Ballenger offers a dark, fun, entertaining twist on a well-known story in Original Sinner. The dual POV style allows readers to enter the minds of both Charlotte and Lucifer. The story is well-paced and engaging – not to mention, dark, sexy, and sinful. I loved watching the main characters get to know each other. Their love story, while unconventional and unexpected, was fun and entertaining. They helped each other grow.

Some of Charlotte’s behavior was contradictory, but I sense it is less due to storytelling and more because of her overcoming ingrained behaviors. Some descriptions were redundant, and some plot points are hard to keep track of. Plus, if readers haven’t guessed by now, triggering content and explicit language and scenes unfold throughout the story. Nevertheless, the story has plenty of twists and turns in addition to mystery and steamy moments.

This was one of those books that we wanted to like. It had everything you would be looking for in a dark sexy romance. Unfortunately the book just did not hit the mark for us. The reason why the FMC was hired is also the reason why she is criticized in this book. Lucifers motives and actions seemed to contradict themselves and when we finally make it to the end of the story, the reason why this is all happening really does not make any sense.

Lucifer, throughout this book, continually says that he does not want to be in the eyes of the public but forces the FMC, Charlotte, to be with him for him to help but the negates his previous sentiments in almost he same breath. It really did feel like a ping pong game. Although it was fun to learn about the other sins and try to figure out who was trying to sabotage the siblings, I felt this book was lacking in a lot of ways.

We do want to thank NetGalley and Kait Ballenger for sending us this arc in exchange for our honest review. What we want to come down to in this review is that this book was not for us. There is definitely an audience who will eat this up.

I really enjoyed this hot romantasy novel! Thank you so, so much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this title!

Blurb:
The seven deadly sins keep high profiles in the Big Apple: Lust runs brothels, Sloth’s a media streamer…you get the picture. Pride, though, he’s more mysterious. You might know him as Lucifer—temptation irresistibly embodied. The paparazzi are dying for some burning-hot gossip. So when someone publishes my scathing but private rant about him, they eat it up. And now my job is on the line. After all, he is my boss.

With his vicious siblings vying for his power, Lucifer needs to distract the press, so he reframes my tirade as a lovers’ spat, demanding I play the devil’s fiancée. I need to be a good girl, smile for the cameras, nothing more.

But cocky and cruel as he is, his darkness awakens something wicked in me. Sexy and in control, he might just be the cure—an extra dose of sin to heal me from a lifetime of shame and subservience.

And I like it.

This was a fantastic novel. Great story, with good spice. Kait Ballenger has become a must-read author. Looking forward to future books!

Thanks for the ARC!

Hot damn this book was spicy, and I was here for it. I loved the spice, the drama, the tension. And I can't wait for the next one!

In New York City, The Seven Deadly Sins are alive and well with a series of successful businesses. From popular media streamers to PR reps to nightclub owners, Greed, Wrath, Lust, Sloth, Envy, and Gluttony do what they want and take all they can. Pride, better known as Lucifer, does all he can to stay out of the spotlight. On the run from an abusive and very Evangelical ex-husband, a young woman steps into New York to try and reclaim her autonomy and sexuality. After an awkward run in with her new boss, Lucifer, someone secretly publishes her private rant about her new boss. The paparazzi goes wild over any information on Lucifer they can get their hands on. In an attempt to keep his dangerous siblings under control, Lucifer uses his new employee to pose for the cameras as his new fiancé. Both might be in danger, but they are having the time of their lives.

If you powered through all of the television show Lucifer and really just wanted him to introduce his love interest to kink, Original Sinner is for you. If you’re a recovering Bible scholar former Evangelical nerd, this book is going to rub you the wrong way. The demons in charge are named and shamed, but often with incorrect details for people who have spent way too much time reading about the Goetica for fun. Go in reminding yourself that this is a work of dark romance and not the Book of Enoch and you’ll be fine. Author Kait Ballenger doesn’t shy away from introducing the reader to Lucifer’s playroom or his kinks. This is absolutely a dark romance from page one, and Original Sinner never lets you forget that.

I more or less enjoyed this book. While I don't get how these two fell so deeply in love with each other after minimal time spent together, it didn't exactly make me mad. Really, I was pretty ambivalent about both of the main characters. While I'm happy that neither one of them annoyed me, they also didn't really make me care about them either. I do like the idea of the sins being real people and them being banished to live with the humans. It did have spice to the story, but I can't help but think that some of the more fun times ended up being more of a "fade to black" type thing where we don't actually get anything except after the fact.

So this first book centers around Lucifer. Unlike all his other siblings he has chosen to rarely ever make any sort of public appearance, so there is a huge mystery about him. Even so, he is the one that controls the city and he's determined to keep that control so he gets the prize at the end. But things get messy when he's accused of murder at one of his brother's clubs and later a scandalous article gets published about him.

That article's author? Charlotte. Charlotte had been raised in pretty much a religious cult and her father practically sold her to his biggest supporter to wed. She makes her escape, stealing what little money she could, and makes her way to NYC where she's determined to make her own life. And she's going to do that by working for one of the very evils her father preached about. She has no idea how she even managed to get the job working at Lucifer's company, let alone planned to find herself dumped into such an important role her first day. She worked so hard on her projects that when Lucifer tore her down in front of the rest of his board the only way she could expel her hurt and anger was to write it out all. And because she didn't delete it, all the horrible things she said about him get stolen and published for all to see.

So to fix that situation a plan was created to have Charlotte act as Lucifer's fiance until a set date. These two sort of play house and Charlotte starts to see the real man inside of Lucifer. Aside from that, we have Lucifer trying to figure out who was behind setting him up. Which honestly was more interesting. There was always something happening and people with dubious motives, all leading up to quite literally an explosive climax. Where we get a traitor (which was predicable at this point) and Charlotte's one really stupid action leads her to suffer worse than ever. The ending wasn't bad. I don't really know if I liked it, but I didn't not like it either.

Honestly, I don't know if I would want to read the next one. No, this wasn't bad. But it also never had me all that excited about it. Guess we'll have to see what the next one is all about because I'm sure I'd still give it a shot.

First off I will say thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Secondly, what did I just read? This book premise had potential, I usually enjoy things with personifications of sins but I didn't like any aspect of this book. I found Charlotte painfully naive as an FMC like I get the whole religious trauma, cult escaping was meant to make her innocent but I just found her annoying. Like how long it takes her to put pieces together, how she never seems capable of having an adult conversation, how quickly she just lets everything blow over, how vapid she seems when it comes to her sudden fame, the amount of times she mentions her dad during sex. HARD PASS.

And Lucifer is no better. The man has zero communication abilities and wildly swings between moods that it gave me a headache.

The ending was also so unbelievably rushed, everything shoved in to about 5 chapters (although with none of it really explained). I think that's my issue with most of this book, everything was just vague descriptions or alluding to. For the first book in a series I would have expected a bit more of an explainer of the backstories.

0.5 ⭐ for concept.

Original Sinner by Kait Ballenger drew me in with the premise of the book being a romantasy and the seven deadly sins who run New York.

I loved Lucifer, who is the representation of Pride, one of the seven sins. He is a morally grey male character who women will go feral over. Charlotte, our FMC, I couldn't fully connect with her, but I am sure others would like her more! Some of the scenes didn't feel fully well written, but I overlooked those because the story was good.

✨ Publication date: March 25, 2025✨

Original Sinners is the first book in a spicy dark romance series by Kaur Ballenger. This series is based on the seven deadly sins and this book was focused on Lucifer.

Charlotte grew up on a religious compound with her father the head minister of their church. After her father married her off to a cruel man as part of a business deal, she runs away to New York City to escape her old world and gain some experience.

Charlotte ends up interning for a company owned by the original sinner Lucifer. While she is way more vanilla than his typical tastes, Lucifer finds himself drawn to Charlotte and her innocence.

They decide to have a one night affair so Charlotte can live her playroom fantasies out and Lucifer to get her out of his system. One night turns into a fake engagement contract meant to benefit them both.

Fake isn’t really working for either of them and when Charlotte get taken Lucifer will go to the literal depths of hell to get her back.

This was a decent book. Charlotte and her innocence didn’t fully work for me when she was just willingly thrust into a playroom and loved every minute. The writing was good and there was plenty of spice. This is a 3 star read for me!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #kaitballenger #originalsinner

Well, that was a nice discovery. I honestly had quite a fun time to read this book. I mean, I was in the mood for a spicy darker romance, and that hit the spot.
Original Sinners is set in a world where the seven deadly sins are pretty powerful people, and we get to enjoy the highest rank of them all, Pride also known as Lucifer. It was so fun to see him interact with Charlotte, who is definitely more on the innocent side of things. It was so addicting to see them discover each other, and see their dynamic develops.
Honestly, I had a nice time, and I'm definitely looking forward to the second book, which I believe is planned for September 2025. (And it is on Kindle Unlimited if you are unsure and want to give it a shot)

First of all, thank you so much Kait for sending me a copy 🥹🫶🏼 I appreciate it SO MUCH !!

What to expect in Original Sinner

Spice 😮‍💨
Playroom 😏
Touch her & get unalived 💀
Innocent/naïve Fmc with a religious background
Enemies to lovers
Insta lust

Okay so It took me a while to really get into the story.
I personally didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. The world building was easy to understand which I loved but the plot had me a little bit confused.

The spice was Amazing 🤭 I loved the dynamic between Charlotte & Lucifer. You could feel the tension in the room 🤭

Overall it was an enjoyable read ❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
🌶️🌶️.5

“I don’t need to tempt them. They come willingly.”

A deliciously, dark tale of the Original Sinner. It was fascinating to watch Lucifer fall to the graces of love for an ordinary woman. I loved how we see Charlotte really grow into her own, developing a headstrong strength that matches Lucifer’s darkness but yet still maintains true to herself. She doesn’t back down from his dominance, and it’s truly captivating to watch it all unravel.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Miss Bellfleur.” I purr. “You’re about to learn that lesson, explicitly.”

