Sweet Salvation: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (Ruthless Games) Paperback – August 27, 2020

Here’s the thing, I’ve read well over 200 books this year, not all of them were great, but I was HIGHLY anticipating the final book of this series for SO long and it fell ridiculously flat for me.I accidentally started reading this series before checking to make sure it was complete. I’m too impatient to be left on a cliffhanger so I was really disappointed in myself because I HAD to know what was going to happen next!I was invested. Point blank. Period.Sad-freaking-face y’all...Here’s the breakdown..*The Good*— The storyline wasn’t bad. The turns the plot took were creative and while a few things were predictable, I wasn’t disappointed I figured it out before the characters.*The Bad*— There was a level of corniness in this book that I just couldn’t get over. Major eye rolling happened. Ayla isn’t weak per se, and of course it’s important to promote a persons ability to overcome physical limitations, but the level of corniness throughout the dialogue overshadowed the attempt to give her character the strong willed vibe that she needed to have in the world she was dropped into. It felt really forced. At least for me.This was something I didn’t feel through the first two books.. like AT ALL.. so it’s really hard to put my finger on the exact reason I felt this way through this book. All I can boil it down to is I just felt a disconnect with her character this time around. And I re-read the first two books before starting the third!— Other than the disconnect from the continued character building I have a few *face palm* points that I need to mention👇🏼👇🏼• I hate, LOATHE even, when in books and movies characters wake up next to each other and immediately start to get it on. I’m a stickler for hygiene, especially of the oral kind.Hygiene is sexy, amirite??So every single time there was a shower and no mention of teeth brushing, or when they would wake up after a full almost 24 hours of sleep, after not being back at their own house where their toothbrushes for sure are, and just start eating each other face... NU UH 🛑 pump them breaks and take care of your muck mouth before you “suck on his tongue” girl! 🥴Maybe these details don’t bother other people as much, but these situations definitely contributed to my inability to get into or stay in that trance-like reading state during those steamy scenes.I want to feel like I just can’t read the words fast enough and thinking about morning breath kills it for me 🤷🏻‍♀️.• I also REALLY hated the way she handled meeting a certain character in this book. I can’t say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but her level of “stand-offishness” honestly made me angry. I’m not saying she should have blindly trusted this person, because that would have been unrealistic for her character, but some sort of human emotion would have been nice. It was almost like the more she came to terms with this character the more indifferent she acted. She just glazed right over it when I feel like it should have contributed to her life, to the plot, in a larger manner.Also the ending and bonus scene were just blah. Nothing spectacular.I’m not writing this review to discourage anyone from reading this book because, let’s face it, if you’ve read the first two and don’t read the third.. you’re a monster. This review is honestly kind of me trying to sort out how/why I feel disappointed in the conclusion of this series. Also, maybe if I temper your expectations a little.. the book will turn out really great for you.I honestly hope you enjoy it more than I did.Happy Reading.

*****Spoilers*****I'm a tad disappointed in this book, it was predictable and a bit boring. Too, suddenly Ayla is fighting and shooting and killing when she was horrified at the prospect in book one. Not enough time passed I thought for that much of a change. She even manages to kill Luca in the end, it turns out Dominic is her lost brother, and Victoria became an unwilling ally after Luca put the hit out on Theo, Marcus, and Ryland. The proof that Luca is the Viper is much easier to acquire from his home during a party than I thought was believable given who Luca was in the city.

