The Virgin (Original Sinners, #7) (Original Sinners: The White Years, #3)

by Tiffany Reisz

For years, Kingsley Edge warned Eleanor the day would come when she, the mistress of a well-respected Catholic priest, would have to run. She always imagined if that day came, she'd be running with Søren. Instead, she's running from him. Fearing Søren and Kingsley will use their power and influence to bring her back, Eleanor takes refuge at the one place the men in her life cannot follow. Behind the cloistered gates of the convent where her mother has taken orders, Eleanor hides from the man she loves and hates in equal measure. With Eleanor gone, the lights have gone out in Kingsley's kingdom. When he learns the reason she left, he, too, turns his back on Søren and runs. On a beach in Haiti, Kingsley meets Juliette, the one woman who could save him from his sorrows. But only if he can save her first. Eleanor can hide from Søren but she can't hide from her true nature. A virginal novice at the abbey sends Eleanor down a path of sexual awakening, but to follow this path means leaving her lover behind, a sacrifice Eleanor refuses to make. The lure of the forbidden, the temptation to sin and the price of passion have never been higher, and Eleanor and Kingsley will have to pay it if they ever want to go home again.

For years, Kingsley Edge warned Eleanor the day would come when she, the mistress of a well-respected Catholic priest, would have to run. She always imagined if that day came, she'd be running with Soøren. Instead, she's running from him. Behind the cloistered gates of the convent where her mother has taken orders, Eleanor hides from the man she loves and hates in equal measure. A virginal novice at the abbey sends Eleanor down a path of sexual awakening, but to follow this path means leaving her lover behind, a sacrifice Eleanor refuses to make.

• ISBN10: 1460346890
• ISBN13: 9781460346891
• Publish Date: 1 April 2015 (first published 31 March 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 17 June 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

These books feel like a personal gift to me. After years of possessive heroes, and jealous heroes, and lack of boundaries, and Happily Ever Afters, all the things that fit the modern romantic narrative, it’s a gift and a balm and a blessing. I’ve said it before, but Tiffany Reisz is so good at introducing characters you can’t help but love, even in the midst of an eight-plus book series when you already have loyalties elsewhere. She’s also so good at capturing how relationships ebb and flow over time. Some endure and evolve; others burn brief and bright. And each one grows the story (and its persons) into something it (they) couldn’t be otherwise. Instead of narrowing down myopically (see my list above), she opens the world up.

I love it. I’d be remiss not to mention that this book has my favorite framing device yet— Mick and Griff’s wedding; Søren, Nora, and Kingsley hide out to hang out and talk— and after a quick detour through some angst, the story goes places I didn’t think it would go. (The convent! Haiti! Juliette!) There are characters throughout the series who only get a few pages, yet I love them (Jason; Maggie; Blaise), and characters who got those few pages but are ready to bloom as soon as they get room to breathe. (Mick, Griff; Sam. Daniel. Juliette!)

I’ve said this before too— I crave this kind of complexity. Down is up, dark is light. It makes me think, and gives me hope, and turns me on, and makes the world a bigger place but one that’s less frightening. I could use more of that in my life. Couldn’t we all?

“This is my favorite story already,” Kingsley said. “Go on.”

[Melanie]

4.5 stars

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

This series continues to blow me away. In this story, we start with Nora, Søren and the gang at castle in Scotland preparing for a wedding. Then Søren, Kingsley and Nora start to reminisce about what happened the year that Nora left Søren. Kingsley was also MIA that year. That was when he met Juliette.

“Tell me a secret you’ve never told me, and I’ll consider letting you come.”
“I fucked a nun at my mother’s convent,” Nora said, and Søren stopped moving. He pushed himself up and stared down at her.
“What?” she said, batting her eyelashes up at him in feigned innocence. “You asked.”
“Lesson learned.”

Go back many years and Kingsley has prepared Elle to run if ever she is required. There are several reasons she might have to run. Kingsley could piss off some dangerous person and could want revenge, the press could learn about Søren’s relationship with either of them or worst of all, Søren could lose control and truly injure her. If the last one was to take place, Elle was to take the duffel and money from the locker and not go to one of the safe houses, but somewhere neither could find her. Where is she to go? A convent, where no man could go.

Kingsley, when he figures out that Elle has fled because Søren went too far, he decides to leave, because he doesn’t want to help Søren to find her. He knew that if asked, he couldn’t say no to Søren, so he fled too. He started off just traveling around the world until he landed in Haiti. This is where he meets Juliette.

While at the convent Elle is forced to do laundry pretty much every day. She washes the sheets, she dries the sheets, she folds the sheets. She washes the habits, she dries the habits and she irons the habits. She compares her life to Sisyphus, rolling the rock up the hill for eternity. That is until a new nun joins the convent. Kyrie is a fun, young girl who joins the convent and is nothing what you think of a potential nun. She quickly befriends Elle and it isn’t long before the relationship is more than friends. Kyrie is also the one who pushes Elle to start to write.

The Virgin is my favorite story so far in the White Years. Tiffany Reisz continues to blow my mind with her abilities to tell great stories. Not only are they very sexy, but they are funny with characters you can’t help but love. I highly recommend this series, though I feel it must be read in order. I do believe that there are people who have started with the White Years (book 5 overall), and I think you could do that without issue. I started with the Red Years, but I’ve been a fan since the series started years ago.

Narration
Elizabeth Hart has been doing the narration for all the White Years books in the Original Sinners series. I was not a fan of her narration of The King, which is told exclusively from Kingsley’s point of view. Her French accent sounded a little cartoonish for me. It sounded better in this book, I don’t know if it is because there just wasn’t as much of it or if it has improved. I will say that I loved her voice for Kyrie. I think she nailed that character to a tee. I like her pacing and different voices for all the different characters.

I like to thank Tantor Media for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[Linda]

I think The Virgin is the most delicious instalment in this series so far! I loved the glimpses into the past, as well as the teasing about what might happen in the future!

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews