BANE – L. J. SHEN

**Spoilers Ahead, Read On With Caution**

“My whole life has been pledged to this meeting with you.”

It’s pretty sad getting to the end of the SINNERS OF SAINT series. It’s mostly because I really thoroughly enjoyed it, and was completely sucked into the world for the last two weeks, making it a slice of heaven during quarantine. Having only met Bane in SCANDALOUS, and briefly for the most part, I was really intrigued to get to know him, and who Jesse Carter is. 

“Spoiler: the princess saves herself in this fairytale.” 

Jesse Carter’s story is brutal and heartbreaking. From her opening chapter you’re absolutely riveted to what she has to say because how can a person possibly survive what she’s been through? Meanwhile, Bane is a known escort in Todos Santos, and a beach bum in his own rights. He approaches Darren Morganstern, an oil tycoon, for a business deal and ends up walking out with a whole other deal in play. One involving Jesse Carter, Darren’s stepdaughter. 

“Snow White waited for the prince. You’ll be the one saving yourself in this story.” I blinked at him, thinking about what my dad used to say, his accent thick, almost as strong as his words. “You don’t need a prince, princess. You need a sword.” 

Roman ‘Bane’ Protsenko is possibly one of the funniest characters I’ve been the head of. He breaks the forth wall in a way that has you chuckling right along with him. He has so much personality that it packs a punch with every page. I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of Bane when we first met him in SCANDALOUS, because we really barely saw him, and only when he was trying to hook up with Edie. He was really left an intriguing mystery to us, as all we really knew was that he’s a surfer who enjoys the occasional naked surf, smoked pot, and once dated Edie. In BANE, he was still a pothead surfer, but owned his own coffee shop, and was an escort. He was a well-rounded character in my eyes, and one of my favourites from the series. 

“You didn’t just walk into my life…You stormed into it. You left me no choice but to heal. Now I want everything.” 

I can’t really speak about Jesse properly without giving away her story and ruining the plot. So instead I’ll say that she was a brilliantly crafted character, and that she was a triumph on paper. Jesse and Bane, they were electric. Whenever there was a scene that they were in together, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put the book down, even when I had the worst headache imaginable, and wanted the shove my head in cold water. Their dialogue was so engaging that it was impossible to look away. Their circumstances made it tense as you were constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, but willing it to stay hanging in the balance; allowing Jesse and Bane to have their moment. 

This story is brilliant, and a lovely end to a series that is so strong. I wish we could have seen a few of the previous couples, just because I’m nosey and like to catch up, but I understood why we didn’t. We saw Vicious a few times, and that was a nice touch, seeing Bane and Vicious interact with some banter. Thank you L. J. Shen! I cannot wait to see what else you might have in store for us with the Todos Santos lot, I’ll miss them, that’s for sure.