Sinners Atone

Sinners Anonymous #4

by Somme Sketcher

I was bleeding out and halfway to Hell when God sent me an angel.

He had no business sending her to a man like me.

She was sunshine wrapped in pink glitter, with a touch so gentle it hurt.

She was everything I’ve never had nor deserved.

Under the glow of the streetlamp, I was delirious enough to tell her she was beautiful.

Hell, I even laughed when she asked me to tell her again.

But then she asked me something else. Something that stole the last breath from my lungs.

Can you keep a secret?

An angel with a sin.

She should have let me die.

Genres: Dark Romance, Romance, Mafia Romance, Dark, Enemies To Lovers, Slow Burn, Contemporary

Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2025

Reviews

[chestercopperpot_reads]

Gabe has said maybe 70 words throughout this series to date and we’re all frothing at the mouth over him and ready to yeet ourselves off devils coast cliffs to get his book.

[isy]

we are never getting this book 🤣

[Laura Jane ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

We waited all this time for THIS? Be for real… I’m so disappointed.
As someone who truly loves this series, I can safely say this was beyond terrible.
If you loved this book, this review is not for you.

Seriously, what was the plot?? The majority of this book is nothing. It’s rehashing the same events from Wrens POV but for literally nothing?? Her crying at her friend’s wedding… okay and? There was no new information, no plot development. Truly nothing remotely interesting happens until the last 10%. Like what? How is this the same series??

Gabe barely spoke across the first three books and I was eating the crumbs up of this man. The prologue gives us an insight to his childhood and I was so keen to delve into that more but apparently that wasn’t on the cards. So he’s just so underwhelming to me. I truly thought he’d be the brother on top, but you cannot be comparing him to Father Angelo and Rafe. This was such a horrible execution of his character. Then Wren is just existing, insufferably.

I’m genuinely so confused to the purpose of this book. I was literally falling asleep reading this at 5pm. Please. This isn’t leaving me in suspense, it was just pissing me off.

Also… slow burn??? Where. Slow burn requires the MCs to actually interact. Gabe and Wren barely spent any time together so what am I meant to be believing here???
This is not a slow burn, seriously, have a word. Rafe and Penny, that’s a slow burn. The whole book they are interacting and have obvious chemistry and tension building together.
There are a small handful of scenes between these two that should have been at the start of the book, not 65% +!!! & definitely not given to us after zero development & recycled plot points. Why are we going over the same stuff over and over again? I am baffled that we didn’t get them spending more time together off the bat. I’m really struggling to see how this is their story at all. Genuinely, zero romance development.
Her secret??? Don’t care. lol.

Ugh. I’m so disappointed you don’t understand!! For a 300 page book I felt like I’d been reading this for 8000 years. It was so unbelievably boring. When things finally began to happen I just simply didn’t care because we’d been fed the most pointless shit up until that point.

AngeloRory and RafePenny supremacy!! Gabe and Wren should have taken notes. How do you go from them to this? Was this even the same author? Did she write it in one day because girl, what? You make your readers wait YEARS for a book and don’t even write anything that we didn’t even already read? Then tacked on a cliffhanger so that it can be dragged out into a duet. I’m sorry Somme but at this point this series is gunna be a trilogy in my memory cause this was diabolical.

And no, I’m not a hater, I’m just being honest. I’m not gunna lie that something was remotely okay, when it was actually awful. I tried my best to be optimistic, I really did. The first 30% of this book - as nothing happened - I was still like it’s okay, slow and random start but things will pick up, it will be decent & we will get some development soon. So yeah, I had expectations because I love this series. This was so not it.
The AngeloRory and RafePenny crumbs were the only thing I actually enjoyed. I love them so much.

Honestly, you could literally never convince me that this book is good. You are lying to me.

The only thing that go me through this mess was reading with my queenie manas 🦢
We suffered fr. Free us from this please.
_________
Pre-read: Yep another read, because Gabe and Wren 🤭 FINALLY!! Oh swan. Buddy reading with my queenie manas. ily.

[Claudine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only wish it was longest, nothing much happened tbh..


We have a release dateeee!!! Ahhhh October 17?!


2025 be like: Crossed fingers we will get the book anytime soon!! God forbid a girl still waiting for Gabe lol

I have a feeling this is Gabe and Wren’s story.

Update: Their story is a duet!! And book cover reveal!

