Is finding one’s true love worth committing the greatest sacrifice of all? Taken as a teen, prisoner 194 was stripped of his name and freewill, meticulously honed to be a ruthless machine. Even as he tries to fight his captors hold on him he knows that obedience is the only way to save his sister, who is the one person that keeps him from turning into a monster. As a young girl Zoya Kostava … girl Zoya Kostava barely escaped the brutal attack that killed her entire family. Now twenty five she lives in secrecy. That is until she hears her brother also survived and is living with their greatest enemy.
Zoya risks her safety and anonymity to find the brother she thought dead and is captured by a beautiful, brutal man. A man who both captivates and scares her, in him she sees a soul as lost as her own.
They both have so much to lose will they be able to save each other…and survive.
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For those with a little darkness in their soul…..HERE, HERE, I’M HERE!!!!!!
Zoya. Apart from a select few, no one knows who she is, but trying to connect with her estranged brother, she is taken…by 194/Valentin…the beast who has his own warped story. His mission….to break her and kill Zaal. But he does not do this of free will as you may remember from Reap and Raze.
I think this is my fave of the 3 so far! It had wrong moments that were so right, 2 alone souls coming together….and the break moment….it was bloody poetical!
The ending…..the bloody ending! Gaaaaah!
The suspense and intrigue continues with Ravage (Scarred Souls #3). It’s a heartbreaking tale of betrayal, power, and revenge, as well as abuse, with lots of bloodshed. As the heat rises between Valentin/194 and Zoya so does the threat against them. It’s a dark and gritty romance that has your heart pounding. I thought it was slightly long winded in places but I do highly recommend it!
Wow i don’t even know what to say but that ending has me excited for the last book.
When we met Luka we didn’t think that we could read anyone more fucked up then him and then we meet Zaal who is worse and thinking it can’t get worse we meet 194 Valentin and he was majorly twisted and dark especially being controlled by mistress and trying to keep his sister safe and what she was going through. This book had it all when you have the Russian mafia and then another organisation who is more twisted than the Bratva it makes one hell of story.
Then there is Zoya who you feel for thinking she has no family and is in hiding because of the organisation that just wants to control everything. When Zoya finds out she has living family she wants to go to them straight away thinking that her enemy’s won’t as they have dealt with except they haven’t and then brings on the story of Valentin and Zoya.
This book is the third in the series and i loved it, it’s violent and dark, but i wouldn’t want this story any other way
If you’re a fan of mafia, torture and emotions running high then this is the book for you loved it and can’t wait for what’s coming up next.
Book 3 of the Scarred series left me feeling sad.
I’m sad that I didn’t love this couple as much as I wanted to love them because I’m absolutely loving this storyline. I’m so excited to start book 4.
As I was reading I felt more excited to get to the parts where the previous characters made appearances (I LOVE ZAAL!!!!!)
This series is one that must be read in order to get the full experience of the storyline.
I had forgotten how intense this series is, and I realise how far behind I am in reading this. But I seriously had to gear myself up for the darkness and the world of pain I knew these warriors were in!
Fully immersed from the first page, this author drags you in, kicking and screaming.
But along the way the heartbreakingly beautiful love story weaves it’s way into your very soul! I dont think I took a breathe from start to finish!
May be a bit spoiler-ish
I’m not huge on mafia stories but I love the intense emotion and passion in these type of books, and this one didn’t disappoint! I was a little worried after reading some other reviews, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to them since they weren’t fully accurate. I read a lot of reviews saying 192/Valentin raped Zoya, but that’s not exactly how I saw things. There’s more to it than that. When someone is being drugged to be obedient, the fault falls to the person who did the drugging. The obedient drugs cause a Jekyll and Hyde type deal, so Valentin isn’t fully in control of himself. Valentin does sexually touch Zoya with no straight out consent while he was aware, but full on rape doesn’t happen to Zoya. He actually causes pain to himself in order to protect her. He’s not an angel, but everything isn’t black and white. Valentin is the one that has been raped since he was a child and has been a slave for 18 years. I think Zoya explains it well in this book about how she can fall for her capturer; I don’t see Stockholm’s syndrome, I see Zoya’s ability to understand the torturous situation Valentin finds himself in. After all the things he’s been through, I’m surprised Valentin had the mental capacity that he did.
The development of the romance is a spot of sweetness in this dark, disturbing world. The connection between Zoya and Val is awesome and I love how protective each of them is over the other. I haven’t read any of the previous books, but I want to now. It was great to see a bit of the stories for the past characters; even without reading their stories. If I can feel the depth of connection already between the characters, I know I’ll love their books. So, I’m really looking forward to reading those. I’m not too keen on the next book because it’s bound to be brutal, but I still want to read it.
Overall, I loved this story. Entertaining and engrossing.
Wow, another fantastic book by Tillie Cole. This has been a fabulous dark twisted series from the word go, a fantastically unique story with characters that really reach into your heart and soul, characters that are dark and brutal due to their past experiences, broken, shattered, that need healing and love. This book picks up straight after Reap, and is the story of 194. Taken as a child along with his sister 152 by the Night Wraiths, they are experimented on with drugs, 194 is turned into a killing machine and 152 into a sex slave. But 194 has retained his memories and has vowed to keep his promise and rescue his sister. 194 gets a new job, to capture Zaal any way he can. He ends up capturing a Georgian woman who turns his world upside down. Zoya is Zaal’s long lost sister, who has been in hiding for years til word of Zaal’s release, whom she goes to find, and is captured by 194. I’m not giving any more of the story away. You need to read it for yourself. I loved Zoya and 194/Valentin, such broken characters yet strong, both finding that something in each other to be able to overcome their pasts and learn to love. There is some dark brutality in this book as in the others in this series, but it works fantastically well in the story. It really takes you on a emotional roller coaster, very intense at times even savage, but then heart breaking to soul crushing happiness, fabulous!! I couldn’t put this down, seriously, the kids daren’t come near me, I was gripped!! Can’t wait for the next book!!
This was suspenseful, thrilling and erotic like the previous books in this series. And like those, it is dark and has sexual triggers.
But it’s well written for this genre, I enjoyed it.
***4.5 Stars***
Holy. HELL.
Tillie Cole promised a #DarkRomanceRevolution and she most definitely delivered with the latest installment of the Scarred Souls series. Ravage is NOT for the faint of heart or anyone who wants a romance filled with wine and roses, but then again if you are even considering reading this series you know better than to expect any of that. It is dark, intense and disturbing and yet even at it’s most brutal you can’t help but feel your heart ache for what both 194/Valentin and Zoya are going through.
What makes a Tillie Cole book an experience, no matter if you love it or hate it, is the way that she hooks you from the first page and takes you on an excruciating emotional roller coaster of a ride and yet gives you everything you never knew you wanted in a romance, even if it’s dark and disturbing. Valentin/194 is someone I should hate, and yet knowing how he came to be 194 and why he did what he did, my heart ended up bleeding for him. Becoming a monster wasn’t what he wanted to do, but what he had to do and yet even this monster has a heart.
Zoya is the epitome of a strong, compassionate female. She has survived the massacre of her family and has been able to stay alive and out of the clutches of the people who committed the crime. True, she has been in hiding since, but she hasn’t curled up and died. The strength she showed while under 194’s hand was unbelievable. Most men would have broken, but her loyalty to her brother never wavered. And her capacity for forgiveness and compassion was amazing, I’m still in awe that she was able to go there after all she’d been through, but she did.
Valentin and Zoya’s relationship can definitely be classified as a Beauty and the Beast/Stockholm syndrome type story. I’m not going to deny that I got a bit of whiplash when their captor/captive relationship changed and said “What the fuck?”, and am still processing that part because holy hell was it brutal, but what came after and how they fought for each other, especially with how hard Zoya fought, it ended up working for me. This is a dark romance and not everything is going to make sense and be all neat and tidy, hell even Valentin and Zoya admitted that things are messed up, but they formed a connection and understood and accepted each other, the good, the bad and the ugly.
While the majority of the book is told from Valentin’s and Zoya’s POV’s we do get a bit of Luka’s aka Raze’s thrown into the mix and yes I did a total fangirl happy sigh because I’m totally #TeamRaze & #TeamLuka, Raze holds a special place in my heart since it was my first book by Ms. Cole and I haven’t looked back. I really liked seeing what was going on through his eyes because as much as he is the next Bratva king, he is also still a bit of an outsider which gives him a wider world view. And with this book we are finally getting closer to the final showdown with the Mastermind behind the gulags and drug testings and it looks like we’re in for a h*ll of a fight.
Dark. Intense. Disturbing. Brutal. Not for the faint of heart and yet will pull at your heartstrings. That pretty much sums up Ravage. This book is not a standalone, you must read Raze and Reap to fully understand the various relationships between the characters and what it going on with the series story arc. And if you like your romance dark, this is the series for you!
~ ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~
I didn’t think I could love anyone more than I did Zaal, after reading his story in REAP. I was so wrong. 194 was so broken, so scarred and so fierce. I couldn’t NOT love him.
Ripped from an orphanage at a young age and raised to be a vicious killer, he knew no other way to live. He was a slave to the savages that took him and drugged to obey their commands. So when he’s ordered to assassinate Zaal Kostavo, he sets forth to do as he’s told. His only motivation, to save his sister.
Little did he know that coming across a beautiful little Georgian would put a chink in his mission. With ever intention of following through, he was floored when this beauty looked at him like a man, instead of the monster he was made to be. This caused him to feel things he’d never felt before.
In a way Ravage was a version of Beauty and the Beast, just a bit darker. He may have been a monstrous man that would tower over the average male, Zoya gave him his true strength. She saw his inner self. She was able to help him discover the man he was always supposed to be. She related to him on a level that most wouldn’t see. They were kindred spirits. Both grew up isolated. Him, a prisoner and slave. Her, locked away for her own protection; almost like a Georgian Rapunzel.
Together they had just a beautifully broken story. This is my favorite so far in the Scarred Souls series and I can’t find out what happens next.
The Arizianis are loosing the battle as more and more prisoners and the army of Monstrous killers they created is unravelling.
First Luka, then Zaal and now Valentin . Hes #194 . Bred to kill, bred to hunt down Zaal Kostava and kill because Zaal had killed Jakhua and his sister is now on a revenge oath.
Valentin is taken from an orphanage alongwith his sister , when they were just kids. He was made into a killer, his sister Inessa used for sex slavery. They’re both injected with drugs to ensure compliance. Yet Valentin finds love and compassion in the most unusual of place- his captive. Zoya Kostava tames the beast and turns him with soft touches and gentle heart.
This third book in Scarred Souls saga , tillie still manages to surprise and hold us. Its a very well written beautiful story of a scarred Tbilisi Monster and the timid angel who sees the Beauty within him.
Together The Future Pakhan of Red Brotherhood- Luka Vorkov and his knyaz , Zaal Kostava, Valentin Belrov will join them to rule the Mafia underground.
“Then we both are vory serdtsa; we are both thieves of the heart.”
As a huge fan of Tillie Cole’s books, I always get very excited the moment I get my hands on any of her books. She is an amazing author with a creative mind, and she keeps on surprising me with her unique stories. She left me wanting more at the end of Reap and I needed Ravage ASAP. I dropped everything I was reading and started this book the moment it hit my kindle.
“We are different. Me weak and you strong. Me a Georgian and you Russian, but our broken hearts are tired and old. Our spirits are low, though not broken. But our souls, though thoroughly tested and hardened through pain, are resilient.” Her lips twitched, and she added, “They are the same.”
This book focuses on 194, who was taken as a young teen and is forced to kill and torture. And Zoya, who is Zaal’s sister and is hiding from her enemies in Manhattan. This book started out really dark and emotional, but I am used to that from Tillie. I was intrigued by 194 and wanted to know more about him. Both 194 and Zoya had a very heartbreaking past. For 194 his nightmares are still continuing till this day. After the danger to Zoya is over, she prepares to meet her brother. In front of the house just before she is about to meet him, she gets kidnapped by 194, who is under the influence of drugs that force him into obedience. He has one goal and that is to get Zaal.
In the beginning of the kidnapping 194 does a lot of horrible things. He was ruthless and he needed information, and would do anything to get it from Zoya. I have to say some of the scenes were pretty horrific. But 194 is not himself so I could definitely overlook his evil actions. I loved how they understood and found comfort in each other. I think they were a great match together. I especially loved Zoya, because she had things figured out pretty fast. Zoya and 194 gave each other hope and that was beautiful to read.
“I feel alive. I feel like yours.”
Ravage is not my favorite but overall a strong third book in the series. I did have a couple of issues with this book. I was missing the development for Zoya and 194 as a couple. I wanted to see more of them together, especially after the kidnapping. I do understand that 194 basically had no life for 15 years. The same goes for Zoya, who had been in hiding her whole life. So their relationship is obvious going to happen in a very non-traditional way. I was happy that Tillie included a couple of Luka’s POV, because I am always interested to know what he is up to. There are still enemies out there and they need to prepare for war. I am very intrigued by the main character of the next book Riot and can’t wait to find out more.