Seraphina Pearce doesn’t know what’s more frustrating: her magic’s affinity for death, her best friend’s transformation into an albino Sin Eater, or that simply touching a guy she loves means someone’s headed to the morgue.
After a sin-eating job goes awry, she casts a risky spell and butts heads with a handsome stranger in order to win an infamous grimoire.
Marceau L’Argent is the last person she should confide in because the occult cat burglar has a mysterious past, and he’s made it no secret he also wants the grimoire. He recognizes her dark magic and offers his unique help as a rare curse breaker. If all that weren’t enough, Marceau causes butterflies in her stomach—a feeling she’d long thought dead.
Seraphina was only trying to break her curse—not piss off Death himself.
MUCH OF MADNESS is a Southern Gothic Horror story about loyalty, sacrifice, and maintaining hope no matter the odds.
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Okay before I get into this review, I want to say how much I love the cover. With Halloween has my favorite “holiday” as well as celebrating Day of the Dead the cover really pulled me towards it.
Seraphina and her best friend, a sin eater, were cursed to walk the world together. Why and how where they cursed, it gets to it in the story. Anyways, Seraphina’s curse was that if she touched a man that she loved, truly loved, he would die and so for the entirety of their long life’s Seraphina stayed away from any man that she could actually fall in love with.
Enter Marceau L’Argent, a thief, or in his words a “expert curse breaker” who is intent on stealing something that Seraphina happens to have. I know right? A little passe but the story gets better. So Marceau can break curses, but he isn’t independent in that he has a master, and that master is a bitch, cruel, and someone who you do not disobey.
This story isn’t your basic run of the mill sin eater story, which there are not that many, and I am really happy to see a Sin Eater like the one in this book. His ability manifests itself through his pale nature, and the ramifications of his ability to eat sin means that he has to not only relive every single sin but he also has them permanently in his mind. Personally that sounds horrible, but when you have an ability like that, can you turn away from it?
This is a southern fantasy/paranormal/horror story that has all the southern charm without the cliques that sometimes you see in “Southern” stories. It has a witch who’s power is wacked, it has a lovely man who is also a tad bit evil, you know all the good bits. This is definitely a must read for anyone who enjoys a fun story with some twists wrapped into it.
About S.E. Summa
I live just south of Nashville with my husband and a menagerie of spoiled pets. After my daughter left the nest, I rediscovered my love for writing. Growing up in Nashville, I always felt the city’s unique culture and landmarks would be the perfect setting for monsters to play.
I’m a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), and serve as the Volunteer and Membership Coordinator for my local chapter, the Music City Romance Writers (MCRW). I graduated magna cum laude with a BBA from Belmont University.
I started The Debut Collective, a supportive tribe of authors (both published and aspiring), editors, formatters, and cover designers working together to foster a new generation of stories and authors.