Update again! It’s coming May 1! I can’t wait anymore 🤣

3/30/23 Update: May 1 is not the release date anymore, let’s wait for the author’s update 🤗

[Marianna Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still forever one of my favorite dark mafia romance series!! I feel like I’m one of the few people that absolutely DEVOURED THIS!!! I’ve been waiting for Gabe and wrens book for years and let me just say for me personally they did NOT disappoint! This was definitely different from the other books in the series and my least favorite out of them all but I still loved the beginning of Gabe and wrens story!

I’m begging you to go in with zero expectations. I feel like when you wait so long for the next book in a series it’s easier to be let down if you have your mind set on how you think it’s gonna go. And know that this is a slowwwwww burn and book 1 of a duet with ZERO spice!! And I loved that she did that! To me it would have been so strange to have spice in book 1 because it wouldn’t make sense for their relationship dynamic and oh my goodness the TENSIONNNNNNNN was so thick you didn’t even need it.

GABEEEEEEEEE YOU CRAZY PSYCHO YOU!! But god my heart broke for him his story actually hurt my heart. This was a very character driven book and we learned so much about why Gabe is the way he is and my goodness I still have so many questions…. His obsession with wren?! No don’t even start with me I was giggling literally the whole time! And wren?! Oh I loved her too! The grumpy sunshine dynamic was done perfectly. Wren has so many secrets and that plot twist at the end?!! What?? I love how she’s also crazy and unhinged under the surface oh my god book two is gonna EAT!

Will they top rafe and penny? No of course not. Ugh but I love this crazy found family so much I could read about them all day! I do understand why a lot of people didn’t like this but like I wasn’t one of them.

[manas (NEW YEAR) · Rating 1 out of 5]

➳ crazy work ☆

this book was fucking awful and a whole lot of NOTHING. what the fuck was the point of any of this. getting through this book — which is drier than a desert — was a fucking nightmare. there is not one thing that happened in this book that is memorable or relevant. i am tired of praising mediocrity and NO, this is not me being a hater. i don't understand the raving reviews because this was a nothingburger ass book. this review will be dissecting everything — aka, this terrible good for nothing plot. there is a plethora of things wrong with this book, so i am going to list the main aspects that flopped. all praise to my favorite queenie, laura. YOU made this experience bearable. 🦢🤍

1. terrible fucking pacing
the plotting and pacing of this book is a HAWT fucking mess. gabe and wren were one of the most hyped side characters, just for somme to deliver a mediocre ass mess. you could cut out everything from this book besides the prologue and the last chapter, and you would've missed nothing. we get pages after pages after fucking pages of these bitches talking about the same events that occurred in the first three books. this is a different type of odious shit, because don't piss me off. we got a book for angelo and rory and we got a duet for rafe and penny...SO WHY THE FUCK ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THEIR ROMANCE. you cannot tell me somme took over three years to publish this mess. she clearly did not and i don't believe you even if i had the proof. the first half is the stupid rory and angelo wedding AGAIN, followed by hundreds of descriptions of trees and the color pink. fuck off.

2. lack of romance
this was so fucking stupid, lord save us all. where is the romance? where is the tension? where is the banter? WHERE ARE THE INTERACTIONS? what a damn mess. gabe and wren do not interact at any point in this book. they are always with their friends, at a public event, or are whining about something irrelevant. the entire crux of this plot is fully based off repetitive inner monologue from the previous books. gabe and wren are not a slow burn romance because in order to have a slow burn, they actually need to interact with each other, which is completely nonexistent in this case. she is constantly surrounded by her friends and by people at the bar where she works — making their romance completely irrelevant to the actual plot. now, typically this would not bother me because i love books where romance is sometimes in the back burn. HOWEVER, this is a romance story, and in order to have a romantic plot, the main character is actually have to be around each other. gabe was playing a game of batman and hiding in the shadows, which was so incredibly cringey and beyond fucking stupid. i was completely gagged when i found out this grown man is almost 33 years in age because he behaves like a three-year-old boy. don’t even get me started on little miss pink princess barbie — who behaves like a jejune fucking circus clown. calling gabe the boogeyman and acting like she has a sixth scene in the dark...are we in a mafia romance or am i watching doctor strange? i don’t even know what to be mad about because nothing was even happening.

