Way Too Hot Books: ARC Review: THE PRIEST (The Original Sinners, #9) by Tiffany Reisz

New Orleans, four months after the events of THE QUEEN...

Søren has been suspended from the Jesuits for a minimum of one year after confessing to fathering a child. To say he's struggling with his newfound freedom is an understatement.

Kingsley is about to be a father again and is convinced something very bad is about to happen. Nerves? Or is he right that the time has come for the Sinners to pay for their sins?

And if things couldn't get worse, a handsome private detective shows up and tells Mistress Nora that a priest has just committed suicide, and she was the last person he tried to call. He would like to know why...

She doesn't know, but Nora and her new detective friend will turn over the city to find out, meeting liars, vampires, and witches along the way. When she finds what she's looking for, she may wish she'd never stepped foot in New Orleans.

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Even after all these years, and all the novels, novellas, and all the short stories, I still drop everything to read the new book in The Original Sinners series.

And even after all these years and all those stories, Tiffany Reisz still surprises me.

When I first read The Siren, I was left speechless. So many surprises held the chapters of that book. Then I thought I knew what to expect from The Angel. I was so wrong, I couldn't have been more wrong. With two books read, I once again thought I knew what to expect, this time with The Prince. Cocky youth! I was wrong. I was wrong again with The Mistress. I think that was when I learned my lesson: Always expect the unexpected. It's served me well. By the time The Priest came around, I knew better than to try to answer the question What will happen in the book?. I expected the unexpected, and the unexpected I got.

It says this is the beginning of a new era in The Original Sinners series. It felt that way. Our Sinners are in a new place, geographically and mentally. After all the ups and downs, the fights, the drama, the life-threatening situations, they are living new lives. Happier lives. Calmer lives. How weird it was, after everything, to read about Nora and Kingsley arguing about paint colors. It was nice. Sweet. But still weird.

Also nice, sweet and weird was Nora and Søren's relationship. Now that Søren is suspended, he and Nora were spending more time together, and they weren't doing it in hiding. It was like a normal-ish relationship.

And I can't say sweet without thinking of Kingsley's fussing over the people in his life. He was adorable. I was somewhat disappointed there wasn't more of him in the novel, but I understood it. Since it says this is the beginning of a new era, I'm hoping there will be books focusing on him in the future.

Keeping with the theme of good stuff from the book, when I started reading The Priest, I was reminded of The Siren. The Siren started with Zach, then introduced us to Nora, and we learned about their complicated lives, and we got to meet her kinky world through both of them. In the later books that were solely from the Sinners' perspectives, I admit I missed reading about them and their world from an outsider's perspective.

Well, The Priest introduces us to Cyrus Tremont with a happy love life, as opposed to Zach's when we met him. Cyrus's private life filled him with joy. His work as a private detective helping women and children was satisfying.

Then -- and now we're heading into murky waters -- a priest committed suicide.

Cyrus was asked to investigate further, because the police wasn't going to. The officials were to rule it a suicide caused by depression and be done with it. One officer sensed there was more to the story, and asked Cyrus's help. His investigation led him to our very own Nora Sutherlin, as she was the last person the priest had called before he killed himself. That fact was enough for Nora to join Cyrus on his mission. They were fast friends. I loved their interactions. His and Nora's, his and Søren's. Plus, it was interesting reading about them uncovering clues. The people they met along the way were even more interesting.

Then it got sad. Horrific, really. The truth Cyrus and Nora uncovered was horrific.

See, you can never guess where Tiffany Reisz's story will go.

After the discovery of what led up to the priest's suicide, surprises didn't stop. Nora's decision. Søren's decision. Søren's... something else. The talks they had. The huge question marks about things I held up at the end.

Well, this can't be THE END, right? It's THE BEGINNING. I'm holding onto those words and not letting go. The Original Sinners: New Orleans has only just started!

What can I say in the end? I loved reading something new about the Sinners. (Next time, more about Kingsley, please.) I loved meeting new characters. And I loved that the story had it's twists and turns, though some of them hurt.

There's a quote in the book: Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.

You could easily say:

Here is the world of the Original Sinners. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. Just read.

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