Review of ‘Sins of the Flesh’ by Devyn Quinn

I stumbled upon Ms. Quinn’s books purely by chance through a recommendation on one of the threads over at the Amazon.com boards. She has an incredible talent for writing dark goth paranormal romance books about extraordinary characters who are woven into unique plots. Her stories are laced with exceptional graphic imagery. I picked up “Flesh and the Devil”, and was hooked by page 10.

I have to say I don’t think Ms. Quinn’s books are for everyone, her human characters are multi-layered, lonely souls and an unprepared reader could find the paranormal creatures frightening. But, for fans of dark PNR or horror genres her descriptive prose and storytelling is absolutely fabulous. The dark incases you and the ground fog swirls around your ankles sending shivers up the spine and along your arms. The erotica in her stories can only be described as explosive, as in my pupils dilate and toes curl. Ms. Quinn explores the realm of fetishes; bondage and orgies, pulling a reader into each scene.

Sins of the Flesh

‘Rachel Marks’, is a woman down on her luck, at 33 years old, her little book store, “The Book Nook”, that she sunk her last dollar into has gone under. As a reader, I felt sad for Rachel immediately. She has no family, few friends, she rents her apartment and is in debt. Rachel doesn’t know how she is going make the rent, let alone feed herself. She is very intelligent however, having earned an Associate Degree in Business Administration in college and she has significant work experience. Rachel pulls up her bootstraps and sets out to find job only to discover, there are few to be had. She sees an advertisement for a job as a hostess at the “Mystique”, a goth nightclub on the edge of town which is known to attract a wilder crowd and there is also plenty of gossip concerning the nightclub’s womanizing owner ‘Devon Carnavorn’.

Unknown to anyone, outside of Devon’s close coterie of servants and those of his ilk called the ‘Kynn’, he is a hedonistic, sexual vampire that thrives not just through taking blood from a human but also from simultaneous sex. Carnavorn was reborn as a vampire in 1895, sired by his beautiful lover Ariel. The story fast forwards to present day and we learn that he has long since lost Ariel at the hand of a goup of fanatical religious vampire slayers. Kynn vampires have an innate need to find their mate and bond. Having lost Ariel, his mate and great love, Devon is drifting. Despite having monetary wealth and a harem of willing donors, he is lonely, depressed and questioning his endless existence.

Rachel walks into Devon’s office for job interview at the Mystique, and there is a magnetic sexual attraction like an electric current that jumps between them. Ms. Quinn crafted Devon’s character to be of course extremely handsome, but he also has an extraordinary sensual aura and a psychic ability to arouse a woman without touching her. This is one HOT vamp. He pretty much thinks about sex all the time, because it is his nature, it along with blood revives and energizes him.

Rachel is a ringer for Ariel in appearance and inner aura that Devon senses quite swiftly. He wants Rachel and sets about to entice her into his world. She is inexorably drawn to him but is opposed to becoming involved with “the boss”, after he hires her as a waitress.

Here is an example of Ms. Quinn’s fabulous prose:

“Watching her work, an edge of keen anticipation stole away his breath. Spellbound, he couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from her. In her revealing uniform nothing was left to the imagination. The silky material glittered with sequins that sparkled as she moved, drawing attention to her full breasts, slender hips, and long, sleekly muscled legs. She looked enticing and tempting, a woman with a sexier-than-sin body and a mouth made for sucking.”

Devon gradually seduces Rachel and succeeds in luring her into his life. However, the deeper she is drawn, the more her moral fiber is strained. This was another story crafted in such a way that as a reader, I didn’t know if these unusual lovers would have their HEA or even survive until the last chapter.

There isn’t an antagonist as such in this story and I thought about Devon Carnavon’s character for days after finishing the book. I had a great deal of difficulty liking him at times and then I realized Devyn Quinn wrote him to be a protagonist/antagonist character. He is charismatic, handsome and exudes sensuality, however he is also manipulative, he uses people for sex; he is a hedonist in every sense of the word. There is a graphic m/m sex scene in this novel but given the nature of these vampires, it wasn’t out of place.

I hope to post a reader review for “Flesh and the Devil”, over the weekend.