3. the sequel
i’m not even joking when i say, i do not give a flying fuck about the next book because it’s going to be another mediocre mess. the previous side characters are the only reason i didn’t completely lose my mind. even though it was really irritating to be reading a book about them — they at least made the terrible parts more entertaining. i’m not really sure what kind of crack i was smoking when i thought that gabriel was going to be better than my man rafe and angelo…for that i am ashamed. all of this piss poor buildup just for the book to be incredibly short and for the sequel to be unknown is actually insane. i appreciate authors and will never demand something from them. however, this is the exact thing that happened with runyx and the syndicator, and we all know how that ended. if you don't have a book fully furnished, for the love of fucking god, please don't put it out.

it’s high time we as readers stop hyping up very obvious last-minute books to save ass — because this book is very clearly rushed, and unedited. i’m being very honest i say, this looks like it was written in one weekend by taking previous quotes from the other two books with added prose. danielle lori’s book, “the darkest temptation” is extremely similar to this book which begs me to believe that this was a poor attempt at copying that. mila and ronan in my humble opinion, are very evidently sewn throughout the pages of this very uninspired book…do what that information what you will, but it’s very clear that there was no effort that went into this. calling this a first draft is insulting as i have crafted better essay's drunk. utter tomfoolery.

literally ZERO stars.

[Ash]

Update 5:
About to enter my second year in my Master’s but it’s finallyyyy coming out in October 🤭

Update 4:
I have been accepted into my MPH program and this book is STILL not out🤨

Update 3:
I have been waiting for them since my second year of uni and I am now about to enter my fourth year of uni😫

Update 2:
I'm pretty sure she locked this book in her basement 😔

Update 1:

Somme....Babes when are you releasing this???😭

[Lia౨ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️ Buckle up because this is going to be a long one.

This is Garbage. What the actual hell did I just read?
Before anyone says anything, dont worry we still LOVE gabe over here.
There’s no plot at all. The vast majority of this book is nothing. It’s just showing us the same events from the previous books in Wren's POV but it’s all for nothing. Nothing even happens until the last 20% of the book. As I was reading, I kept asking myself how is this the same series? im not even being dramatic when I say this ruined my week and ruined the series for me😭

in Angelo’s book, Rory had to marry Angelo’s uncle to protect her father. That’s an actual plot. In rafe’s books, he meets a fortune teller who tells him a redhead will bring him to his knees and when he meets penny, his luck starts to go and his success comes crashing down. That’s also an actual plot. the first 3 books were so exciting it got my adrenaline up so high reading them for the first time. This book had no plot, nothing exciting. Just their pov doing daily things around the time of Rory’s wedding (which took up the first half of the entire book btw) and interacting a few times.

Gabe was really quiet the first three books and I was so excited for his book. You know how they say the quiet ones are the most dangerous🫣🤭? The prologue was the only good part of this book. But not much was given about his character either. I felt like the Gabe that we got in Sinners atone is different than the Gabe in the other books. (THIS is what pisses me off the most) He was more unhinged in the first 3 books and his character in sinners atone feels generic. Kind of like a slightly watered down version of what he could've been. The boogeyman thing is a little cringey tbh. He was the quiet and mysterious one in the first 3 books. His book is SUPPOSED to be the most unhinged and mysterious. I still love Gabe tho💕but the vibe of this book is just way too different from the others. Angelo lived up to his "viscious" nickname in his book and Rafe lived up to his charm. We did not get anything for gabe.

Also im so tired of the excuse that it’s a slow burn? Slowburn? Where? the match wasn't even lit, girl like be so for real. Slow burn requires the main characters to interact. Gabe and Wren barely spent any time together so??? Where is the banter, the chemistry, the spark, the interactions??? They had yearning given Gabe was in denial about how he felt about wren but they lack tension and chemistry and literally everything else. It didn’t give like sinners condemned gave. This is not a slow burn. You will never convince me that Somme took 3 years to publish this mess. Where is the thrilling dark mafia plot that the first 3 books had?

Rory and Angelo as well as Rafe and Penny were amazing and their chemistry was insane. How do you go from them to this? Was this written by the same author? This felt like it was written by a ghostwriter because this is nothing like the first 3 books. I’ve also noticed the sudden mention of social media like TikTok and Instagram in sinners atone when it never was mentioned in the previous books. this only makes me even more suspicious that someone else wrote the book.
idk what I expected but I expected something. A spark, a single memorable moment, insane tension/chemistry at least. Or a very interesting/mysterious plot or something. the whole book feels like a first draft that wasn’t edited. It really is missing the spark that makes a book worth waiting for.

