Kait Ballenger's "Wicked Believer," the second book in the Original Sinners series, is a deep dive into dark romance and paranormal intrigue. This book continues from "Original Sinner," following Charlotte, the devil's fiance and soon to be queen, as she deals with her immortality in New York City's world of the Original Sinners AKA Seven Deadly Sins.

The narrative explores good versus evil, destiny versus choice, and love and identity. As the story progressed, I got to watch the other Originals' character develop and add depth to the story. Lucifer learns to embrace his humanity through his love for Charlotte. Charlotte faces her past and present, discovering a deeper hunger and darkness.

For the most part, I was engaged with Charlotte's struggle to embrace her immortal powers, while dealing with the paparazzi and Lucifer's family. However, connecting with Charlotte became increasingly difficult. Her "Chaos" felt really childish, even considering her sheltered life before Lucifer.

I have to include that I enjoyed Death's character, but I felt disconnected from his role in the story. I do wish Death's connection to Lucifer and Charlotte went in a different direction, but that's a matter of personal preference.

Despite these points, I eagerly await book 3 as Ballenger has created a world that continues to draw me and and I'm all in!

LOVE the Original Sinner world, and it just keeps getting better! A twisty take on the Fallen, Heaven, and below and everything in between - with a bit of kink and a lot of sizzle and intrigue. Really can't wait for the next one ...

The journey this book has put me on was one hell of a ride! I truly enjoyed stepping back into the world of Lucifer, Charlotte, and Original Sinners. It took a while for the story to unfold and start to make sense to me but once we were near the end it just sped through and I kept on wanting more. The second half of the book is where it’s all at. The introduction of Azrael was another beautiful thing *chef’s kiss* can’t wait to see more and really I can’t wait for book 3 to come out so we can play.

*** I received an ARC copy of “Wicked Believer” through NetGalley”***
#WickedBeliever #NetGalley

Love this series. Charlotte and Lucifer’s story continues. Charlotte has to adjust to being an immortal. While Lucifer’s family counties to play against each other. Hot romance with some very hot immortal men. Now on to the next one!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.. Thank you for allowing me to review

🔥 Book Review: Kait Ballenger’s Spicy Sequel to Original Sinner 😈✨

Hold onto your halos—Kait Ballenger delivers another wickedly delicious dark romance that takes sin to scorching new heights. 😳💦 Original Sinner’s sequel drags you deeper into the underworld of power, kink, and betrayal.

The once “good girl” turned immortal queen-to-be is clawing her way through lust, paparazzi, and Lucifer’s manipulative family. 📸👀 The chemistry? Off-the-charts. The kink? Not for the faint of heart. 🔗🥀 Every page drips with temptation, secrets, and celestial chaos as our heroine fights to keep her devil—and maybe unleash her own darkness.

If you love billionaire sinners, erotic power plays, and apocalyptic stakes, this sinful saga will have you begging for more. 👑🔥

Wicker Believer is the spicy sequel where our former good Christian girl Charlotte is navigating immortal life with her devil boyfriend, and it's messy in the best way! Charlotte's still figuring out this whole "being immortal" thing while Lucifer and his deadly sin siblings make divine life look effortless. She came to NYC as a damaged but devout girl, then Pride opened her eyes to a whole world of darkness, hunger, and pain-pleasure combos she never knew existed. Now it's all she craves—especially him. But naturally, everything's falling apart. Paparazzi are stalking her, Lucifer's family is playing their twisted games, and she's having a full identity crisis about who she even is anymore. Plus there's a celestial war brewing and his siblings want blood, while the dark power inside her is screaming to join the fight.

What I loved most was watching both characters evolve—Charlotte learning to navigate her new celestial existence while Lucifer discovers his humanity through his love for her. It's a genuine journey for both of them, not just the usual "woman changes for man" trope.

Wicked Believer turns up the heat and doubles down on the delicious chaos introduced in book one. This sequel dives deeper into Charlotte’s new immortal reality, giving us a wild ride of magic, power, emotional turmoil, and some seriously sinful tension.

The book balances intense romance with darker themes, and it’s essential to check the trigger warnings before diving in. Some moments are deeply unsettling. But they’re handled with care and purpose.

A strong continuation with high emotional stakes, feral chemistry, and a hellishly captivating world. I already need the next one!

Really Enjoyed this book however I wish I had read book 1 first

I enjoyed the story line although it would have been nice to see both lucifer and Charlotte's growth more as both individuals and together

I may update this review once I have read book 1 we will see

I don’t even know if I have the words to describe how disappointed I am with this novel…But I’ll try.

I was so excited when I received an ARC of this novel because I loved the first one. This one made me cringe too much. I’m going to try to breakdown my dislikes without too many spoilers, so some may be a little vague.

1. Charlotte starts to call Lucifer “Daddy” and I want to throw up.

2. I started to feel like I was reading ACOTAR because like that novel where the MMC was amazing in the first book he starts to suck in the second and there is a potential new love interest, something similar starts to happen here.

3. Lucifer sucks. He does. The only relationship he has with Charlotte in this book is physical. He’s never there for her during the day, but every night he shows up at his red room of pain to hurt her. Not cool. He says he loves her but never shows it. Maybe that is just how the devil loves?

4. I gave up on chapter 50 when the sharing started while people watched. Ew.

5. The plot got overly complicated with too many characters. I think what tripped me up is how some characters have similar names while others get called several things. It became twisted in my head and I often was confused who was talking.

