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If you like your dark romance with sermon smoke, knife’s-edge tension, and a hero who’d burn a church just to keep you warm, Jescie Hall’s viral hit That Sik Luv probably already winked at you from BookTok. It’s a stalker romance that pushes right up against the guardrails—religious trauma, obsession, and a taboo love story that refuses to apologize for itself. AmazonGoodreads
What it’s about (spoiler-light)
Briony Strait is a devout church girl raised inside a suffocating, image-obsessed religious community. Her life is tidy, her future prescribed—until a masked man named Aero inserts himself into it with unnerving precision. He knows her routines, her secret questions, and the rot crawling beneath the church’s spotless facade. What begins as stalking becomes a ruthless “education” in power, desire, and the courage to see what’s really there. Meanwhile, the institution that formed Briony grows more menacing as her obedience frays, and Aero’s war against those who harmed him—and her—boils over. The result is a slow, scandalous collision of faith and feral love that doesn’t blink. AudioFile MagazineBooksThatSlay
Hall frames the novel with a thesis ripped straight from a church bulletin—“Fornication is a sin…”—and then spends 500+ pages interrogating who gets to define sin when sin wears a suit. The book isn’t subtle about its aim: expose hypocrisy, light the match, let the heroine watch the flames. Google Books
The leads (and why they work)
Briony Strait — good girl, loaded gun
At first glance, Briony is the archetypal “sheltered church daughter”: polite, diligent, endlessly managed by male gatekeepers. But Hall gives her an interiority that’s equal parts yearning and steel. Briony is not rescued by Aero so much as provoked by him—into anger, independence, and terrifying honesty. Reviewers and summaries alike note how the cult-like atmosphere shapes her choices; the repression isn’t background noise—it’s the cage she names and then breaks. The StoryGraphBooksThatSlay
Aero — sinner, savior, storm
Aero is a masked stalker with a tragic backstory intertwined with church power brokers. He is, depending on your tolerance for moral gray: a monster with a mission, or a dark avenger who learned brutality from the men he hunts. The AudioFile Earphones-winning audiobook leans hard into his smoky menace; on the page he’s equal parts threat and worshipper, the man who tells Briony, “I’m your god now,” and then bleeds to prove it. (That line appears in multiple quote roundups and book briefings.) AudioFile MagazineSoBrief
Together
Their chemistry works because it is impossible—she’s been trained to equate desire with damnation; he equates devotion with violence. Every tender scene is barbed, every barbed scene oddly tender. It’s the kind of tension that has readers flipping pages at 2 a.m. and then texting three friends about moral compasses. Goodreads
A few (short) quotes to set the mood
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“Fornication is a sin.” (The book’s opening refrain—and provocation.) Google Books
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“Aero is the throat from which I scream.” (A raw thesis for the entire dynamic.) Google Books
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“You’re a woman without a voice, Briony.” (Aero naming the cage.) Goodreads
Each quote is under 25 words and shows the arc from doctrine to defiance.
Tropes & vibes checklist
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Stalker/obsession romance (center stage) Amazon
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Religious/cult trauma (systemic hypocrisy as antagonist) The StoryGraph
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Morally gray antihero with vigilante streak AudioFile Magazine
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Corruption arc for the FMC (from meek to merciless) BooksThatSlay
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Mask kink / anonymity in key scenes (non-graphic here, but present) Goodreads
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Single, hefty standalone (multiple editions and translations now exist) Goodreads
Trigger warnings (read before you read)
Hall and retailers flag this book heavily—and for good reason. Non-exhaustive:
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Religious trauma & institutional abuse (verbal, psychological; corruption and cover-ups) AmazonThe StoryGraph
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Stalking, coercion, and obsessive behavior (central to the romance dynamic) AudioFile Magazine
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Violence (including vigilantism; some on-page brutality) The StoryGraph
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Sexual content with taboo themes and power imbalance (explicit but consensual within the narrative; readers should gauge personal thresholds) Amazon
For official warnings and author context, start with Hall’s site and the Amazon listing. Your mental health matters. Jescie HallAmazon
Craft: why the book hits like a sermon and a smack
Voice & structure. Hall opens with pulpit language and then drags it through the mud to test whether anything pure survives. The cadence is confessional; the chapters move swiftly, often closing on a dare. The result feels like a revival tent set aflame—part spectacle, part exorcism. Google Books
Character work. Briony’s arc is the beating heart. Several independent summaries and reader guides call out the transformation from sheltered to self-possessed—and the messy cost of that empowerment. Aero’s backstory, sketched across the middle acts, reframes him not as an excuse but as a loaded gun built by the church and aimed back at it. BooksThatSlaySoBrief
Audiobook note. The dual narration (Joe Arden & Desiree Ketchum) lands the obsession/awakening blend and even won an Earphones Award, which tracks—Aero’s scenes need a voice that can be both velvet and threat. AudioFile Magazine
What works
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A clear thematic spine. The book isn’t just “dark for dark’s sake”; it’s a pointed critique of institutional hypocrisy and the ways shame weaponizes desire. Amazon
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Relentless tension. From stalking sequences to confrontations with church leadership, the plot rarely loosens its grip. BooksThatSlay
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A heroine with teeth. Briony’s agency increases as her illusions die; it’s uncomfortable, cathartic, and memorable. The StoryGraph
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Bingeable length. Despite 500+ pages, readers report a compulsive pace—and multiple editions (audio, print, translations) make it accessible. Goodreads
What might not
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Ethical red flags baked into the romance. If stalking as courtship is a hard “no,” this won’t convert you. The book wants you complicit; some readers won’t be. Amazon
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Graphic content. While not splatterpunk, violence and sexual intensity are both firmly on-page. Sensitive readers should consult warnings. The StoryGraph
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Big emotions, bigger speeches. Depending on taste, Aero’s monologues can read as operatic (hot) or overwrought (hot… and a lot). Quote pages give a fair sample. Goodreads
Thematic through-lines
Power & permission. Who grants it? Who steals it? Aero reframes consent as voice—“You’re a woman without a voice, Briony”—but the text also asks what he gets from that dynamic, and where devotion ends and domination begins. Goodreads
Faith vs. fear. The church’s leaders operate on fear (control, reputation, silence). Aero operates on fearlessness bordering on nihilism. Briony’s victory is neither institution nor idol; it’s learning to choose for herself, loudly. BooksThatSlay
Verdict
That Sik Luv is a grenade rolled down the aisle during Sunday service—polarizing by design, hypnotic if you’re wired for dark romance that interrogates purity culture while indulging in taboo heat. Hall isn’t careful; she’s deliberate. If the premise makes your hackles rise, trust them. If it makes your pulse do weird things… welcome to the choir.
Rating: 4 out of 5 scorched hymnals (your mileage will vary with the stalker trope).
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