The Sinful Side

The Dark Side #1

by Ash Coley

Not everything is as it seems...

Her parents think I'm a saint just because I'm the preacher's son.

They have no idea I'm just the devil in disguise.

My soul is black. I'm the embodiment of darkness and sin.

Lillian might be sweet and colored the purest gold, but the moment I touch her, the moment I come within five feet of her, I taint her.

Our parents want us to marry; I'll be damned if I marry anyone from this church.

But I will destroy her. Break her. Mold her into the sinful little deviant I want her to be. Then, I'll throw her back to the wolves that reside in the church.

I'm not the good guy in this story, and I never will be.

I'm the villian...

And I'm coming for her.

**Please read the author's note located at the front of the book before diving in.

Genres: Dark Romance, Dark, Romance

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2023

Reviews

[Lolina ⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read a dark romance, and this was a really solid one at that.

I did wish that the book was longer, just to let certain aspects of the story fully flesh out more. I thought that the switch from hate to love was quite sudden, and that the ending was pretty vague- but as a whole, I really enjoyed this 🫡.

[april ♡ probably reading smut - safety reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 "I'll break you, twist you, mold you into the little slut I want you to be before I release you back to the wolves that reside in the church."

TROPES:
~enemies to lovers
~DARK
~religious, cult-like

Okay, wow, this book too me by complete surprise! Let's get into it!

Amadeus is from a small town. His dad is the local preacher. Ever since he was young, his dad was abusive- but now he abuses people by using the name of God. Amadeus hates him, the town, and everyone in it minus his best friend Ezra and little brother Solomon.

One day, a new family moves into town. Lillian is the daughter of a military man who abuses her. She's had it rough, but she's hopeful for this new start... but it doesn't turn out like she thought.

Amadeus takes one look at her in his father's church and wants to DESTROY her. He wants to take her innocent persona and break her into a million pieces. And he does. But what happens when he breaks her so much that she learns to crave it?

Y'all... this book! It's short but packs a major punch. The abuse scenes turned my stomach a bit, but that made me love this book more. It's been a while since I've read a true dark romance, I'm so glad I got this ARC!!

LIKES:
-his obsessive love for her omg
-THE SPICE. HOLY SHIT Y'ALL IT'S SPICY. there's even a church scene and it's fire.
-the way they form a little family at the end <3 with Amadeus' best friend and little brother! I'm positively DYING for a book about them!!
-Ash Coley's writing style. It's amazing and entrancing.

DISLIKES:
-I wish it was longer!

If you like obsessive, controlling, and domineering men who like to break pretty things, check it out. I can already tell a book hangover is coming!

***Note from the author: This book gives a negative connotation to Christianity, preachers, and church.

SAFETY:
Ages: 18h, early 20sH
Virgin/celibate: virgin heroine, manwhore hero
OM/OW drama: none
Cheating/sharing: none
Triggers: child abuse, sexual assault, starvation, bullying, talk of rape, attempted SA of child (briefly mentioned), noncon/dubcon, parental abuse, pregnancy
Kinks: hand necklace, fear play, praise/"good girl", primal, non/dubcon, blood play, spitting, breathplay, forced O, degradation
HEA?: It takes a while, but yes!

[Caroline Forrester · Rating 1 out of 5]

“This is rape,” she croaked through trembling lips. I shrugged. “Does it look like I give a fuck, little blondie?”

“He violated me—raped me, sexually assaulted me. And despite me knowing I didn’t want it, my body responded to his touch.”

This. Is. Disgusting. Not even alluding to it. Straight up stating it. Of course she is ends up married and “in love” with him. And she and her r*pist have a baby. The hypocrisy that the villain of the story is arrested for r*pe but her husband isn’t.

This is not romance! It doesn’t matter if you put the word dark in front of it. It is not any form of romance. Period.

Also, SA is in the TWs, but r*pe isn’t.

[Valentina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A bit of an abrupt shift to I’m going to break her to I’ll annihilate anyone that tries to hurt her, Amadeus, becomes the very protective hero of his new forced fiancée Lillian and his younger brother. Raised like the heroine in a cult community, but he’s nobody’s whimp, though he has support from his best friend Ezra, another victim of this community.

A quick read, multiple points of view, the author does a good job with character development. Simply, the transition from predator to protector was not organic. Lillian was sweet and unawakened to Amadeus’s darkness. Great spice with some initial dub con. Epilogue was not well-written and abrupt, like falling off a cliff you didn’t know was there. Still, overall enjoyed the story, liked the main characters and their close companions.

[Alison Wilkinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely, and I mean this sincerely, one of the worst books I have ever read.

