Then, Earth Swallowed Ocean by Shiloh Sloane

 

This was a buddy-read with Heather. I finally finished it even though this book is way darker than I'm usually comfortable with, and I've been in a slump when it comes to dark reads. But I needed the Kindle Unlimited spot so I decided to suck it up buttercup and grin and bear it, because after getting traumatized by R. Lee Smith's COTTONWOOD, I felt like I could take on the world. FYI, this review is going to have some spoilers and discussions of some of the trigger warnings, so maybe don't read this if you don't want to read that kind of stuff.

THEN, EARTH SWALLOWED OCEAN is kind of like if someone took ADDIE LARUE and made it into an omegaverse novel, right down to the deals with the devil and the freckle worship. Sadie (her name even sounds like Addie lol) has something terrible happen to her in the beginning of the book, which should have resulted in her death, but the devil intervenes. Now if she can find an evil soul to replace her own, she can live. WHAT A DEAL.

Enter the werewolf brothers, Wright and Ridge Lindal. Wright served in WWII and is still traumatized from that and the death of his human wife (at his brother's hands no less). Ridge, on the other hand, lives his life according to a code of feral sociopathy. He almost eats-- literally-- Sadie after raping her, but then it turns out that she's his soulmate instead. Even though he's evil.

Throughout the whole book, the reader wonders which-- if either-- of the two brothers is going to die to fulfill the devil's prophecy. Which actually leads me to what is perhaps the biggest plothole in the whole book: WHY THE HELL didn't they take one of those religious serial killers down to the ocean and kill one of them? They were evil AF. But was this ever considered? Noooo lol. They were too busy having blasphemy-sex on top of the church altar (which, hey, you do you, boo, I'm not religious).

The writing is absolutely gorgeous but there's a point where literary repetition starts to feel more like accidental repetition and the author overused a lot of words, like lush, plush, and feral. Sometimes they would be used multiple times per page. She has a truly amazing writing style that is brilliantly evocative and reminded me of both Poppy Z. Brite and Tanith Lee at times, but this felt egregious.

I don't want to spoil the ending but there are triggers for cannibalism, gore, sex with blood, knotting, sex in a church, blasphemous stuff, child abuse (neglect), gun violence, references to Nazis, war violence, and suicidal ideation. Also, there's a TON of sex. I'm not usually one to call that a trigger but this is more erotica than it is a romance and that's the type of thing you have to be in the mood for. I skimmed a lot of chapters because the sex scenes started to feel so repetitive and were absolutely drenched in fluids (which I personally find gross, but some people like the sloppy stuff I guess). Maybe the point of this was to make it feel like they were animals, but it lacked tenderness and emotional intimacy. I think that's the problem with fated mates as a whole: it acts as a shortcut that omits the need for romantic development and trust.

Anyway, Shiloh Sloane is an author to watch. I've read two of her books now and both of them were amazing. I'm excited for the upcoming book set in this world called CRACKED BLUE SKY.

3.5 out of 5 stars