When Ayla and her three men discover that the game they have been playing has all been a hoax, and that Luca never intended to step down as the underworld leader, they must find proof of his deception and convince other players to join with them to take him down. That is the story on a nutshell. The book contains plenty of sexual interludes, including some involving all three men and Ayla, to break the tension of the exciting story. Somehow during the course of the three books, I tended to forget that Marcus, Ryland and Theo weren't just rich but they were also involved in the criminal world. Somehow I hoped at the end they wound work to clean up the city's crime, not become part of it. I am a little disappointed.Plot:4Writing:5Editing:5Characters:4Heat index:5

What a way to end the series. Great story. Loved the relationship between ayla, Marcus, Theo and ryland. They just make tour heart melt. They are protective, with a hints of hard, that make the steamy scenes that much more and so much in love. It was a quote by Marcus that basically said the watt they love one another is not normal, but extreme in the way they would ‘raze the world’ if anything happened to one another. Loved that. And it perfectly described their interactions throughout the whole series. Lots of ups and downs, twists and turns and changes in alliances as well as crossings. Wow more craziness with Luca and then a big bomb about dom. Although I had an inkling when we learned about his lineage. Caleb seems to be making peace and working on things. Loved the ending. Only thing I wanted more info on was if Theo ousted his uncle and helped his mom out and got the justice he wanted.

While the romance wasn't too bad, I was distracted by all the giant holes in the plot. It was just a little too easy to resolve everything so neatly with only bad guys dying. Like if all of the guys disowned their families, how did they get the money and resources to take over the empire of Viper/Luca? None of the guys seemed to have any manpower either. So Luca's men just let them take over? Nah, I don't think so. Like I said, the romance was ok but there were so many plot holes that I couldn't actually enjoy the sparks. Though I will add that one of the reasons that I'm not usually a fan of the Mafia romance subgenre is because the relationships always seemed to be tested by external forces/conflict which is fine at first but I find them a little boring and lacking without any sort of internal conflict at any point. Like no fights or disagreements? No tension? It makes the relationship a bit less believable in my opinion.

When I first started this series, I didn't know it was a reverse harem. I don't often read the entire description because I like surprises and I hate spoilers. But some how, I stumbled upon these books and I really liked them. It was interesting to read a love story like this because in my own life, I'm a one man gal, but I can respect those who choose differently. It's also incredibly powerful to read about one woman having such power over multiple men. They are enchanted by Ayla and the author's writing was great. It was never weird to read the orgy scenes and I found myself looking forward to thise scenes. To see how Callie would make it all work, which, she always did. I can't decided which husband is my favorite, it's a toss between Theo and Ryland.Thanks for a great story, Callie!

Brilliant ending! I do love a happy ending and this one worked out well ☺️It’s a fantastic series of 3 booksAyla is the main character and the story is all her POVSo some can be put off by that but not me 😁I actually prefer it like that tooBut don’t take my word for it. You need to read it for yourself and be warned it will have you hookedIt does start off slow in book 1 at the beginning so be patient and it’ll pay offThere’s so much action in all kinds of waysI think with RH romances the more men can feel too much sometimes and you wonder how it’ll last in the futureSo with Ayla’s 3 men, they have pretty much been best friends, brothers, die for each other relationship that it works. They are so close why not share the girl that they have obsessed over and stalked etc lol but this love between all four works and makes sense and I love their relationship.I feel like with two other characters in this series it can open up their stories so whether Callie writes them we shall see 😁

This is the third and last book in this series and I will say the storyline and the reason Luca created The Game was good but Damon the parents are all evil psychos to do that to their kids.The relationship between Ayla, Marcus, Theo & Ryland is really good and I guessed who Caleb was when he burst in thinking they gave Luca the papers.Glad it worked out ok on that point and Victoria came out much better once they agreed to what they did.The only issue with this book and series to be fair is the repetitive dialogue in Ayla’s head, literally repeats the same thoughts so many times I lost count otherwise it’s a good trilogy with good characters.

Well that was just brilliant!! A story with so many twists, so much action and suspense, I just couldnt put it down!!Loved these characters so much, I'm kinda sad it's over. But that epilogue was just perfection!!

A perfect end to an amazing series. This series was the first series i read by this author but it won't be my last. It was brilliant , 5 star read and i highly recommend this book and series.

Best of the 3 mostly because it had the most action but the epilogue was my favourite part. A decent trilogy overall but it didn't always keep my attention.