Reviewed by True

TITLE: Cuffs & Carnations: A Fire & Brimstone Story

SERIES: Fire & Brimstone Scrolls

AUTHOR: Nikole Knight

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 323 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2023

BLURB:

It took one day to strip an Archangel of everything he held dear.

On the battlefield of Heaven, Uriel lost more than his left ear. He lost his Committeds and his will to live. Decades later, he’s drowning himself at the bottom of a bottle, with no escape in sight. He tried to end his misery, but death didn’t take. Resigned to suffering eternity alone with only the ghosts of the ones he lost as company, the last thing Uriel wants is a new love.

It took one day for a hybrid to fall in love with a broken, lost Archangel.

As the hybrid spawn of Lucifer, Jesse isn’t exactly popular with angels; carrying the face of a monster tends to have that effect. So, he keeps his head down and secretly prays for the day someone can see past his golden eyes to the soul inside—the soul desperate for the solace only surrender can provide.

A grieving Archangel searching for hope and a reason to live. A hybrid yearning for a firm, loving hand, and a place to belong. Join Uriel and Jesse as they test the boundaries of love and the infinite limits of grace.

Cuffs & Carnations is a spin-off story within the Fire & Brimstone universe. It can be read as a standalone but is best enjoyed after reading the completed Fire & Brimstone Scrolls series. Trigger warnings include: non-graphic mentions of attempted suicide/suicidal thoughts, cavalier commentary/dark jokes about suicide, self-destructive abuse of alcohol and the resulting withdrawal symptoms, and elements of BDSM and kink, including bondage, impact play, power exchange, and light breath play.

REVIEW:

That was a heartbreaking read, utterly intense and emotional, very impressive!

Uriel feels like a huge bulky person but he’s a petite Archangel, it’s all in his Dom personality.
More correctly, he’s a former Dom, Uriel is broken, shattered, and completely lost.
After he lost his beloved Committeds in the battlefield of Heaven, his only goal is to die, but it’s been decades and whatever he tries, he’s still alive and suffering and grieving.

Jesse looks like Lucifer, only the looks because his heart is golden. He always had a soft spot for Uriel, and after one encounter in an alley, with Jesse on his knees in front of Uriel, he can’t get him out of his heart.
The archangel seems always inebriated. Uriel keeps pushing Jesse away, Jesse is stubborn.
Very cautiously Jesse gains room in Uriel’s life.

Imagine a soul-scarred person, who is drunk more often than not, who never smiles, then gives you an unintentionally genuine smile. Jesse completely melts, but worries, will Uriel ever recover?

Uriel is only human (not! pun taken) he can’t bear Jesse with other Dominants.
Scening with Jesse only involves Jesse touching himself, no way Uriel will betray his beloved Committeds.
Just like the difference between his smooth right and scarred left, his head is not else, one part wants to participate, and yearns to find a way to live, and the other a reluctant trembling mess.
Jesse’s ability to hear fragments of thoughts keeps him coming back to Uriel, he’s so in love with the closed of Archangel.

Oh boy, that was an impressive story, my heart hurt so much. More than once I had to stop reading because it was so overwhelming. I couldn’t sleep after I finished the story, I couldn’t let Uriel and Jesse go. Still not.

The author has an intensely enthralling way of writing, so so wonderful! The dark jokes are just what I appreciate given those particular circumstances. There are diverse details to enjoy, the environments were present but felt as if not all the time, it was because of the focus on the two men, it felt so intimate, everything around them felt vague and into the background. The BDSM scenes are very intense and quite breathtaking.
The characters with their specific characteristics are magnificent, the spotlight was of course on Uriel and Jesse, but they are wonderfully dedicated, supportive secondary people.

The supernatural world the author created was exquisite, as a spin-off, it’s the same as the Fire & Brimstone series, a series I also highly recommended btw!!

Mind the trigger warnings, please take care of yourself!

I was immensely impressed by Uriel and Jesse their story. Highly recommended! ALL the hearts and stars!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon