El Santo by M. Robinson Release Review + Giveaway

El Santo is the first book in M. Robinson’s Saint-Sinner Series. I will go ahead and till you to expect a cliff hanger since it is the first book in the series.

Damien didn’t know there was evil lurking inside him until he had to murder in order to survive. He was forced to become his own worst enemy. With so much blood on his hands, he is surprised he could still his own skin. He killed, tortured, loved. He played God while he was rotting in hell. Thriving on control and power was the only way he knew how to live. There was no other options. If you were not his friend, you were his foe. If you were not with him you were against him. Traitors. That’s what they were. There was no imaginary lines. He had crossed them all. No boundaries. No second chances. No redemption. Not for Damien or anyone except for her…..She loved him. Always convinced he was a saint, never believing he was just another sinner. A monster. Until it was too late. Except, he didn’t choose this life. It chose him.

If you have read El Diablo then you have met Damien. But if you have not, that is ok because this book stands alone. However I must tell you that El Diablo is amazing and your missing one heck of a read if you haven’t read it. In El Santo we get Damien’s story from the past to I’m assuming what will be the present in the second book. It has alternating points of view between Damien and Amira. Damien was abandoned by his mother and raised by his father who is a solider for the leader of Cuba Emilio Salazar. He is actually one of his top guards and while raising Damien Salazar takes an interest in his saying that they are exactly alike. This is the beginning of the end for Damien as far as who he is to become. I don’t think he ever wanted this life and one night changed everything. Damien is forced to do things to a traitors family he never would have ever dreamed of doing. However he did one of the best things he ever could have done and saved Amira that night. However no one knows she is alive and the woman Damien thinks of as a mother is now a mother from Amira. She was nine when her life was forever changed but she has such a connection to Damien from the very beginning. Damien is the only one who can make her nightmares go away. He is her comfort in the world where everything is lost to her and this is their story basically. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about Damien at times. The man sure has no soul when it comes to taking care of business but the way he cares for Amira melted my heart. He protected her and keeps her save as if his and her life depends on it. Well, actually it probably does. I don’t want to give away to much of this story but I will say I am excited about El Precador coming in January. I want more of this story. I will say that I took a while to think on this book to write my review. I had to sort out my feelings about everything. When a book can make me think as much as I have on this one then I would say it is a must read. I just hope you go into it with an open mind and don’t let Amira and Damien meeting when he was 18 and she was 9 mess the whole thing up for you.