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RedditIn this Sin and Chocolate book review I am sharing my thoughts on the first book in the Demigods of San Francisco series by K.F. Breene. As per usual I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum however there may be a few small spoilers.
“Mother-trucker biscuit fucker,” I said, a saying my mother had always used when I was in the room and she was trying not to swear. By the last word, she’d apparently given up.”
K.F. Breene, Sin and Chocolate
I was actually pleasantly surprised by my liking of this book but it drew me in quickly and held on, I couldn’t put it down. So much so that if I don’t force myself to stop reading to write this review I will likely binge the whole series in less than a week.
This book sat on my TBR for a few months as it currently is a Kindle Unlimited book. I was interested but didn’t know if I would get around to reading it. However, after reading Ruin of Roses and the books currently in that series I knew I like K.F. Breene and her work.
Trigger Warnings
Since we don’t always get trigger warnings on books I like to give trigger warnings in my reviews. This can help people avoid certain triggers that could hurt their mental well being.
Possible Triggers in this book are:
- Alcohol
- Mention of Child Death and Childhood Cancer
- Death
- Murder
- Occult
- Profanity
- Prostitution
- Extreme Poverty
- Stalking
For a list of the triggers I look for you can check out this link here. This may or may not be a complete list of triggers for this book, I do my best to make sure I mark anything that could be a potential trigger but I may accidentally miss triggers.
Synopsis and Author
In this book we follow Alexis as she tries to take care of two teens who are her wards in the neutral zone of a magical San Francisco. So when a handsome magical man who obviously doesn’t belong in the poorer areas takes an interest in her she’s extremely wary.
Kieran can’t resist Alexis after a chance meeting and she becomes a puzzle he must unravel. After sensing her power he doesn’t know why she is living where she is. Things aren’t quite adding up and he’s starting to suspect she might be someone who is actually spying on him.
K.F. Breene has built a magical world based in San Francisco. With excellent world building we see how magical and non magical sections of a city govern themselves while leaving a neutral zone to be the actual wild west where the two worlds merge.
Sin and Chocolate Reading Experience
In Sin and Chocolate we are taken into the neutral zone where low level magical people who are staying away from the magical area’s laws and governance as well as the non magicals live by their own rules. It’s a rough area filled with poverty.
Our main characters are Alexis and Kieran and we get both points of views. K.F. Breene does a fantastic job with world building while moving a story along with excellent dialogue, some steamy tension, and explaining how the society they live in works.
I could not put this book down, the pacing was a steady pace and the plot points made the story interesting.
Writing Style
The ebook version is 433 pages of fantastic storytelling in 41 Chapters. K.F. Breene has a fantastic writing style that uses every element that’s added without being an overly hard book to read.
There is enough description to imagine the story while keeping the story moving at a steady pace. I really enjoyed reading this story and look forward to the remainder of the series. I’m officially hooked.
Sin and Chocolate Book Review
Alexis is resilient and you can tell. She’s been through some tough things and was raised by a strong woman. Even though she has been through tough times and is still going through them she has a large heart and obviously loves deeply.
I don’t think we are supposed to actually like Kieran through most of this book but I really do. Kieran is delicious and he says really dirty things in the best way.
It’s not often that I find an author who can write children or teenagers in a way that makes sense for their ages and circumstances. However, K.F. Breene has written Daisy and Mordecai perfectly. As the wards of Alexis, the relationship between the three characters is beautiful.
I adore Frank. I really hope that we get more Frank in future books because he’s feisty and wonderful.
Surprisingly no real hated characters though I have a feeling Valens will be a hated character even though we haven’t met him yet.
We get small glimpses into The Six which is a group of people that Kieran has put together and I think they might just grow on me. At least I really hope they do because they seem like they could be fun.
K.F. Breene does a fantastic job of describing locations within this city. For instance, the bar along with the bar patrons was perfectly described. It was almost like I’ve been in that bar before. A total dive that the regulars all liked to hang out in. Adding the spirits who hung out there was fantastic.
I also loved how it felt almost like – as the reader – we had to figure out if a person was a spirit or alive until the character did it for us. It added an interesting point to the storyline.
This is a low fantasy based in San Francisco where the magical and mortal worlds collide and take care of themselves. I recommend it for those who’ve read City of Thorns by CN Crawford.
Star Rating
Before I rate this book I want to give you a bit of background about what my rankings mean. I typically read books that I check out through the Libby app with my local library or through Kindle Unlimited.
I rarely buy ebooks unless they are cheaply priced or on sale. I also very rarely buy physical copies of books. I’m a bit of a minimalist so I have to absolutely adore a book to buy a physical copy that will be proudly displayed in my home.
So my ranking system is as follows:
- 5 Stars equals I am buying a physical copy of this book. I will read this book at least 10 more times, it is the best ever.
- 4 stars equals a great book. I might buy an ebook version when it’s on sale so that I can re-read it at least one more time.
- 3 stars equals a good book. I likely won’t read again but I appreciate the story.
- 2 stars equals “Meh.” I will not read this book again, it had a lot of problems and I did not care for it.
- 1 star equals a bad book. I barely finished this book and I will never recommend anyone waste valuable book reading time on this book.
- 0 stars is a did not finish book. I will never finish that book and it is banished.
Sin and Chocolate gets 5 stars from me. It’s not often that a first book in a series gets me giving it a 5 star review. So this one was worth it and I will likely purchase a physical copy for my shelves. I absolutely love this book and I hope that the series keeps it going.
Likes:
- The tension between Kieran and Alexis is fantastic.
- The world building was spot on.
- I enjoyed the structure of this society.
Dislikes:
- I didn’t feel like there was a big villain presence in this book, it’s not really a problem but it’s odd that there isn’t a single character right now that I can say I hate.
Final Thoughts on Sin and Chocolate
I liked this book and the beginning of this series a lot. I hope that it continues into the next 5 books. K.F. Breene is building up to be one of my favorite authors and fast. I loved the world building and character development and I can’t wait to start reading the next book.
More Book Reviews In This Series:
- Sin and Magic Book Review
- Sin and Salvation Book Review
- Sin and Spirit Book Review
- Sin and Lightning Book Review
- Sin and Surrender Book Review
Have you read Sin and Chocolate? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.
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