I do want to see more of the family dynamics of the angels and their “history” and can’t wait for the rest of the series unfold. I did enjoy how some of them are the 7 sins incarnate! That was a fun twist!

The audio of this was perfectly done and I highly recommend it! It’s the best way to experience Lucifer’s devilish nature and his growls 😆.

“You want to burn, Charlotte? So be it. I’ve always liked to play with fire.”

This eARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fun and thought out. So often we see greek gods and the mythology used there, but I cannot recall using the sins in the same vain with the seeing how those characteristics tied to a person.

There is spice in the book, but not in an unnecessary way. If anything, it forged the the FMC and MMC's relationship forward.

I'm looking forward to exploring the next installment of this series and the other characters.

*Please note this review will be updated when a podcast review link becomes available*

Original Sinner by Kat Ballenger hooked you into its grasp from the very beginning and doesn’t let up until it’s done.

Whoever would’ve thought that the prince of darkness would be the one who made you feel the best about yourself. In a world where sex and sin are way of life. Original Sinner will check off all the boxes of your dark spicy romance and needs. Please check your trigger warnings as some of the content may not be suitable for some. Now, if a little bit of darkness is the name of your game this is definitely a book. I’m going to recommend. Lucifer and Charlotte make an unlikely team that turns out to be something more than either one of them would have expected the one who is the definition of sin to be paired with one who is raised under the thumb of religion, and it’s just learning the real world. Let me just say the spice of this book is off the charts. We’re definitely dealing with some things that may be considered to ought to handle. lol. We get an interesting plot, a bit of mystery and some family drama, not to mention a considerable amount of laugh contained in the pages of the story. With one book Kat Ballenger has put herself on my radar.

Very unique and intriguing first installment. I look forward to more. Ultimate villian and spicy!! Some tropes thrown in and you've got a spicy dark romance worth the read!

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for this eCopy to review

Original Sinner by Kait Ballenger is a sizzling romantasy that blends supernatural intrigue with a fiery romance, set against the backdrop of a modern-day New York ruled by the seven deadly sins.

The story introduces Charlotte Bellefleur, a young woman fleeing her oppressive, fundamentalist upbringing in Kansas. She lands an internship at Apollyon, a powerful conglomerate run by none other than Lucifer himself—Pride personified and the enigmatic leader of the seven fallen angels who embody the deadly sins. When a scandalous document she wrote about Lucifer is leaked to the press, Charlotte finds herself thrust into a fake engagement with her intimidating boss to quell the media frenzy.

As the plot unfolds, Charlotte and Lucifer’s relationship evolves from a reluctant partnership to a passionate and complex connection. Lucifer’s dark, brooding demeanour contrasts with Charlotte’s quiet strength and resilience, creating a dynamic that keeps the tension simmering. Meanwhile, Charlotte faces threats from her past, adding layers of suspense to the narrative.

Ballenger’s writing shines in its depiction of the opulent yet dangerous world of the Originals, where power struggles and secrets abound. The chemistry between Charlotte and Lucifer is electric, and their emotional journeys are compelling. The novel’s blend of romance, danger, and self-discovery makes it an engaging read.

Overall, it's a captivating start to the Original Sinners series, perfect for fans of steamy paranormal romance with a touch of dark fantasy. If you enjoy morally grey characters and high-stakes drama, this one’s worth picking up!

My first real dark romantasy and it was pretty good. The main character was a little annoying (though as one of the other characters point out, what human isn’t a little annoying when they’re 23) and I would have liked to see the main character's past and how it has affected her (I feel like the mini drunken rant she has doesn't really do her character justice).

But on the whole it was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to see where the main plot is going to go in book two.

Rated 2.5 Stars

I loved the premise of Original Sinner but unfortunately it didn't work for me. It was riddled with clichés and felt like it was trying too hard especially to be inclusive. For instance the heroine described someone as wearing gender non-conforming clothes so she knows they were non-binary (paraphrasing but that's the gist of it). There were other instances but I'll leave it at that. I'm not going to touch on the portrayal of religion and the Bible because it will turn into a super long rant just know I have many thoughts on that aspect of it. I did like that there were twists, turns and suspense but it was just an ok read for me.

We love a good Lucifer love story! This book intrigued me as soon as I read the blurb, and I was so excited when I got approved for an ARC. After reading, I can now confirm the book itself did not disappoint!

Charlotte, the daughter of an extremist Evangelical, escapes her previous life and winds up in NYC looking for a new beginning. She lands an internship at Apollyon, Inc. which is led by none other than the devil himself, Lucifer. Lucifer and his siblings, the seven deadly sins, run NYC and are all on a quest to win the redemption of their Father. Charlotte obviously gets mixed up in this, and her relationship with Lucifer is the center point of the story.

Lucifer was everything I’ve come to love in a morally grey MMC. He was cut throat, had all the “touch her and die” energy a girl can ask for, yet also had a soft spot for his girl. I thought Charlotte was a good FMC, tho I wish we got to see a bit deeper into some of her thoughts.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and am definitely going to read the next in the series!

Rating: 3.5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️


Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the digital ARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review after reading.