Also the big shocking sentence that is mentioned and repeated throughout the book that is said to be 35 characters, including spacing is actually only 29 and that’s including punctuation. HOW can you be working on a book for 3 years and make a mistake that is so beyond amateur? (She fixed this recently but still, how are you 6 characters off, seriously?) Who edited this??

Overall this book is just a revision of the others and We don’t even learn anything new about the characters at all so both Gabe and Wren are as much of a mystery as before this book came out. This feels like the syndicater all over again. it’s very clear that there was no effort that went into this and even worse considering the amount of time she’s had to write it. It baffles me how the author thought this was fit to publish. I rarely ever leave reviews on books, but this was genuinely so ridiculous and appalling that I had to.

im not optimistic that sinners absolve will be any better. The author doesn’t even accept any feedback at all so how is the next book going to be any better? but honestly idk how she can come back from this. Gabe and Wren are supposed to be THAT couple. They were hyped up for so long only for Somme to give us a mess of nothing. GabeWren deserve better!!! I refuse to believe Gabe’s story is not as great as Angelo’s and Rafe’s. I could have created a decent book with all of the scenarios I created daydreaming about Gabe and wren before bed 😭

And it’s annoying how she keeps saying this book took all her strength…..girl be for real, give it to a 14 year old on wattpad and they could’ve written it better. Im not a hater but, I’m just being honest. I saw someone else say the author should unpublish atone and give it another go. I agree. I absolutely love the Visconti world because it’s so thrilling but this book is just not it. I’m only giving this an extra half star because I love Somme’s writing style and I love all of the Viscontis.
Also as of december the author has literally scammed her readers💀

update: spelling error edits

10/16: Its 6am and sinners atone just dropped!!! I added to my kindle and ill add my review later :)

[Roza · Rating 5 out of 5]

— 4.5 ⭐️
Thank you, Somme and Nikki for the arc 🩷

I really thought we would never get this book, but the years of waiting is over! Gabe and Wren are here~ I can't really say much as the book is not out yet, and I don't want to spoil anything, but this was a short and fast read for me, and now I have to wait for the second books after the cliffhanger…

— "𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙮 𝙙𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮. 𝘼𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣."

The story was good and the couple was great too! The tension was everything, and I loved all their moments and how Wren was with Gabe the whole time 😂 Wren was so damn funny and sweet. I loved her friendship with the girls so much, and basically with everyone, because she and her pink everything are always there to help anyone who needs help. Gabe was so grumpy and morally gray character but after all, what his fucking father did, can't say anything or blame him… hope his father is burning in hell!

— "𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤?"
𝙏𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚.
𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠, 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙘𝙮 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.
— "𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤? 𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮?"
𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙬, 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙯𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮.
𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠.
𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣.

The first meeting was SOOOO good, the way he reacted to her voice, to seeing her for the first time and how he was obsessed with her was everything. The relationship is a very slow burn and it made me love the little moments between them more! Also the way he was in denial about his "crush" on her was so funny, because he was obsessed with her for years and by the end, he and also her were both accepting it. THE JEALOUSY MOMENTS WERE EVERYTHING TOO and it wasn’t only him who was jealous 🤭

This book was happening at the same time as RafePenny story, so I LOVED seeing their moments from other people's point of view! It made me miss my babies so much 😩 I loved Wren and girls moments a lot in this book, and also loved seeing AngeloRory crumbs. One of my favorite friendships was Tayce with Wren, and also Gabe and Rory brother and sister in law relationship was the cutest! P.S. loved Wren's uncle, he is so fine and so caring with Wren. ALSO I really hope we will get a book for Tayce because she is one of the hottest characters and the best girl. I love her down 🖤

[lula ★ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot twist was cool & I’m excited to read about Wren’s real, sick personality in book two (I knew the nice girl act was overcompensating for her being a psycho irl) but unfortunately it didn’t change the overall reading experience. This was extremely underwhelming for a 3+ year wait.

There was no romance whatsoever (they didn’t even KISS, or even hold hands) & GabeWren felt like side characters to Angelo & Rory for the first 60% of the book. I’ve attended that AngeloRory wedding three times now! Let it GO.

