This book was great. The tension between the characters because of their stubbornness was well executed without being overly drawn out. The pacing was great and the book was a great read.

This has some dark themes and topics so please check the trigger warnings!

This is spicy, dark, and just completely insane in the best way possible. It's gritty, and dirty, and the forbidden love within this keeps you gripping for more. Now, I can see this as a book that won't be for everyone with the dark topics of BDSM and Sex clubs, so please check those trigger warnings. But if you like dark romances, give this a shot!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the eARC.

Raw, spicy and definitely dark.
The story follows Bane (a priest) and Moira (a sex addict). He's a dom, she's a free spirit, up for anything. Both a little broken and lost.
I enjoyed this book more as I've read the first book in the series which is a must to understanding the side characters and plot I think. The beginning reeled me in straight away, the plot at the end worked well too but the middle just fell a bit flat for me and to be honest could have been 20% shorter overall. I did love the obsession between the two MCs throughout though.
Lots of TWs in this book so check before you read.

Amazing. Soulful. Mesmerizing. 10/10 perfection. The story and plot were interesting and flowed well. The author was able to perfectly describe the fmc’s emotions perfectly when it came to her mental health issues. I wanted to cry, I felt so seen in Moira.

The only thing that I brought me out of the story was the timeline set up through the subheading. It didn’t make sense in my head so I ignored the supposed passage of time lol. I also wish the author would’ve added a scene or two of bane and Moira coming together in the beginning and growing their emotional as well as physical relationship.

I’m immediately heading to read another book from her!

Amazing series #2,

I recommend reading cherry auction first, but it was a hot amazing smut romance book. Totally recommend.

I didn’t realise this was the second book in a series and figured that was a big fat mistake on my part for requesting, but checking out the other reviews I can see I’m not alone in the fact we all went into this dark.

It felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with side characters and backstory that the book assumed I already knew (which I very much didn’t) and it left me struggling with why I was supposed to care. Maybe it would have been different if I’d read the first instalment but I’m not sure it would.

I was really hoping the concept and the execution would carry it for me, despite not having any context. A priest with Dom tendencies and a sex addict trying to outrun her past? It sounded like a nice spicy taboo read. Unfortunately the execution just wasn’t quite there for me, with a confusing timeline, jarring side plots, and a romance that was just not fleshed out enough for my taste,

As for the spice… it’s marketed as erotica, but there’s surprisingly little steam in the shagging. One or two scenes stand out (cough cough, altar) but overall it felt way more plot-heavy than smutty. Which would have been fine… if the plot wasn’t so bloody confusing.

Final thoughts: this book did a big ole’ jump and couldn’t stick the landing, but it did make a couple of semi-decent flips on the way down.

Would I read again? No
Would I recommend it? Probabaly not
My star rating: ★★★


My unhinged book rating system:
★★★★★+ fucking fantastic, give me ten more like it. Bury me with it. First thing I'd save if my house was on fire.
★★★★★ sheeesh this shit was good. Would definitely buy a special edition of it for my trophy shelf and rant about it to my book bestie.
★★★★ a fun read. Not necessarily the best thing to ever grace this good earth, but would check out other works from this author.
★★★ this was not my cup of tea (or glass of wine) but it had some redeemable qualities that made me keep reading.
★★ well… that was definitely a thing. This book was just not it for me. Most likely forced myself to finish while crying on the inside.
★ what the ever loving fuck were my eye balls just forced to perceive? DNF’d and metaphorically chucked out the window.


Disclaimer: Writing a book is an incredible feat and I admire anyone who has managed it. This is just my personal opinion - take it or toss it as you see fit.

This was very well written and I especially liked that all the characters were accepting (ish) of the various mental health struggles and were allowed to just be themselves.

I didn't realize this was the 2nd book in a series - reading the first story would have made this one make more sense.

Bane is a complex character - a dominant, a priest and a rich heir. Moira is the FMC - she's a volunteer, a self described sex-addict and Bane's interest. It's a wild story - but not fully developed, it's dragging in places and too quick in others.