I need a minute to compose myself before I trauma dump about this masterclass in whatever the fuck it was. And I do NOT understand the good reviews for this book. I read a lot of "dark" romance books with toxic problematic characters, I can turn my brain off with these books. I have read books with worse triggers and themes (incest, omegaverse, graphic assault+abuse, upsetting religious themes, murder, detailed suicide - 1st person even, detailed animal abuse/death, self-mutilation, pedophilia, cannibalism, necrophilia, mpreg, slavery, bdsm). I am not squeamish with books so please don't take this review as "she was just put off by how dark it was". I wasn't. This was just really bad and I want an apology from the people who said this was "solid".

Off the top of my head:
Poorly written (did u no there's other words besides "fucking", Amadeus?), unlikeable characters, needless religious themes that were added to be edgy and served literally no purpose or thematic angles other than the edgy names, no plot, any plot present is predictable and boring, inconsistent characters/plot/reasoning/personalities, it's "short" but actions, feelings and behaviours are sudden, jarring and confusing and leave the reader not caring. The smut was just super weak when it was there, too (like, seriously? Loses her virginity super rushed in public in a church and SQUIRTS the moment he enters her? Yeah fucking right)

Here's some reactions/notes as I read because I won't waste my time using full sentences further than this:
- "I thanked god I wasn't allowed to wear makeup" says girl who just mentioned 5 pages ago that she was wearing makeup to hide the bruises
- "I planned to cover her in sin and darkness" hahahahahaha ... ha.
- Lilly 1 minute, Lily another
- Has sex with a man willingly because "he doesn't physically assault her", yet admits he raped her 10 pages ago, sure ok
- She got a question wrong on Wednesday evening and hadn't eaten since, she told him on Sunday. He tells Ezra she hasn't eaten in 2 days. Time ain't timing
- "Next to the puddle on the ground she'd left" - excuse me??? A PUDDLE??? get out (and in a FOREST??? how fucking torrential was her piss???
- We hear Solomon, Ezra and Amadeus' PRIMARY purpose and motive, speak for the first time 216/285. He is literally manoveured and passed around in "Ezra, can you look after him?"'s for 200+ pages and I could not give less of a shit about him
- Random 18 y/o not related to a minor files a restraining order on the minor's legal guardian and biological parent and it's approved in less than a day, yeah right
- "Our cash flow is about to take a hit" - Cash flow??? Bro you are students and there's no mention of having a job or what it is, what cash flow
- Chivarly cringe shit: "You're mine", "You can't work", it's a "rule" to open the car door for her and he gets mad when she does it, "She's my property". Honestly I think I liked him more when he was a bastard
- "It wasn't a secret to me that Ezra was in love with him", says man who was suspicious and irritated 50 pages earlier because he couldn't tell what Ezra thought of Solomon
- The characters get WAY more tolerable after the first 100 pages, and then the author just decides to speed run the rest of the story and rushes EVERYTHING until Amadeus is crying over her belly bump for some reason

Just a couple horrible lines:
"She didn't get a say in it, but she hadn't minded. Like most everything else in her life, she gladly gave me the reigns on it, allowing me to do what was best for her."
"I felt most at ease surrounded by some of the deadliest creatures around here. I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. When I was out here, we cohabited. Maybe they sensed the wildness in me. The predator" - says 18 edgelord

[Jakki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aside from pedophilia, I don’t really have a trigger but this book was repulsively written. Amadeus is a psychopath. And Lilly/Lily is punching dough for everybody. If you’re a sub, I get it. This girl was written brainless. What’s up with the humming and why does most of this genre’s writers think that a stupid nickname is sexy. Little blondie? I hope this gets better but I’m not willing to risk it. DNF

[vivareads]

Dnf’ed at 60%, I tried but couldn’t continue anymore, too repetitive, hated the nickname “little blondie” and everything else.

[Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

if a man ever told me “better make sure you’re the perfect little girl, sweetheart. the next time you’re punished for not following the rules, i’ll make sure i hurt you to the point you never break the rules” i’d cut off his tik-tak.

[Katie (Katie's Corner Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25🍁 | 1.5🌶️

In the beginning i thought that this book will end on a cliffhanger, but nope it has it’s HEA and the second book in the duet follows another couple. But let’s focus on Amadeus and Lilian. Now Amadeus is a grade A+++ ahole. He knows what he’s doing is wrong, does that stop him? Nope, not at all. Will he continue playing on Lilian’s fears? Yup, for sure.

Check your TW, and if you’re okay with Christian church being portrayed as bit Cultish, buckle up, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.

Meet Lilian who just moved to a new town with her parents (her dad’s from military) and their whole family is very traditional christian (where women have no rights and don’t need further education and should leave everything to the man). And yes her parents have some screws loose in their head but that doesn’t matter because they want to marry her off to a preacher’s son - Amadeus. Now, Amadeus is your bad boy, that is on a mission to ruin Lilian because he hates his dad and everything to go with the church. But somewhere in the middle of everything he falls in love and stuff hit the fan. Does he make Lilian miserable and question everything? He definitely does, and i was there for it!

