Genre/Tags: Gay Romance, MM, Humour, Morally Grey, Kink, Possessiveness 

Author: Jesse H Reign

Story Rating: 4 Stars

Narrator: Michael Dean and Tim Paige

Narrator Rating: 5 Stars

Length: 8 hours and 18 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: audible 

Blurb:

Falling for my kidnapper is a terrible idea.

He’s a bad man, and I don’t mean trash like your ex. I mean seriously bad. I mean dangerous. You can tell just by looking at him: black eyes, a menacing scowl, and a nose that’s been badly broken in the past. He is my arch-nemesis. My mortal enemy. My singular obsession.

I was afraid of him when we met. He kidnapped and chained me to a bed. Me—Damon Alexander Beckett of BeckIT fame and fortune. Well, the joke’s on him because I’m going to make it my life’s mission to destroy him. But first, I have to survive being his captive. He’s here all the time, watching me. His heavy male presence never more than five feet away. Dark, glinting eyes tracking down my body.

When he propositions me indecently, I am shocked and outraged—as I should be. Seriously, the audacity of him is unreal. It’s obvious I should say no. It goes without saying. Any sane person would laugh in his face.

So why am I on my knees?

Review: 

First off, great narration. I’ve heard both of these narrators before. Michael Dean is usually quite intense as a narrator but here he voices Demon, a bitchy, entitled, petty, hair-flick character, with aplomb. Tim Paige’s kidnapper, Asshole, has Paige’s trademark humorous, snarky tone with a side-serve of menace. They were perfect for their characters, and when they had to cross over to the other character in their chapter, they didn’t miss a beat. Dean and Paige totally elevated Sainted.

Asshole is in the kidnapping business with a couple of associates. They’re going to ransom this rich young heir. Asshole is good at stalking a mark to kidnap. He’s also good with technology, good as hired muscle. Also a good cook, and our bad dude also reads queer romance. Lots of boxes ticked. The kidnapper is a master of all trades plus delightfully domestic. Winning formula. In the meantime, he also needs the patience of a saint to be around Demon, real name Damon, for a week. Because Demon complains with the intensity of an aggrieved customer on Google or Yelp.

He’s been prattling on non-stop since I got him out of the trunk. He’s criticized my driving at length and has made his views known about how I handled this morning. He’s also had plenty to say about my incompetence as a kidnapper. Now it appears my ability to choose a suitable hideout is coming under fire, too.

However, they start hooking up pretty quickly. No surprises, Asshole likes Demon with his cock in his mouth. He also likes spanking him. Oh, and kissing. The big bad kidnapper can’t get off without kissing.  

Why can’t he come without kissing, for fuck’s sake? How dare he have such an adorable kink.

Indeed!

And, of course, Demon likes being fucked, likes head, and likes Asshole spanking and marking him. His body may betray him but’s he’s always going to go to town on his dislike about it all to Asshole’s face. As the book progresses, Asshole expects Demon’s attitude. Likes it. Wants it. Demon wants Asshole spanking him. Kissing him. They both have sexual Stockholm syndrome. 

Anyway, things go south. It turns out that Demon isn’t going to have a ransom paid for his release, the money’s for his death. So someone close to him has paid Asshole’s business associates to bump him off. Game changer. Asshole dispatches the business partners, deciding to keep Demon for a while longer in a new location, the Catskills – Demon works out immediately where even though in a trunk. Here, they have more sexy times, feelings become attached, they ask more questions and have more sex. Then Asshole sets Demon free.    

I’ve always been an atheist, but the fact that this little prick has the body of a rock legend, and moves like a cat, and sucks cock like a fiend, has really cemented the fact that God doesn’t exist for me. There’s no God in his right mind who could bless such a terrible, terrible boy the way Damon Alexander Beckett has been blessed. No way at all.

So, there is also a part of the book where the MCs are apart but not entirely, because Asshole is still stalking Demon. Even when he tells Demon not to look for him, because Demon starts reverse stalking Asshole, Asshole still looks out for Demon. Telling him, on the odd nightly drop-in, that he’ll break the bones of any guy he’s with because Demon is his. Awwww…. If you like fictional possessive/obsessive characters, Sainted could be for you.   

The story is very MC centric. Not a lot of depth to anything else. Including their lives, although more time was given to Demon. I didn’t especially like Demon for a while. I found his entitled behaviour… grating. Asshole seriously deserved a medal for keeping him after he kidnapped him. I couldn’t have done it, not for any money. Sorry, Demon. 

Also, the story has ‘Dark Romance’ as a tag on the author’s blurb on Goodreads and Amazon. This book is not dark. It’s humorous with morally grey characters. There’s a difference. That’s not a bad thing because, overall, the book is fun. 

There’s already a lot of reviews and ratings of Sainted. It was released about 3 years ago but I’ve only recently discovered the author. I reviewed Heart on here as well. I really liked that book. If I want fun and romance and some decent sex, I’ll definitely read more of Jesse H Reign. For the storytelling of Sainted it’s 4 Stars!