Thank you to to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I really liked this book, I ended up finishing it within a day. It kept me hooked. I also love when authors switch point of views of main characters with a new chapter. I loved the storyline of bane and Moira. I hope there’s a sequel to the story line of them I would like to see what there future holds after being reunited.

forgive me for i have sinned 😭
dark romances are never my type still idk what made me request for this one.
good luck readers. be ready cause you'll never see the bible same way as you used to.

Absolutely loved this book! Had me hooked from the very beginning! It is definitely one that I will be reading again

Dark, spicy, trigger-laden, tale of two damaged people coming together to make each other whole, or close to it. Abuse, mental illness, addiction, kidnapping, manipulation, and a good dose of BDSM, heavy on the DS, with a lot of graphic heated scenes. Realistic view of untreated mental illness and it's effect on everyone involved.

2.25 stars 🌟

After reading Cherry Auction, I was very intrigued to start this but unfortunately, this one was such a miss for me. First off, this book doesn’t explicitly say that this is part of a series and it doesn’t exactly read well as a standalone. Even after reading the first book in the series, it doesn’t make much sense. After the ending of Cherry Auction, it feels like there’s a lot of information that the reader doesn’t have and we’re just thrust into the next installment of this world. And aside from all of that, the book itself just doesn’t feel like it knows exactly what it’s doing or what it wants to be.

Compared to the first book, the writing and the plot feel very weak in comparison. Plus the story wasn’t all that believable. Not only that, but it doesn’t seem like the plot was made very clear. There is a lot that was pushed into the story and it felt like too much (in my opinion).

I did like the characters at the beginning, but the issues overall overshadowed them. I also didn’t love the Insta love aspect of this book. I felt that this story, and the characters would have benefited from having a slower burn with a lot more tension and character buildup rather than how rushed the story and its events were (more so in the second half of the book the start of this book wasn’t that bad). However, I did like the depth that these characters had. I loved the mental health representation that was done in this book.

I feel really sad saying all of this, considering how much I enjoyed the previous book. But I just don’t understand the amount of five stars that this book has. It just felt very messy overall, and in my opinion just wasn’t very well written.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC to review!

This was the a good mix of spice and plot. I enjoyed watching the relationship between Moria and Bane grow. I had no idea this was in a series so I am going to go back and read the first book. Excited to read more of Stasia Black's work!

I received this ARC through NetGalley recently. The blurb captured be straight away when I read it was about a priest who had a dark side. The first few chapters were incredible and pulled me in but as I kept going I found it got repetitive and lost interest. I understand the FMC was addicted to s3x but for me, there wasn’t enough build up when he gave in early on.

Note before reviewing: this is the second installment of a series called Carnal Games, centered around a BDSM club (Carnal) and a group of its regulars. Each book in the series focuses on a different couple. 7 Days (formerly titled Cherry Auction), follows Domnhall and Brooke; Unholy Obsession is about Domnhall's sister Moira and Bane. If you would like to read Unholy Obsession, do read 7 Days first; I read 7 Days prior to this ARC in order to best review it.

Stasia Stark writes erotica. The Carnal Games series involves BDSM related content. Unholy Obsession does not beat around the bush, instantly putting the centered couple together. When we start reading, we learn they've already had a sexual encounter at Carnal, and that it was a re-awakening for the both of them. For Moira, it was the first time in a long time she felt anything since falling out with her brother; for Bane, it was a reconnection with a part of himself he's felt he had to hide away for the past few years.

(I wish this scene was the actual start of the book, rather than mentioned as a memory / afterthought. Show, not tell! Although the couple's chemistry sizzles regardless, it would've helped drive home how and why they both experienced this first moment as highly impactful on their lives moving forward. Even a flashback would've worked. The scene is available as a bonus scene on Stasia Black's website, though.)

Despite sharing this indulgence together, these two people couldn't be more different from one and other. Moira ia a self-proclaimed sex addict, whereas Bane is a priest. A legitimate priest. A man of God who just happens to also be a dominant. (He's an Episcopal priest, so no vow of celibacy.)

I'm not religious, so I'm good with it. In fact, I didn't really experience their relationship or their brand of BDSM as all that dark or taboo, though I could understand mostly from Bane's own PoV chapters why it certainly is frowned upon in their lives and why it was an important plot point. And yeah, there is a scene that is very, very... well. Let's just say there's altar worship and then there's ALTAR WORSHIP, okurrrr. But none of it is shocking to me, and so it didn't feel as all that dark. 7 Days delivered more in that regard.