It was a nice read, and i’ll probably read Ezra and Amadeus’s brother’s story at one point.

[Meg Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

great dark romance!

Bordered on black romance there in the beginning and middle, but I loved the turnaround for the characters and how they shifted and adapted to the other. Their relationship was absolutely toxic but what is a dark romance without a little “I’m-never-letting-you-go” toxic love?
Amadeus isn’t morally gray. The man is morally black and apologizes for nothing. But it works for him and his corruption of Lillian’s pure soul. I love a good awakening for an FMC.
Not only did I like their story and their happily ever after, but I loved the side characters as well.
It’s not often you see a “best friend’s brother” trope where the brother is actually accepting of the feelings bubbling between the two characters, but Amadeus just takes it in stride when he observes the interactions between his best friend and his younger brother.
Only lost a star because we lost Lillian’s POV for the last several chapters of the book and I would’ve loved to see her reaction to events that went on around her. But I can’t be super mad about it with how much I came to love Amadeus. 🖤

[yazaleea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christian Rape: The Book.

I am laughing it's so bad, from the MC raping his love interest, to his calling her "Little blondie" EVERY. GODDAMN. SENTENCE. HE. UTTERS. And it's such a bad nickname, too. And then the literal "oh yes he assaulted me, but hey he saved me so that's fine, we can definitely work as a couple."

He is like "I broke her [raped her] and it made her stronger", is getting off on the fact he owns her, as if that was any liberating for a woman to move from a domineering father to a domineering partner. The whole narrative is framed to sound sexy and forbidden but it's just so damn misogynistic and nauseous.

That shit is insane omg I had wanted to read book 2 originally and was like well might as well read book 1 and now i'm just qidshufg i'll still read book 2 but i know what to expect now... at least it's a short read lol (would have never finished it otherwise)

[Chelsea Bayy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up the way Amadeus had, protecting Ezra and his little brother Solomon was all he knew.. well an how to navigate his father. In a small cult like town with people who followed a man so blindly was he11 on earth. When Lillian and her family move into to it flips his world upside down. She is a girl who knows only an ugly world, the same as what the boys were raised in. Amadeus catches her eye and he hers but will his desire to break her be his undoing or hers?

I loved this book, it’s a fast read with a way of sucking you right in. Amadeus is sooo protective of those he cares for and the bond between he and Ezra can only be that of brothers (even if it’s not blood) once Lillian is pulled under his wing it’s a topsy turvy world of what will be the consequence. Her innocence is so sweet and the innocence that you see in Solomon is as well. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this series has to offer!!

[Lutfia Valley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this good? No. Was this bad? No. Was this the best thing I've ever read? No. Was this the worst I've read? No.
But was this a perfect read? YES.
I liked everything about it. Although it isn't an enermies to lovers, nor is it a bully romance... both things I love to read. It's more of an in-between.
The MMC started off strong (unnecessarily but strong) with wanting to break the MFC all because she was the victim of being forced to be set up with him by their parents. And then he changed his mind real quick... wanting to destroy everyone who hurt her and stood in his way of keeping them apart. Wish the MFC had more POV chapters, especially towards the end, when it mattered... I just needed 1 more chapter with her POV.
This was a quick read. A good read.
As a first read for me by this author, I wasn't disappointed.
I wish I could give it 5 stars, but 3 was too little, and so 4 is a solid rating in my opinion.

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author doesn’t know how to properly do a trigger warning, so let me help: Descriptions of rape from the rapist’s POV, non-con between MCs, abuse between MCs. MMC is a cruel, dangerous rapist with no redeeming qualities, and FMC is genuinely and unequivocally terrified of him. The fact that this author thought that the references to religion and sex in a church were worth mentioning, but not the multiple sexual assaults between MCs, threats, non-con bondage and choking, is incredibly alarming. Maybe she wrote this book because she had some stuff to work through, but Jesus, there isn’t enough grovel in the universe! Not that the MMC regrets any of his actions or would ever apologize or ever stop abusing and controlling her…. Nope. Just awful. It would have actually been a better ending if the FMC had murdered her father and the MMC and went on the run.

[Morgan Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I tell you, this book was so good! The dominance and protectiveness Amadeus has over Lillian is intoxicating from the beginning to end. If you are easily offended with church and religious aspects, this book will not be for you. I fell in love with the writing style immediately. The way the author portrays the church society and opens it up to the darker side that most people tend to not see is a breath of fresh air. I felt heard and seen in this book. I was like 5 chapters in when I knew I wanted to the read the next book in this series immediately after. I fell in love with every aspect of this book from the characters, to the plot, to the smut filled chapters. This was my first book by this author and it will definitely not be my last.

