RED RUIN
Series: Savage Sentinels #1
Genre: Guideverse Romance
Author: Lola Rock
Release Date: July 22, 2025
Instead of sticking around to watch my suddenly EX fiancé adore the Guide he replaced me with, I do the totally sane, normal thing and run away to war.
The Sentinels battling monster hordes desperately need my power. I just want to find a place to belong as something other than a tool.
When I report for duty, ready to fight on my own terms, I find my new squad in shambles.
Its strongest warriors are so poisoned by their own magic, they’re not just insane—they’re barely hanging on to their humanity.
If I can’t tame the rampaging vampire and the one-horned devil, I won’t have to wait for my enemies to ruin me.
Vhex and Remy will grin with their fangs as they ruin what’s left of my soul.
♥ Medium
♥ High (spicy MFM scenes, no sword-crossing)
♥ NOT an omegaverse
♥ frequent cursing, monster combat, magic system entrenched with sexual healing & possessive-but-useless MLs who hate each other (forever). Check the author’s site for the full list of tags, tropes, and warnings
What’s your name, Sentinel?”
“I’m Vhex.” He shoots me a sharp, sweet smile- all razor blades in cotton candy. “You call me husband.”
Having loved Lola’s Omegaverse series, I was super excited for something new and different. I’ve never read Guideverse so I had no idea what to expect when I started this one. And frankly, I’m still not sure how to describe it. It was a fun and sexy romp but it also took me a minute to wrap my head around all the things.
Iris is a “guide” who is essentially like a healer. She gets assigned Sentinels, who are essentially warriors who lose their humanity when they fight and only a guide can heal them. Iris is unique in being an 80% match to all Sentinels, which also makes it difficult to find her imprint match. And after she gets rejected by her fiancé, she’s given up hope on imprinting altogether. She asks for a reassignment to escape her constant reminders of her ex, and lands in a middle of a war zone with her new squad. There she meets two completely feral Sentinels; the devilish Vhex, and the vampire Remy. Both are out of their mind feral and unhinged in every sense of the word. Obviously I loved them. Though I have to say that Vhex was extra special to me with his sweet and mushy ways of calling himself husband. Remy is out of his mind even more, to the point of memory loss and when he’s on a rampage would even forget Iris’s name.
Now I have to say if you like the insta lust vibes, you’d love this book. I don’t tend to favor that, so the instant connection and jump into spice wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t hate it, but I felt like the spice took over the world building and story. Like the first 60% of the book felt entirely focused on the spice. Whereas I wanted to better understand the world and magic system and get to know the characters more. I felt like I started to lose that a bit. It’s interesting since a lot of the healing is sexual, so it also felt cold and mechanical in parts. I’m not sure how to describe it really. It was very hot, yes. But because the characters haven’t developed their bond yet and the instant connection/chemistry, it felt more like duty than anything else.
The story itself took a bit for me to finish and felt a touch too long. But the second I hit the 70% mark, it really took off and I began to enjoy it a whole lot more.
While it took me a bit to get into, I was fully invested at the end and will definitely be continuing this story. If you like monster smut, guideverse, feral and unhinged MMCs, MFM action, and all the spice, then you definitely want to check this one out.