The last Bell brother has finally had his story told in Devil by Sierra Simone. The Priest Collection is a series of standalones, one of my all-time favorites, that explores a family of brothers as they reckon with faith, love, sexuality, and the nature of religion. Ryan Bell, the youngest of the group and the main character of this story, is not quite like his brothers. He’s something much, much worse.
It started when Ryan Bell was a college student. A dangerous obsession with his art teacher, Birdie Cooper. He destroyed her life, her career, and now, seven years later, he’s found her again, and this time he’s not letting her go.
Birdie’s life has been on a downward spiral since that fateful day. She’s barely scraping by, supporting her mentally ill sister and trying to keep their old family farmhouse from completely falling to pieces. All her focus is on her survival, with no time for her art.
When Bell storms back into her life and offers her a deal — a full-time free use dynamic for one year — in exchange for complete payment for her sister’s care for the rest of their lives, it’s impossible to refuse.
Even with her terror, there’s something enticing about Bell’s darkness, and soon Birdie learns his obsession with her goes further than she ever could have imagined.
Birdie Cooper is all sweetness, even though her life has been brutal. I have overwhelming sympathy for her throughout this book. The author really put this poor woman through some serious shit.
For most of the book, Birdie is thirty-six years old. It’s been a while since I’ve read a romance heroine in that age bracket, and it’s refreshing to have an older woman just starting her journey into love.
As an anxious creative, much like Birdie in that way, I’m in love with Ryan Bell. Someone call my therapist. Sierra Simone is truly talented to write this horrendous, complicated mess of a man and have readers thinking, “well, huh. That might be nice.”
The characters in Devil are so incredibly detailed and multi-faceted. I think I know them better than most other actual humans I’ve met. Both Birdie and Bell are so layered, and they’re fascinating to read on every page.
I sincerely hope she lets me disturb her for a very, very long time because I have some theories about Birdie Cooper and what her lonely little heart needs. And also because I want to.
A guy who desires you so much he can’t help himself is so hot…on paper, at least. Most of the Bell brothers deeply value consent, but this one, not so much. Birdie and Bell’s entire relationship is built on a foundation of dubious consent, and it gives a gritty, dangerous vibe to the sex scenes here.
The chemistry between these characters is a tangible, tactile thing, and it makes even the most questionable of interactions between them feel so sexy, so perfect, almost like they’re fated.
I only wish I could hate him for it instead of feeling so breathlessly chosen. I only wish the anticipation of his touch didn’t feel so much like the crush of a summer storm, calling to something that exists deeper than any words can hope to describe. Deeper than civilization, deeper than anything, something so elemental that it only responds to pressure, danger, light.
Sierra Simone’s writing is, as always, intelligent, enchanting, and sharp. There is a whip-smart analysis of Catholicism and the realities of religious hypocrisy combined with a heartwrenching exploration of poverty, mental health, and sorrow.
It’s why you’re not supposed to choose sin: because it begets itself, because one bite of the fruit will never be enough, and the awful thing is that you almost don’t want it to be.
Devil is subversive. It’s bold. It’s hot as fuck. Birdie and Bell are toxic perfection. This is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. It’s a smutty work of art. Put it in the Louvre.
Verdict: Sheer Perfection
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