5/5 ⭐️
✝️ Enemies to Lovers
✝️ Starvation
✝️ Child Abuse
✝️ Virgin FMC
✝️ Possessive & Obsessive MMC

[Ashley ADirtyRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way I rooted for this man to burn the system down was next level. Growing up in a toxic church setting with an abusive father, he made it his mission to spread "darkness" in the town. His father had set him up to be married to a "good Christian girl". While he had no interest in settling down with her, he did want to take her, break her, and mold her into something beautifully broken and alive. When she became more than willing to give herself to him, he realized that he needed to protect her - and WANTED to - more than he thought.

I loved seeing their relationship go from enemies to lovers and I am really excited to see the second book where we learn more about his best friend and his brother. This "family" is everything.

[ForeverBooked · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’ll break you, twist you, mold you into the little sl-t I want you to be before I release you back to the wolves that reside in the church.”

This Dark romance was fire! He did not want any bruises on her body that HE did not leave there! How romantic!

Why the fuck did I want to mark her skin and destroy that sweet, timid soul of hers, but the mere fucking thought of her being afraid of someone else made me want to fucking murder them?

Triggers: child abuse, sexual assault, starvation, bullying, talk of rape, attempted SA of child (briefly mentioned), noncon/dubcon, parental abuse, pregnancy
Kinks: hand necklace, fear play, praise/"good girl", primal, non/dubcon, blood play, spitting, breathplay, forced O, degradation

[A.B. Shepherd]

DNF: 15%

Noped out when Amadeus told Lillian in Chapter Two:

"I don't like my women to be damaged unless I'm the one doing the damaging,"

"Better make sure you're the perfect little girl, sweetheart. The next time you're punished for not following the rules, I'll make sure I hurt you to the point you never break the rules again,"

This is because he saw her swollen cheek after her father had backhanded her for having a visible reaction to Amadeus in church.

An abusive MMC is not my idea of a good read.

[Adhana Tapia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read this book with low stakes going in cause I really wanted to read the m/m romance for Ezra and Soloman after seeing the author's TikTok about it (lol) but I was hooked right from the start. Definitely wish Lillian had grown a little backbone during this book but religious torture (essentially) definitely beats down women, and with a father like hers, it's not surprising that she would give into our sexy, scary and intimidating ML Amadeus. Now onto the originally scheduled 2nd book.

[Jordan Mackey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amadeus & Lillian
This book had so much potential. Aero potential.
I loved how the beginning started. I loved how most chapters were in his pov.

But it didn’t flourish and I wasn’t turned on by their spicy scenes really. A lot of from the back and it just didn’t feel like wow I love her so much I need this front and center connection.

I wanted more action, more time for them to still get to know one another even if that meant trouble from their parents

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amadeus grew into his darkness but in being arranged married to Lillian, a church girl or innocence and he plans on breaking her down, but her light soon changes his plans he wants and craves more, but will she ever want him? Well written sinful dark and steamy!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Abbie Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I have given it 5 stars, I literally was hooked from the first page, at first I was like what the fuck am I reading…. But once I had read a few pages I couldn’t put it down. This book is darker than dark, deffo look at the trigger warnings first but my god I loved it. Made me feel so many emotions

[Kendall Ciccone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would’ve counted…

the amount of times that the author writes about their hatred for the church; it was at least every other page… and this isn’t a long book. There was an odd pace to the story, and I feel like it needs some revision for repetition.
The story itself has promise, and I’d love to read it with some updates.

[em · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a quick read, this had a lot of depth to it. I was a little disappointed that they rushed the ending. I felt like it could have been drawn out and executed way better. I would have loved to see more of their baby and their life together. The pregnancy trope was great, I just wished it would have happened sooner in the book.

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Highly, highly average. Could have done with being longer, with a lot more back story. Pissed they just snippeted in that his dad was a child molester, rapist and involved in a tracking ring, deffo skipped a beat with that one.

[Mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark romance? Yes.
Spice? Yes.
Did the main character have a complete attitude change out of nowhere? Yes.
This was an enjoyable read, but it felt like there were pieces/parts missing. Some of the story could have used some expanding.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I flew through the book but was also incredibly disgusted. rape and sexual assault were being romantized, and "she craved it." wtf so because she was incredibly abused, that's suddenly okay?? so 3 stars for the writing and the fact that I read this in about 3 hours

[Tracy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

he Sinful Side: Enemies to Lovers Dark Romance
Book 1 of The Dark Side
Ash Coley

The story and characters were well written and developed. I enjoyed the chemistry, drama and journey.

[Alondra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it was longer

[LOLA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Religion drama.
Good read.