Did anyone else feel like they were stuck in a wacky episodic series as they were reading? Or was that just me? 
 Reviewer Note : The Saint is part prequel and part continuation of the Original Series series. I would not start with this book if you are new to Reisz because you will have some things spoiled and you also might not understand some of the character backstory. A good jumping off point for the entire series would be to start with The Siren. 
 The Saint gives an entirely new meaning to "tell me a bedtime story." Normally, when a person asks their current lover about previous lovers, they want to know the basic details of a person's existence. But hey, if Nico wants to know exactly how Nora got it from her multiple partners, who am I to judge? He's a braver (and much more patient - I would zone out after about 2 minutes of any person retelling a life flashback) person than I. 
 Mild spoilers ahead. You have been warned. 
 5 stars for Soren (when did I come over to the Soren dark side? Didn't I hate him at one point?). 
 5 stars for writing (for any flaws I may point out, this woman can write her ass off). 
 1 star for yet another man worshiping the ground Nora walks on (to the point of claiming extremely deep feelings). It's getting downright ridiculous by this point. 
 Rants first, then I'll swing back to what I loved. 
 Seriously. I think I'd have a much easier time with Nora if she just engaged in tons of casual sex with multiple partners. THAT I could understand. I could even understand submissive worship. But for Nora to form a deep "love" connection with so many people in such an inorganic way (lots of strong and intensive emotion in so short a time) makes me want to kick things. 
 Polyamory is real (apparently, I'm spelling the word wrong because I'm getting spell-checked). It's something I've witnessed first hand with friends who live this lifestyle, but I won't go into all of that because I've discussed it before on other reviews. This series' all-consuming version of polyamory is a bit hard for me to digest. We all have the ability to love deep and form strong connections. Some of us have the ability to love multiple partners. But when you have multiple love interests (whether all at the same time, or in the conventional circumstance of leaving one person before finding another), you have multiple ways of falling. Maybe sometimes you fall slowly and quietly. Maybe the love is something that takes time to realize because the person was a friend. Maybe the person who fell isn't as ready to declare strong feelings for you right away. The only one of the bunch who seemed to have any real hesitancy or reservation about throwing his lot in with Nora was Wesley (and even that was less about holding back affection, and more about his conflicting feelings with her sexuality and polyamory). I'm not counting Soren making Nora wait because Soren was all in from day 1, whether or not they were having sex. 
 I could handle Nora meeting Soren and wanting to give him everything of herself. In fact, I loved, loved, LOVED the back story of Nora and Soren. I KNEW I would. We'd caught glimpses of young Nora before and I was much more enamored of young Nora than I am middle-aged Nora. I'm one of the few people who doesn't mind reading about insta-love or insta-connections if they're written well. And Reisz has the "writing well" part down solid. 
 So let's swing back to what makes me keep reading these books, since I am probably bound to bitch about Nora for every single installment. It is what it is. I don't like her and will probably never like her. BUT... 
 The sex is pro. This is how mediocre erotica writers wish they could write. Other than my hatred for the overuse of the word clitoris (the rest of the world says clit), the sex is phenomenal. It is shocking, brutal, sensual, raw, dark, and artistic as hell. Yes, this is true literary porn. 
 The scenarios are designed to push you out of your comfort zone. If you haven't read this author before, you're in for a few jaw dropping moments. After a brief adjustment period, you'll learn to look forward to these moments. 
 Reisz is FUNNY AS HELL. The sarcasm, wit, and dry humor just keeps coming. Who knew that you could be turned on one moment, disgusted the next, and then laughing the next? I have pages of highlights in my book from scenes which had me giggling in bed. 
 The amount of (non fluff) reflection of spiritual theology is brilliantly handled. I'm not a bible pro, but I know parts of it well. The fact that there's real discussion of the scripture in a dark erotic book is so strangely bizarre - yet it works in the most unique way. This part of the story adds to the depth of character that is Soren (and Nora herself - for all of my ranting, she is whip smart). 
 There's something to these books which make them stand out from the standard erotic fare. You won't find cookie cutter writing, which is reason enough for me to keep reading. The hot sex is just a bonus. 
 For good, bad, or even worse, I'm still riding the OS train. And so far, it's been one hell of a ride. I can't wait to see where the next book takes me.