This was disappointing and Somme confirmed that the next book won’t be out for at least 3 more years unfortunately. She really struggles without having anything left in the MADE series to copy from😭

1.5 ★

[Nerlie౨ৎ🎧📚 · Rating 2 out of 5]

⋆˚࿔ review 𝜗𝜚˚⋆
2⭐️

I’m genuinely offended. After waiting that long for this? Be serious 💀 I almost skipped class for it, thank god I didn’t because I would’ve been even more upset.

Yes, I get it’s a duet, but could we have gotten anything in this book? They had maybe five interactions and he was mean every single time. I was hoping for a secretly obsessed man and instead I got… dry toast. Where was the yearning? The tension? The chemistry? There wasn’t even a single stolen glance that made me giggle like a clown in love. Bland. Bland. Bland 😭

I was hoping for a slow burn that burned. Instead, it fizzled out before it even started. Meanwhile, I’m over here missing Penny and Rafe because they would never treat me like this. They carried. They slayed. I’m heartbroken thinking about how good they were 😭

The cliffhanger? Couldn’t care less. It didn’t hook me, it didn’t hurt me, it didn’t even touch me. The whole book felt like 75% setup for 25% actual content. It dragged so much, I thought I was being pranked. And now I have to wait for book two with no release date in sight??? Be for real 💀

Also, why did we get more Angelo and Rory than the main couple??? I want to scream. I was so excited for this book and it let me down hard ☹️

Will I still read the second book? Of course. But if it drags like this one did, I’ll need compensation for emotional damages 😭

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ pre read ⋆. 𐙚 ˚
the fact that i can’t start this today has me genuinely questioning if going to class is even worth it.
i’ve waited too long for this book 😭

[Daisy · Rating 1 out of 5]

"It's been 83 years"

Honestly by the time this comes, it wont even be worth it.

[Amber]

Update 1: Author said it’ll be our before the end of the year so I’m putting it here just in case

Update 2: author says late feb 2023 :(

Update 3: May 1, 2023 confirmed release

Update 4: no release date… maybe it will be September.

Update 5: so absolutely no info about the release. IMO It’s gonna be summer 2024 atleast so I’m gonna forget about this

[daisy · Rating 1 out of 5]

this would’ve been good if everything about it was different

[lau · Rating 1 out of 5]

waiting years to release this trash should be illegal.

[sasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

not all books are meant to be released

[Annie ˖ ࣪✦: * ˚ ✦ · Rating 2 out of 5]

⋰˚☆ 2

ೃ⁀➷
I’m not going to lie to you guys, this book was lowkey mid. I have total respect for the author & what she goes through - nobody knew what was happening during the 3 years that caused her to keep delaying this book. This is one of my favorite mafia series & just a favorite series of mine in general, but reading this book didn’t hit. I’m not being dramatic when I say this book ruined my day when I finished it…I’m not being dramatic when I think about the last two characters daily (Penny & Rafe) - so of course my expectations would be high, sadly, they weren’t met.

This book was really, really boring. I do sympathize with the author, but it’s unfathomable this really took 3 yrs to write & on top of that, the 2nd part of this book isn’t coming out anytime soon ? I definitely don’t know how to feel about that. As I kept reading more into this book, my hope for it kept going down. The scenes where they would be only in each others vicinity felt way to rushed & way too short. The chapters were just short overall & it really didn’t get that interesting towards the end & there wasn’t much plot. I had no problem that they didn’t kiss or that there wasn’t spice AT ALL in this book because tension is way better, but it didn’t give like condemned gave.

I only kept pushing for this book in hopes of getting scenes of Rafe & Penny, and I did. It’s just really disappointing that this was the outcome of the book after all those years…I really hope none of these “negative” reviews diminish the authors thoughts because there are people who were zealous while reading this, but I wasn’t one of those. I hope Absolve (the 2nd part of the book) will do justice. Until then, I’ll just dwell in Penny & Rafes book - (those two will forever be my babies. Just give me another book of them, right now!) In all seriousness, I really hope we don’t wait that long for Absolve. I understand authors have a life without writing, but I hope we don’t have to wait a year for it.

[Malak♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If it happened in the dark, it didn’t happen.”

