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4.5 Intensely Mysterious, Dark and Twisted Stars!

***SPOILER-FREE REVIEW***

She ran away from a nightmare and walked into hell.





No? Well, let this be your first!





The Sect is likely one of the most complex dark reads I've encountered. Another one of those "impossible to review in depth without spoiling" kind of plot lines. What I can say is nothing is as it seems. As a reader, you want to predict the ending but the story evolves at such a twist and turn rate, your theories all get shot to hell over and over.


Keaton is homeless and in hiding. Coming from a life of wealth, she gave it all up to hide from her past on the streets. Befriending a veteran with PTSD, she hides behind her hood...pretends she's a man...a mute. Until the day she's offered solace in a safe place...but it's a living hell instead.


Within this House of Rebirth, we meet Noah. He's attractive, alluring yet brutal. Is he her savior or her worst nightmare?





The Sect carries us through Keaton's days within the retreat (sexual cult) walls. She's a captive, that's made clear. Beyond that basic foundation, I'd try to go into this book somewhat blind. Try to read few reviews or stay with spoiler free reviewers. It's so easy to spoil the ride. Literally every single event, word spoken is the foundation for an epic reveal in the end.


The reason I deducted the half star is the complete hemorrhage of revelations in the end. My brain, I swear, was short circuiting. Everything... EVERYTHING was for a reason and explained. But holy cow, it was overwhelming!





But almost for the same reason I deducted a half star, I rated the book stellar...the complete complexity of plot and it's development, execution, and uniqueness, this author deserves my high rating. It's crazy! How can an author web such a complex tale is beyond me. For some, it may be too much to absorb, yet others will devour this story. But, rest assured, it's far from superficial or boring. My heart pounded almost continuously. I'd recommend this to seasoned readers of dark books or readers that like a deep seated mystery to unfold (not that you'll figure it out but will kill yourself trying like we did).


On a darkness level, I wouldn't call this horribly dark but, yes there's dub con, some torture, rape, murder (not graphic). Scale of 1-10 on darkness I'd rate it an 8. There's some steamy sex scenes and an antihero you really want to see be a good man...then he's not...then you wish again...then he's not. We termed it "Noah whiplash."





So, a few things to keep in mind for this book---

1- Don't even try to figure out what the final plot twist will be. It'll leave your brain mush. Seriously, it's exhausting. Just read and absorb.

2- Don't expect a hearts and flowers romance. This is dark. In fact, the word "pain" presents itself 92 times in some form in the book.

3- Don't expect a ruthless anti-hero turning into a sweet church-going Harlequin fella (not in the slightest).

4- MOST IMPORTANTLY- Don't read this alone. No, I don't mean every bump in the night will have you screaming. I mean you need full support of a buddy reader every single step of the crazy way.

5- HEA fan? (view spoiler)[ You'll get one. In a dark read way but it's happy nonetheless. (hide spoiler)]


****BR with my dark-read pal, Jasmine! It was a long road but we travelled it together! Thanks for staying up till 5:00am holding my hand until the very end!