Review: Ruin

Ruin by Jolie Vines
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ruin (Dark Island Scots, #1) by Jolie Vines

★★★☆☆ 3 stars — brooding Scottish atmosphere, uneven execution

The setup hooked me immediately: a bloodied stranger in handcuffs on a ferry to a remote Scottish island and a heroine who can't look away. Jolie Vines knows how to build tension and the dark, isolated setting does a lot of heavy lifting here.

What worked:
The hero is brooding perfection, magnetic, dangerous and exactly what this genre promises. The lust-to-hate-to-love pipeline is deliciously angsty and the Scottish atmosphere is genuinely atmospheric. Some lines hit hard enough to highlight.

What didn't work:
The pacing felt uneven in places and the story didn't fully stick the landing for me. I enjoyed it, but it had flaws I couldn't ignore.

If you love dark romance, enemies-to-lovers and a morally grey hero, this is absolutely your read. Just go in knowing it leans into the angst hard and ends on a cliffhanger.

Vibes: dark · spicy · angsty · Scottish setting · enemies-to-lovers

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