Review: Roman: Saints and Sinners

Roman: Saints and Sinners

by

Kennedy Streath

The title said it all for me- this would be an ‘otherworld’ type of read, and I was in. And yet all begins normal enough. A young girl loses her mother and has to go and live with her father. There’s a brother, his girlfriend and the boy on probation living over the garage. Strange family dynamics (including a priest), but normal. NOT! From the first few words you just KNOW there’s nothing ‘normal’ about this story. I cannot describe what it is about Roman that grabs your attention swiftly; I only know I was hooked from the first.

Meet Roman, an enigmatic teenager living alone in an apartment over the garage because Father Marcus asked it of his cousin Ben. Meet Tony, the brother who became a soldier because of the mysteries the priest revealed to him. Meet Marsha, the girlfriend scarred in a war zone. Meet Ben, the father who walked away from his daughter and found solace in the bottle. Meet also the dead Eleanor, who reaches from beyond the grave to manipulate. And meet T.J., daughter and sister in a dysfunctional family…who is instantly drawn to the dark teenager she is warned to stay away from.

All is set in a dying down where the remaining income relies on the singular mining operation in the region, a place that itself holds dark secrets and causes the townspeople to murmur prayers when they think about it.

I wish this was longer, I wish more was revealed, I wish we learned more of Roman’s secrets, and yet this entranced and transported. Although the two main characters are teenagers I would not name this YA at all. A great read, and I hope there’s more to come, and I hope it comes soon, very soon!

Amazon US