After reading Evil Enemy, I dove into Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe, excited to get to Lyrics story. I went in blind, and well, I wasn’t expecting a taboo story between a stripper and a priest. I also didn’t know it was exactly what I needed to read.
Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe
Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe is the second book in the Saint View Strip series. It is a dark taboo romance published on April 10, 2023 and is 341 pages long. It is a slow burn romance, in first person dual POV, with the main characters in their late 20’s and early 30s. You can find Unholy Sins on the author’s website here, Amazon, and Kindle Unlimited.
Premise
From the moment Lyric showed up outside his church Father Zeph can’t get the woman out of his mind. Which was why he was sitting outside of the strip club she worked at and ready to stop the man who was following her a little too closely. Didn’t he know Lyric belonged to Zeph?
Meanwhile, Lyric is trying to survive life with a young daughter, while co-parenting and taking care of her grandmother. Life is expensive and with Saint View Strips business being down lately, she’s going to have to take on a second job, at the church, cleaning, to pay for her daughter’s daycare. And maybe to spend some time with Father Zeph.
Triggers
Triggers found in Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe include:
- Blasphemy
- Murder, blood, and fighting
- Kidnapping of a child (past and present)
- Sex shaming, sex work, purity culture
- Sexually explicit scenes, with primal, BDSM, and Kink
My Thoughts
As previously mentioned, Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe follows Lyric, a stripper at Saint View Strip, and Zeph, a priest. We first saw Zeph in Evil Enemy, early on while Eve and everyone was protesting a politician at a church. What we didn’t know was how Zeph would become obsessed with Lyric. Or that he has some pretty dark secrets.
Zeph isn’t in disguise, no we are dealing with an actual priest here, though his push into the church may have been misguided by the purity culture his parents, specifically his mother, tried instilling in him.
Right off the bat we see a man who takes justice into his own hands, ridding the church of those who need to be removed in horrible ways. A vigilante priest if you will.
But when I stepped into my own church, up the dark aisle, and dropped to my knees at the altar, the words that came out of my mouth weren’t the ones I’d expected. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…and I don’t think I care.” – Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe
Enter Lyric, a stripper who’s just trying to provide the best possible life for her daughter. So when she finds out that her daughter’s father didn’t pay the fees at the elite daycare, and they’ve lost their spot, they head over to the local church instead. Not wanting to risk the same thing happening twice she takes on a second job cleaning the church in order to cover the daycare fees.
It’s through this cleaning that she and Zeph get to know each other. But it’s also where Zeph’s struggles come in. He wants Lyric, in ways that a priest shouldn’t, and Lyric wants him in ways she shouldn’t. But the two can’t seem to stay away from each other.
“I can’t walk away from you, Lyric. I don’t fucking know how.” – Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe
While it takes awhile for us to get to the spicy scenes, the build up to get to that point is chef’s kiss. The tension between these two, the desperate feelings they have for each other, it all explodes into one of the better primal scenes I’ve read. It makes it worth every second we had to wait to read it.
Zeph’s childhood wasn’t … normal. Being raised in a heavily religious family, he was made to feel as though his very normal desires were evil or sinful and pushed into religious “therapy.” Through the story he comes to realize a few things about himself and the world he’s been pushed into.
Meanwhile, Lyric is in control over every single aspect of her life, and exhausted. No one takes care of her while she’s taking care of her child and grandma. She may have a few people she can count on but the stress is beginning to overwhelm her, but she can’t give up control.
She was worth it. Worth breaking every vow. Every promise. I’d been a fool to think I could walk away. – Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe
We see Lyric learn to lean on others just a bit, in order to ease some of the weight she carries. Add on the single mother aspect, and the doubts we learn to deal with and it’s beautiful seeing her growth.
There is a real found family thing going on in this series so we see Eve and Josh, but also find a little bit more about Auggie as well as get a good sneak peek into what’s coming next.
The vibes of this book are when religious trauma meets vigilante behavior with twists and a spicy blend of taboo.
Who Would Like Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe?
Tropes found in Unholy Sins by Elle Thorpe include:
- Found Family
- Single Mother
- Priest
- Touch her and die
Make sure you check out all of my reviews for the Saint View Strip series below:
If you liked Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver, Crossed by Emily McIntire, or the Mindfuck Series by ST Abby, you will likely love this book.