Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Sin
SERIES: Salvation #1
AUTHOR: Remy Varlow
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 260 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 18, 2025
BLURB:
Sin
My preacher father named me Sin because he claimed I was born bad.
He must be right. There’s not a rule I won’t break. A line I won’t cross. A person I won’t hurt to make him pay for what he did to my mother.
Until My father remarries and Cassidy comes into my life. He’s beautiful. He’s good. He’s innocent. All I want is to protect him from everyone else but me.
Despite how wrong it is I want to be the one to teach Cassidy, how to sin.
REVIEW:
Sin has quite the past. He is on a path of revenge that leads right to his father. When said father brings home a new wife with a teenage son, Sin’s plans become a bit more difficult.
Cassidy has not had the best life either. When he is suddenly thrown into a new family, he is pleasantly surprised to meet Sin. Cassidy is sweet, shy, nerdy and naïve. Basically, he is the oppositive of Sin. He crushes on Sin almost immediately, and while Sin seems to actually care about Cassidy, Sin’s hot/cold attitude makes it clear pretty quickly that Cassidy needs to steer clear.
Sin is in a bit of a predicament though. He now has to take care of Cassidy and keep him shielded from his father. He can’t allow his father to know he cares at all or he will use Cassidy against him. So, each time he has a close encounter that goes a bit too far, he pulls back and pushes Cassidy away. He even convinces his father to send Cassidy away to school in the hopes Cassidy will stay out of sight, out of mind until he turns 18.
Sin’s father is a manipulative bastard though and needs Cassidy home to help his family image. This brings him front and center to Sin who loses ground a little bit each time they interact. Sin is still keeping all of this grand plans of revenge close to the chest though, which continues to put a strain on their “relationship”.
Sin is a hard person to like for most of this story. We somewhat understand his reasons for doing what he does over and over to Cassidy, but that doesn’t make it any better, to be honest. This back and forth goes on for much of the story until one point where he realizes he must put Cassidy first if he wants to keep him in the long run. And Cassidy is such a sweetheart. He just wants to help and be successful, despite all the roadblocks he’s been given.
In the end, I kept turning pages just to see how this would eventually play out. I really wanted to see Sin’s father pay for his crimes and abuse, but I also wanted to see Sin and Cassidy come through it together at the end. Sin’s bestie, Mercer, who often plays a part in the hot/cold behavior toward Cassidy (although that all gets cleared up as well) seems to be quite the character with his own set of daddy issues. Looks like we will get to the bottom of those next, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that all plays out and maybe Sin and Cassidy can help him as well.
RATING: 
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