THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!
This post may contain affiliate links for products and services I recommend. If you make a purchase through these links, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission.
Hello sassy people! Today’s post is about The Savage by Sophie Lark! Thank you, Sophie Lark and Social Butterfly PR for providing this copy in exchange for an honest review!
The Savage
(Kingmakers #5)
by Sophie Lark
How Do You Tame A Savage?
Sabrina Gallo is an animal.
From the moment I laid eyes on her, I had to have her.
But Sabrina won’t be taken by anyone. She’s wild and reckless – downright dangerous.
Lucky for me, I’ve always loved a challenge… I want to hunt.
Even if I capture her, caging a tiger doesn’t mean it’s tamed.
The harder she fights, the more ruthless I become.
She needs to learn how savage I can be.
The Lark Notes:>/b>
You asked for it, you got it! I’ve never received more requests for a book. This is for all my rowdy Love Larks, because you deserve it. Sabrina Gallo and Adrik Petrov are fire and fire. Their relationship is an inferno that could burn the world down. — Sophie
“The Savage” is a standalone story in the Kingmakers universe. It’s a dark mafia romance, lovers to enemies to lovers again. Reader prepare yourself: the steam is off the charts, including FF and FFM scenes.
Genre: Romance, ARC
Publisher: Indie
Year: 2022
Nº of pages: 553
Is it on KU?: Yes!!!!!
Subgenres: Contemporary Romance, Dark, Erotic
Tropes: Mafia Romance, Romance Family
Smut factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 5/5 (Sierra Simone level)
Spice scale: 4/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POP (Put Out Percentage): 10%
TRIGGER WARNINGS (Based on StoryGraphs): Blood, Death, Drug Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Gun Violence, Murder, Sexism, Violence
Main characters: Adrik and Sabrina
Main conflict: At the beginning of their relationship started with the promise of equal partnership, but Adrik had problems compromising and being able to share his power.
Hero: Alpha
Heroine: The Seducer
Pacing: Medium
Mood: Amazing, Deep, Delicious, Heavy, Hot and complicated, Sweet, Thrilling
Plot or character-driven: Mixed
P.O.V.: Double P.O.V.
Character development: Good
Diverse Cast: Yes
Read in: 2022
My Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
This book gave me many emotions. The first 60% were pretty much perfect, delicious with a lot of mafia and amazing power. But when the conflicts started, they were shattering to me. When Adrik broke Sabrina’s trust he also broke mine. In the end, he did redeem himself, but it’s not the same (as my mom says, a broken vase will never be the same again, and this is true about Adrik). He was in my book boyfriend category before he f*** things up. And even though he did redeem himself, and he did show that he is working on his flaws, he just lost his status to me.
I understand a lot of the mistakes both Sabrina and Adrik made in their relationship and in general, however, it pissed me off to read Sabrina apologizing, again and again, when in my head, she didn’t really need to apologize. It was extremely gratifying to see her have her revenge, to see Adrik having to bite his tongue for every second he doubted her, so in my head, he needed to apologize because he deserved everything he got, but he never did apologize and that pisses me off.
I believe this was one of the best books I’ve ever read by Sophie Lark, I already loved her, but now, wow. This was very well written, I love the inside view of the mob and the struggle to have success inside it. I love to see the pressure and stress of the leader and to see how flawed Adrik is.
And as in all of Sophie Lark’s books, the action is amazing and thrilling and it makes the book even better.
Equality rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
Adrik started to book looking perfect. He was powerful and strong, like an alpha, but without the jealousy and possessiveness that is typical of this type of hero, which made him look like the best of both worlds. However he was not immune to toxic masculinity, he was not immune from the need to be the boss, to be the one that is always right and is never questioned. I understand his troubles and even though he was an as***le, he did realize his mistakes and took care of her. Sometimes I don’t think it was enough, but I liked to see him work in getting better.
This couple has some DEEP communication issues, and the end of the book hints at them solving that. I do believe that their relationship depended a lot on the physical, but they used the physical to talk about the emotional. This book had one of the most heartfelt sex scenes I’ve ever read and I loved that.
This had a lot of very positive sides (these are the points it checked on my positive behaviors list:
Aftercare, Diverse Cast, Explicit and enthusiastic consent, Healthy sexuality (toys, kink, free sexuality), Innovative points of view about gender roles and stereotypes, Men who realize they were sexist, Powerful and strong female main characters, Women in male-dominated jobs/fields
But it also had some of the worst negatives I’ve ever seen in a book… :
Belittle or minimize their accomplishments, Controlling issues, Dangerous power dynamics, Dominating decision-making process, Emotional violence, Fault the abuse on the victim, Insult or humiliate the love interest in front of friends and colleagues, Isolation from peers, Monitor where the love interest goes and with whom, No Communication, Sexism, Stalking, Unprotected sex (consensual or non-consensual)
In the end, my rate is 4 because the redeeming process saved the story for me, and it was mostly a very equal book, having small but very impactful scenes of inequality.
Adjectives and general thoughts: Amazing but also heavy and impactful
Fall in love today!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3H4lZyE
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TheSavageSL
Add The Savage to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3njhGZ9
About Sophie
Sophie Lark is an Amazon Bestselling author who writes intense, intelligent romance,
with heroines who are strong and capable, and men who will do anything to capture
their hearts. She lives with her husband, two boys, and baby girl in the Rocky Mountain West.
She has a slight obsession with hiking, bodybuilding, and live comedy shows. Her
perfect day would be taking the kids to Harry Potter World, going dancing with Mr. Lark,
then relaxing with a good book and a monster bag of salt and vinegar chips.
Connect with Sophie
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2NO2Gn2
Instagram: https://bit.ly/2YoIcDt
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3pwmAAW
Join her Facebook reader group The Love Larks: http://bit.ly/2YtgQw2
Stay up to date with Sophie by joining her mailing list: https://bit.ly/39rZfL9
Website: https://sophielark.com
Well, that is all for today, I hope you like this post, hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. Feel free to leave your opinion about it in the comments and I will see you next time!
Bye sassy people!
- I know that some comments I make about decent guys on my posts are the bare minimum a guy should do, so no, they don’t deserve to be treated like gods for doing the minimum, but at the same time, I’ve read a lot of sexist books and I appreciate authors who make characters that can serve as role models and examples of how a decent guy acts and what a loving and respectful relationship looks like. I believe we should always encourage these authors and bring attention to the ones that still write sexist characters and stories.
- I make a lot of comments about sexism and healthy role models in books, but a lot of times these characteristics don’t make the book a bad book and definitely don’t make the author a bad author. Please never shame these authors and these books for these comments, I simply feel that we need to have awareness of the less than ideal situations some books bring us, and not use the romanticized problem as examples of what a relationship should be. Most of these authors are still amazing, and the content they write doesn’t reflect directly with their personal views and opinions. Always make sure to respect and be kind to everyone, even while criticizing their content.
Find Me In
Meet Me
Brazilian architecture student and book lover
One of my goals in analysing my readings was to talk about important topics, like feminist and consent, because literature, art and culture influence us, and I believe we should always encorage authors who talk about this topics.
Come check out my Goodreads Reading Challenge!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2020
I read 148 books in 2020, come see them!
