The Curvy Bookworm

Skin by Sybil Knight: Book Review

Author: Sybil Knight
Series: The Renegades, Book One
Genre: Dark romance and dark fairy-tale retelling
My rating: ★★★★☆
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I knew Skin was going to be dark, but this book does not ease you into it gently.

The story begins with the female main character being kidnapped and held prisoner, so you are thrown straight into the darkness from the first chapter.

This is a twisted Rumpelstiltskin retelling with obsession, captivity and a lot of non-consensual content. Please check the trigger warnings before reading because this book definitely will not be for everyone.

His obsession begins immediately

The book is split into different parts and moves between the present and the past.

Just before something big is about to be revealed, the story jumps back to when the two main characters first met and begins showing us how his obsession started.

And he is obsessed almost immediately.

A little bit of a red flag, to be honest.

Actually, it is a very large red flag, but she does not seem particularly bothered by it.

His feelings are intense, possessive and completely unhealthy from the beginning. This is not a slightly jealous love interest who makes a few questionable choices. His obsession drives the entire relationship and becomes darker as the story continues.

The timeline was sometimes confusing

Although I really enjoyed the book, I did sometimes have to go back and reread parts.

The jumps between timelines occasionally made the story difficult to follow, especially when it moved away from a major moment just before revealing something important.

At times, it felt as though the author had the entire story playing out perfectly in their head, but not every detail had made it clearly onto the page.

That could simply be the writing style, and it clearly did not stop me from enjoying it.

I still read the entire book in one sitting.

This book is seriously dark

There is a lot of non-consensual content in Skin, along with kidnapping, captivity and an extremely obsessive male main character.

When I say this book is dark, I mean really dark.

It fully commits to the disturbing relationship between the characters and does not try to make his behaviour seem healthy or romantic.

Readers who enjoy very dark romance may find it addictive, but anyone uncomfortable with non-con should probably avoid this one completely.

Please take the trigger warnings seriously.

I needed more from the ending

My biggest issue was the ending.

After such an intense story, I wanted a little more closure. It felt as though the book needed one extra chapter showing us what happened next.

I did not need everything wrapped up perfectly, but I wanted another scene between the characters or a little more time to process how their story ended.

Instead, I reached the final page feeling slightly unsatisfied.

Perhaps that was deliberate and the author wanted to make sure I continued with the series.

Trust me, it worked.

Would I recommend Skin?

I would recommend Skin to readers who enjoy:

I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a healthy romance, a gentle fairy-tale retelling or a story without significant trigger warnings.

My verdict

I really enjoyed Skin and devoured it in one sitting.

The timeline jumps occasionally confused me, and I sometimes felt that pieces of the story were clearer in the author’s head than they were on the page. However, the obsessive relationship, dark atmosphere and twisted Rumpelstiltskin elements kept me hooked.

The ending needed one more chapter because I did not get quite the satisfaction or closure I wanted.

Will I read the next books in the series? Absolutely.

My verdict: A seriously dark and addictive Rumpelstiltskin retelling with an obsessed love interest, plenty of trigger warnings and an ending that left me desperate for just one more chapter.

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