6. Charlotte is a whiney baby.

7. Azrael? What is the point?

I don’t know. I just didn’t like this one. It gave me the “ick” and had so many issues that I just don’t care what happens to these characters anymore. If there are more book (I’m assuming there are but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out) I won’t be participating.

*An ARC was received for an honest review.

Loved reading the engaging and mesmerizing paranormal story. While Charlotte is trying to learn how to use her immortal powers, Lucifer tries to protect Charlotte even give up his own powers. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a must read riveting story. Can't wait to read the next story in the series by the fabulous author, Kait Ballenger!

The character growth really stood out to me and was so satisfying. The spice was mid but I couldn't care less.
The world building was beautiful and magical.

There is so many moving parts between Charlotte and Lucifer. The tension and angst and longing that both of them experience, the way they learn to trust and communicate with each other. Their relationship is not easy, they both stumble and make mistakes, for so many different reasons. They were each fighting for the other one, even when they may not have truly recognized it. It was such a unique look to see Lucifer embracing menial things such as love, emotion, and hope for what was to come between him and Charlotte in the future.

I am OBSESSED with this author and book! Sooooo good! I can't wait to read more from this author Thank you for the ARC!

****Arc recived from Netgalley****

I am currently in the middle of this book. I have not read the first book yet. It is fast paced, i like the characters. I understand Charlotte so much. It is not a simple situation where she is now. I have to say though maybe the relationship between Lucifer and Charlotte is a bit too dark for me, but that is okay. I will update when i finish the book.

I fell hard for the characters and the world Kait created, and this sequel only deepened my obsession with their story. It’s a wild, passionate ride I didn’t want to end.

I truly loved this book, it was such a journey for not only Charlotte but Lucifer as well. I loved watching Charlotte navigate her new celestial life, but I also loved the ways that Lucifer was finding his humanity as he accepted how deeply his love for his little dove ran.

There is so many moving parts between Charlotte and Lucifer, and while I was hoping for softer and easier parts for them considering how everything happened in Original Sinner, their storyline in Wicked Believer was so much better. The tension and angst and longing that both of them experience, the way they learn to trust and communicate with each other truly is one of the best aspects of the entire series so far. Their relationship is not easy, they both stumble and make mistakes, for so many different reasons. But the most interesting aspect to me was that they were each fighting for the other one, even when they may not have truly recognized it.

The second half of the book takes off, quickly, and doesn't let up. Not even when you get to the final page. There were so many moving moments, characters, themes - it was hard to keep up with at times. But watching Charlotte find her power, her inner strength, and become the best version of herself for Lucifer and her confidence to be able to stand at his side was impeccably done. I also loved the ways that Lucifer softened, not for Charlotte, he was still stern and intense and over the top, but he softened for himself and allowed himself to explore humanity in such an honest way. It was such a unique look to see Lucifer embracing menial things such as love, emotion, and hope for what was to come between him and Charlotte in the future.

Azreal!? Hello!!! I absolutely need to see what happens with him next - he added such an interesting aspect to not only the entire book, but they dynamic between Lucifer and Charlotte. I'm beyond excited to see what happens between the three of them moving forward. As well as the other Originals and what further chaos they can cause in NYC, particularly Az, who quickly became one of my favorites.

One thing I can say for this book is that the spice level is just right. Not too much and not too little. The writing is decent and the story for me as a non-Christian was hard to continue but maybe not so much for others.

I appreciate that Charlotte finally decided to woman up and put her big girl pants on because I wasn’t loving her character most of the book. She lets Lucifer walk all over her in and out of the bedroom and if he doesn’t like the conversation all he had to do was whip it out and everything was forgotten or forgiven. No ma'am! I just didn’t like her most of this book to be honest

I also appreciate the polyamory that the series is heading towards but would have liked it a lot sooner. I like Azreal a lot more than Lucifer to be truthful. He was probably my favorite character of them all.

The semi-religious aspect made this book not so much for me just because it left me feeling like I am Other but as a whole it wasn’t bad.

Thank you Montelake for the opportunity to read this book.

I really wanted to enjoy this book more. But honestly, at points I found it difficult. At times, I felt like I was getting a bit of whiplash from Lucifer and Charlotte, and then we throw another into the mix, and I would love to have explored how this would have added to the growth of the characters. I felt that we only began to see some individual character growth near the end, and I would have loved to have followed that from the beginning.

The plot line regarding saving humanity and the apocalypse could have been meatier for me. Pulling in some of the side characters a little more, they were at times more interesting to me than the MC's. But hopefully, in the next instalment, we will get to see them more and their role.

Overall, I did enjoy the book, there are good bones of plots here, and I do look forward to reading the next one.

Thank you Montlake for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

What I disliked the most about this book was the lack of growth/progress, both individually for Charlotte and Lucifer, and as a couple. I suppose Lucifer has had millennia being him, so he somewhat is understandable...but Charlotte...is so meh as a character. I see no reason to root for her. I've even given up feeling sympathetic. Another character who gives up her beliefs, convictions, and herself because she's too horny to do anything else.

Still, the age old apocalypse storyline was interesting enough for me to keep going. A little annoyed with how Lucifer did in fact underestimate others (see: pride).

If you like lots of sex, demons vs angels, and God/Lilith type things, this could be for you!

This was such a fun book!! I highly recommend this book to friends and family. The concepts of it were amazing, and this book was such a blast!