Review: Original Sin by Allison Brennan

Original Sin is a bit of a twist on the classic Good vs. Evil theme. Moira O'Donnell is a witch. She was conceived with a specific fate in mind for her. Her mother, Fiona is a witch straight out of a fairy tale- evil to the core. Once Moira was old enough to realize her mother's true purpose, she ran away and vowed to destroy the evil she'd done.

As the book opens, Moira is dreaming about her posession by demons that caused her to kill her boyfriend/lover. As always, after the nightmare comes a horrible vision. She calls her Priest/mentor for advice, and is able to generalize where the things in this vision are taking place. Fast forward 10 weeks, and Moira has been at the location of the vision, piecing together what happened and trying to figure out what's coming next. She knows her mother is involved, and is hoping for a chance to kill Fiona so she can stop running.

Fiona has been busy in the last few years. She's become leader of a powerful coven, and in an attempt to gain immortality has perfected a spell/ritual that will bring forth the 7 demons for her to control. At the moment of truth, however, something goes terribly wrong.

This book had a lot going on. There was a lot of previous background between Moira and the other characters to the point where a couple of times I felt like I had accidentally picked up the second book in the series instead of the first. I think Moira's backstory growing up with Fiona and her subsequent escape; meeting Peter and their relationship; and Peter and Anthony's upbringing would have made an interesting story.

There were also a LOT of other character points-of-view: Her priest/mentor Fr. Philip, her dead boyfriend's best friend and demonologist Anthony, another member of the Church order Raphael Cooper, Rico - another member of the Church/Moira's mentor that is often referenced but I don't think we ever got his point of view, her mother Fiona, and her half sister/witch Serena. There were others but I think those were the POVs most important to the story. I don't usually mind multiple POVs, but there were so many that I did find it a bit frustrating.

This book seems to be billed as a Paranormal Romance, but I don't think it is. There was a short sex scene that had nothing to do with Moira; BUT, I can see where future books in the series may fall into that PNR category. This story was a bit darker than I usually read, with a bit less romance than I prefer, but the premise of the Seven Deadly Sins escaping and roaming the earth is interesting. There was a twist with one character I didn't see coming, and I enjoyed the animosity between Moira and Anthony, even though they were on the same team. I liked her young friend Jared and hope we'll see him in the next book.

I give Original Sin 3 out of 5 stars.

This book was provide to me by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. free of charge in exchange for an honest review.