Lee Piper's Blog - Posts Tagged "saffron-a-kent"

The Unrequited by Saffron A. Kent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Have you ever seen something so beautiful you need a moment to sit back, blink, and breathe it in? You know, like a sunset, a baby sleeping, or a lover’s smile? And the object of your admiration is so freaking perfect, you can’t get your head around it. It’s as though the phenomenon is too much to comprehend all at once. So you pause, marvel, and shake your head in bewilderment, all the while wondering how on earth it came into being.

Yeah. This was my experience when reading Saffron A Kent’s novel, The Unrequited.

On paper, so much could have gone wrong with this book. I mean, how is the reader supposed to sympathise with a self-confessed stalker? How are we to understand a woman intent on crossing so many social boundaries to fulfil her own physical and emotional needs? Isn’t she narcissistic? Naïve? Immoral? And what about Thomas Abrams? The arrogant, broody, married—you read correctly—professor? Surely, the reader will never empathise with him?

Wrong.

So wrong.

The love between Layla and Thomas is one of the purest I have ever read. It is tortured, sure, but in the same breath also honest, passionate, and real. Only the truly talented can write a novel this brilliant. Only those who have mastered their craft can pen such complex, alluring characters. Saffron A Kent has not only shown her ability to create a world we all want to escape to, she has done it with class, heart, and a plot line you’ll never forget.

One of my top reads for the year. For the love of all things holy get your hands on this book. You can thank me later.




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Gods & Monsters by Saffron A. Kent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is why I read romance. Saffron A Kent's latest novel, Gods & Monsters is intelligent, thought provoking, and a wonderful commentary on the relationship between religion and sexuality. It's so refreshing when an author pushes the boundaries within their chosen genre, when they reference a topical issue outside of the main characters' burgeoning relationship. And boy, is the relationship between Abel and Pixie the stuff of legend.

But I digress.

Gods & Monsters follows the coming of age of Evie, daughter to a puritanical mother and apathetic father. When she meets Abel, her tall, smirking, artistic neighbour, a connection forms which neither can or want to break. But wanting and having are two very different concepts, and choosing love over family does not always end in an immediate happily ever after. It does, however, lead to a sexual awakening which arises from, and despite, faith.

Evie's initial idolatry of Abel is naïve, there's no doubt about it. However, her resolute belief in him, and in his love for her, is what makes this story so freaking gorgeous. After all, when the reader strips back the layers of this novel, they discover three simple truths:
He is just a boy.
She is just a girl.
And they're in love.
It is a unique love, make no mistake, but it is unsullied in spite of the suffocating religious expectations forced upon them since childhood.

Kent's ability to draw the reader into the complex world of sex, religion, and the search for personal identity, is second to none. She has mastered her craft in this book, and shown readers once again why she is a literary force to be reckoned with.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, read this novel.




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Medicine Man by Saffron A. Kent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Like any Saffron A. Kent novel, Medicine Man will challenge, confront, and move you. Her characters are complex, three-dimensional and flawed. They're beautifully broken. They're made up of hidden lies, shadowed vulnerabilities, and layer upon layer of half-truths.

I mean this in the best possible way.

After all, who wants to read about a heroine who's perfect? Who wants a hero that's got his life together? Where's the raw, animalistic, compulsion to break the rules in order to make new ones if there's nothing broken in the first place? Where's the risk? The reward? Exactly. And that's what Saffron does so well. She crafts highly original characters who own the page from the first word to the last.

So yeah, I loved it. I loved every minute of this slow burn romance.



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