*Spoilers* Her Ruthless Warrior By R.G. Angel

Blurb

The line between redemption and damnation is razor thin—and once it’s crossed, there’s no going back…

Violet

Nothing wrecks an already bad day faster than almost getting hit by a car.

But then he rescued me.

My mysterious, sexy savior wore danger as easily as he wore his black-on-black clothes. And still, I wasn’t afraid of him.

I should’ve been.

Because after one misunderstanding, the man I thought would love me forever showed me just how ruthless and cold he really is.

I trusted him with my heart once and it broke me. I can’t afford to make that mistake again…

Hoka

She was my ikigai—my life purpose.

Loving her was inevitable.

But I’m king of the Japanese mafia. Softness like hers doesn’t exist in my world.

Maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to believe she betrayed me. Why I burned us to the ground.

Now that I know the truth, I’ll do anything to get her back.

I know a good man would let her go.

But I’m not a good man...

Her Ruthless Warrior, book 1 in the The Syndicates series, is a steamy, angsty, dark(ish), emotional age gap romance featuring an innocent heroine and the mob boss who falls head-over-heels in love with her at first sight. Happily ever after guaranteed.

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Review

*Spoilers ahead, be warned...

I thought this book was right up my alley since I was in the mood for an age-gap romance with heavy groveling, but I wasn’t satisfied with either.

Violet is… twenty-two I believe? And Hoka is somewhere in his early to mid-thirties. The blurb focused on the mafia aspect of their romance but since their age gap was mentioned, I thought it would play a bigger role in their drama. Violet’s age is brought up a couple of times by Jiro, Hoka’s best friend and right-hand man, but it has more to do with concern for bringing Violet into the fold. It's not brought up again once Violet is exposed to Hoka’s world.

Despite his groveling, I couldn’t root for Hoka anymore because of how easily he dropped Violet.

It would have taken Hoka two minutes, two minutes of his time, to get everything right. Two minutes to prevent all the drama that followed; two minutes to spare the amount of suffering I went through. But I was not worth it… After everything I had given him, I wasn’t even worth the decency of a real explanation.

How could Hoka gush about their love being destiny when he threw her out as if their relationship meant nothing? The way he doubted and humiliated her when he kicked her out of his mansion made me lose all respect for him.

I wasn't convinced their emotional relationship could be repaired either. The second time Violet stays at his mansion, she can’t bear to talk or be touched by Hoka. He plans to revive Violet’s love for him by taking her on a week-long trip to Japan and promises her freedom afterward but it’s under the condition that she plays House with him and expects sex from her. This felt very dirty because Hoka said she must fulfill these conditions before she could leave.

*He said it must be “willing” sex because he’d never force himself on her, but he shouldn’t have made it an expectation in the first place. Hoka attempted to rectify this by saying it’s not part of their deal anymore but she’d already given him a blowjob at that point. :/ Mkay Hoka.

It felt like the sex was just thrown in there and it didn’t make sense to me. How come Violet suddenly agreed to sleep with him when he utterly repulsed her? Why didn’t Hoka get any pushback on that? Because of this, I thought a believable path to get Violet back in Hoka’s arms was sacrificed for spice.

I know, I know, a spicy book needs spice. Then I would suggest it shouldn’t have been Violet going down on Hoka, it should’ve been reversed.

That was their first intimate moment since Violet got kicked to the curb. Since Hoka’s the one groveling, their first taste of physical intimacy should’ve been Hoka going down on Violet.

⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️