behind the romances, we see the start of the downfall of the Corporation. Sabre Security is investigating the institutes as patients escape from Blackwood and Priory Lane has been shut down. The media is sniffing around for an exclusive. My heart was in my throat when we were introduced to the Z Wing. The tension is high. It truly feels like a bomb about to explode and I can’t look away. I got a kick out of seeing characters I’ve already read about in the connected series. I adore that Sin Like the Devil feels like its own story while also managing to fit seamlessly into this wider universe, which I love.  

I need to stop reading series where the book hasn’t come out yet because that ending! Be still my beating heart. I am counting down the days for book two, Burn Like an Angel, to be released. I highly recommend Sin Like the Devil; if you love your morally grey woman, why choose romance and dark romance. This a dark romance set in a mental asylum so please be kind to yourself and check the trigger warnings.