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ 2.75 Stars ᯓ★
          ⤷ This was a whole nothing burger. Actually so let down and disappointed right now. This was just Rafe's book from Wren's POV 🧍‍♀️ This was a br with bestieee Yelenaaaa

☁︎ Overall Thoughts 💭
         ⤑This book did not need 300 pages, easily could have been done in 5 chapters. The chapters are literally filled with Wren talking about random ass bullshit and a sentence with five words that turned out to be a small plot twist that I suspected half way through the book. 🧍‍♀️

I could count the times they spoke on my 2 hands. And I can bet they didn't exchange more than 200 words with eachother. Sigh. I don't know why this took Somme 3 years to write but it really wasn't worth it. Will I read the 2nd book whenever it comes out? For sure. But this was so disappointing idk. Hopefully the 2nd book is better because if not, Rafe and Penny take the win. 🤷‍♀️

I loved the characters though. Wren was so unintentionally funny and Gabe well... he was Gabe. But I loved him it was just that the plot didn't do them any justice. There was just a lack of...everything, there was a small bit of tension but that was it. 🧍‍♀️ The most amount of contact they did was he bit her finger Wow how romantic. 🙄 But their banter and Wren's inability to spot danger did have me giggling at times honestly. They were also cute together it's just the plot 🧍‍♀️

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
ੈ✩‧₊˚ Pre-read ੈ✩‧₊˚

Buddy reading with @Yelena !!
Superrr excited to read this honestly I love gabe so much.
saw some reviews say it disappointed them so I'm a bit scared but we'll see. 🤭

Pre-release
This gets released tomorrow and I've never been more excited for a book 🤭
Gabe and Wren my loves 🫶
It's been a struggle trying to not get any spoilers from tiktok 😭

[rayhanah · Rating 1 out of 5]

0 ⭐️
this was the most disappointing, underwhelming and tedious release i have ever waited to read. Making us wait 3 years for 300 pages of fuck all? insane. Gabe & Wren had no romantic build-up whatsoever. It's just lust. Any semblance of plot people lie and tell you this had is a figment of their imagination. The plot was not, in fact, in the room with us. This was as insufferable as listening to rory cuss in bird names.

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

A whole book of nothing

Waited forever for this book. But it was like one long prequel of nothing. Waste of time, very disappointed. Not a romance, not anything. and it ends on a cliffy

[ames]

when the author you were copying stops releasing, this is what happens. bring danielle lori back

[Emily Sage · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is what we get after waiting for almost 5 years?
wow what a waste.

[nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ate this up!! the slow burn? slow burning. the tension? could cut diamonds. the plot line? flawless. Gabriel? the obsession is real. Wren? my pink angel.

[qirat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boooooringgg 💤💤💤💤💤

[Janique Croswell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hope you're hungry.... for ✨nothing✨

I sat on this for 2 whole days before continuing this review. Sinners Atone has been my most anticipated read for the past 3 years, I was constantly looking at Somme's Instagram and TikTok to see if she had posted an update, I even joined her facebook group in the hopes of getting an inside scoop. My disappointment might be simply because the book just didn't hit the way I wanted it too after 3 years of waiting.

First off, I'm not sure why this is a duet, it's not even that long and even if she makes the second part the same size it wouldn't have been a huge book. I saw on facebook that her publisher is the one that recommended doing a duet because "you can't publish a book this size" and i'm confused because it was barely over 300 pages on my kindle?

I can't help but feel like Somme kept changing the book over and over again to get it perfect and just ended up publishing like it is now because fans kept asking for it. I remember she kept teasing Atone on TikTok and none of those "teasers" are even in the book. The one that sticks out to me the most is the one where it was said that Gabe got Wren a big scary dog but then Wren went ahead and kept knitting the dog pink sweaters, this was no where to be seen?? Its okay if it'll be in Absolve, but it was teased as if it would be in Atone.

The inner monologue was way too much. I feel like the characters in the book just weren't talking to each other or at all. There was just SO much inner monologue, the book just wasn't moving forward because it kept going on and on and on about the same things and also just randomly describing things that didn't make sense or weren't necessary, add that to the fact that we were rereading scenes that we've already read in books 1-3.

Slow burn? the match wasn't even lit, like be so fr. Penny & Rafe are the definition of a slow burn. The characters have to at least communicate in order for it to be a slow burn😭 I personally would've at least liked a kiss between Gabe&Wren, something to make me want to come back, but sigh we got nothing. People keep raving about the tension but like WHERE.

Nothing was ever explained, I understand that this is probably to keep us on our toes and wanting to come back to read Absolve, but the 5th has no release date in sight, she's even confirmed that it'll probably take as much time as this one, so not only did we get NOTHING, we now have to wait at least 3 years to hopefully get some sort of explanation??