But this isn't to say 7 Days is the better book of the two. I think Unholy Obsession is, in terms of the romance. Moira and Bane both are very sympathetic characters with a lot of layers to them; Moira is feisty and goes through life with everything seemingly gliding off her like water off a duck's back, but she's very sensitive and vulnerable. And so incredibly misunderstood and unsupported. Treated like shit. I found her endearing in a way. Bane, 3 years her senior at age 25, is emotionally intelligent and mature, and he just gets Moira in a way no one else does. He sees her, but he also understands her and what she needs.

It's refreshing to read about a dominant personality who actually is a big fat teddy bear underneath it all and utilizes his dom role as a way to help his sub just be herself. There is no dubious consent. There is give and take despite their roles, especially when it comes to daring to be vulnerable and open. There is clear communication. There is safety, physically and emotionally. I love their relationship. Plot's gotta be plottin', that's the nature of the beast, but at its core, despite it all, their relationship is very solid. A bit of a whirlwind, but solid enough to be believable and to be invested in.

Now plot wise, Unholy Obsession takes a backseat to 7 Days. Because 7 Days is wild. It's just insane. Unholy Obsession focuses more on the romance and Moira's and Bane's personal growth both individually and together, whereas 7 Days is also a decent thriller. Some interesting shit does go down in Unholy Obsession, mostly involving Bane's family background, but I struggled with plot holes and a messy, confusing timeline. One side character's arc goes Off The Fucking Rails and it's distracting, abrupt and kinda unexplained. Another major plot point is explained away but then there's also another explanation that's not... really... clear? There is a lot of chaos in the timeline; the amount of months passed make no sense and are likely errors.

Furthermore, Stasia Black also focuses a bit too heavily on the couple featured in the third not-yet-published installment of Carnal Games. We're not reminded of who they are again, and then much of their relationship development is given away. Will book 03 be a parallel timeline? Probably. But I'm not sure I'm interested in reading that when I've basically read the epilogue already. Besides, Unholy Obsession hands down has the best male and female main character in Bane and Moira. I feel the Carnal Games series maybe hit a high there that's going to be hard to top. Do I need to read more about this band of people beyond this installment? For some of them, I already know their story. And the rest... well, they seem like assholes not really worth any more of my time.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was such a fun ride, and kept me on my toes! Such an interesting pairing and I really enjoyed the mental health rep. Overall I recommend if you want a spicy fun time!

I liked the way the author was able to make me care about the fmc and the mmc. The way she painted their traumas and their vices and showed how they dealt with the painful past they were dealt was masterful. It was a new kind of dynamic for me as a reader him being a priest was a fascinating character arc. As a person that rebelled against the religious bonds my family used to dole out my own personal trauma I could really empathize with the characters. Great read.

This was not for me. I struggled getting into this book. I found it really strange and while I do like “forbidden romances” something was missing. There was not enough tension I felt, lack of chemistry.

I did feel like I was missing a huge part of the story so I won’t consider this a standalone. I think maybe because there were so many side characters included and obviously they all have their background stories that felt like you needed to know prior to reading this.

So a dark romance between a priest and a sex addict wasn't on my bingo card this year, but that's exactly what I've just read.

Father Blackwood is an Episcopal priest, but his congregation is completely unaware that he's also a dom. From spending a Friday night at the sex club, Carnal, with a woman in chains, making her beg before spanking her with a Bible, to leading his flock in prayer from his church's altar, he's living two very different lives.

Moira is a young woman who enjoys hanging out at Carnal with her estranged brother and her friends. Unfortunately since meeting the new dom, Bane, at the club and being ruined in the best way possible, she now has a wildfire of an itch under her skin, and no attempts at scratching it have given her the relief she's desperate for.

This starts a wild ride with lots of spice and BDSM, but just when you think our two main characters might have found their happy ever after, it's all turned on its head. I don't want to spoil the twists and drama.

As someone who is medicated for my mental health, I do appreciate that mental health issues are explored in this book, and medication isn't demonised by the characters.

This is the first book from Stadia Blacks I've read, so this was my introduction to these characters.