Anyways, I really feel for Somme, I'm a real fan of her work, I love this series (book 1-3) and her other series was enjoyable as well, but this book just wasn't a big hit for me personally. I think my rating would be higher if Absolve would've been released like a month later but knowing that i read this entire book and won't know the rest for years is just disappointing. I would've gladly waited another year or two for Atone to come out if it came out at the same time or closer to Absolve.

[Spice and Shelf Love · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star. Terribly terribly boring. I ended up skimming the last 100 pages because it just rambled on but nothing ever really happened. It was so underwhelming. I felt like I was being told there was tension, rather than being shown it. There's no romance, there's really no plot. Honestly it was mainly just stringing together scenes we've already seen in the previous books with boring moments of Wren's life with an internal monologue (which is clearly unreliable and full of lies because she obviously has a big secret). Once in a while she and Gabe interact and ... it's just nothing.

And the cliffhanger was, at least to me, not surprising at all. What is actually surprising is how this got to be 300 pages of just filler - this story did not need to be split into two.

I loved Rafe and Penny's story but this was so disappointing, I don't think I'll be continuing.

[caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh.. oh this wasn’t good… it took 3 years for this… THIS?

2 stars is me being generous. I think that’s the issue when you take years to write your most anticipated couple, there’s a lot of expectations, but my god the mark has been severely missed and then some…

What was the plot of this?

[aleerless · Rating 2 out of 5]

i want a refund and i pirated this book

[Yelena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 🤷🏻‍♀️
I originally had two fears going into this wren and the plot and here's what happened:
Wren character has such a high ability to become pick me if written wrong and thanks god that didn't happen ,in fact she's the most thing I loved about this book so yup she's my favorite fmc in this series 🙌🏻 I loved her so much and her chapters were so enjoyable she's just ..so me.

the plot I didn't like sinner condemned much because I thought it was so empty and had nothing going on in it and unfortunately same thing happened here and I think it's due to the fact that the time line of sinner atone start right with sinner condemned so you're basically following the Same events from different characters perspective like!!! That happens mostly in Gabriel's pov that btw are only 6+prologue and the rest 20ch are wren ,so not only no new plot but also I can't believe that WE DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT GABE EVEN IN HIS OWN FREAKING BOOK !!😤 I know bro is mysterious and everything but seriously 😭😭😭
I managed to enjoy Wren's chapters a lot and guys if there's something to praise about this book it's the writing Somme took 10steps higher with it I felt like it was the best in the series and didn't feel forced at all so a clap for that 👏🏻
Overall I had good time in the beginning but when we progressed and I realized we're getting no gabe and no plot I got so much bored at the end and just wanted to get over with it hope the next one a little more packet🙏🏻

⭕️ Side note this didn't bother me but because Ik some people are strict about it so I'll mention it , this book unlike the others had sooo much social media references and TikTok just mentioned like 4-5times yup do with that information whatever you want 👀

________________________________________
Pre release
I believe that I'm lucky as much as penny because tell me why the moment I started reading this series Somme announced the release day in her ig😭😭😭 I can't wait to read this 🙏🏻

Buddy reading this with Malak let's goooo🙌🏻

[fai ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

⤷ 2/5 stars ── .✦

was this book worth waiting three years for? no.

did i eat it up within a day anyway? yes.

was i disappointed? very much so.

99.99% of this shit was plotless. a push and pull between wren and gabe that went one step forward and three steps back.

all you need to know to understand what i mean when i say nothing fucking happened in this book is that gabriel spent more time talking to rory in the 3 scenes he had with her than he did with wren in the whole fucking thing. like i'm not even joking. it was that horrendous.

'but this is a slow burn—' let me hold your hand while i tell you this. slow burns require the two characters to converse with each other, something that gabe and wren simply did not do. instead, they watched each other from a distance, wren constantly thinking about what a nice, kind girl she was, and gabe brooding about how he was not like the other men, and how he was the devil incarnate. ew.

there was zero progress in their relationship, and that, folks, does not count as slow burn. that is objectively bad writing i fear. on top of all this, the amount of huge paragraphs and inner monologues that both characters had, that were just essentially repeating the same things over and over and over made this such a chore to get through.

this whole book felt like an extended prequel to the second book, which is where i'm assuming all the action will happen.

it also felt like the author's cheap attempt at milking her only successful series. what a disappointment.