Saved by the Dark by Ann Jensen

Whispers of the Story

One night, one sleazy bar, and three people looking around feeling like something is about to go down: a sadistic slave owner, a blonde angel dressed in white, and a dark knight who just wanted something sweet but got to be the saviour.

Phoebe starts a new life with Sharp in a motorcycle club, but their relationship is shadowed by a spicy secret, betrayal, and the hunting of very bad people. Can two soul mates find each other in a violent world? Yes, because the story has to have a happy ending.

Review of Save by the Dark by Ann Jensen

Fair warning, folks: This book is dark, spicy, and not for the faint of heart. We’re talking danger, mystery, suspense, adult themes, triggering content, steamy scenes, and power dynamics that’ll make your gran clutch her pearls. If you’re under 18, this isn’t for you. If you’re over 18, do yourself a favour and check the trigger list at the front of the book before diving in. You’ve been warned!

First, let me say that TikTok made me read it. The videos I’ve seen about this book were dark, spicy, and intriguing. So I put it on my TBR list and finally got to it. The reading? Not as enticing as I thought it would be. Let’s just say the people who made those videos had a more spicy view of the book than the author actually delivered.

The first part of the book, how Phoebe was saved and how she found her role in the motorcycle club, was interesting. It kept me hooked on the story and I just wanted to read more. Then all the insecurities, bad decisions, and classic clichés came rolling in, and I slowly became bored with the plot.

I think Ann Jensen knows that some things are a must in the MC romance genre, and that certain spicy scenes are very popular, so she decided to include them. But that just made a story with plot holes and no real substance. The slow burn was nowhere to be found and did not lead to a climactic spicy scene that would make women blush. Let me break down the things that became boring and clichéd.

Phoebe and Sharp: Instalove at Its Finest

Let’s talk about our main characters, because honestly, they’re both a bit too perfect to be believable.

Phoebe is blonde, skinny, and apparently so hot every man would drool or kill for her. She wears only cute dresses in a world full of motorcycle guys who do illegal jobs. But she’s not only beautiful. She’s strong, stronger than any other woman in her shoes. She knows how to cook, even for over 20 people in a matter of a few hours. And she has an eidetic memory, which comes in handy only in two very convenient circumstances.

One, to provoke sympathy over the fact that she’ll remember every minute of her torture. Two, when 80% of the book is over and they don’t have a way to get to the bad guys, so she conveniently remembers the coordinates of his locations. She’s seen so perfectly by the other characters that Sharp is warned about five times that if he doesn’t take care of her, five other brothers will try to get her. It’s a bit much, honestly.

Sharp is former military, a VP of a motorcycle club, and super hot. His best qualities? He has tattoos, is good with a gun, and only does what is good for others, like a puppy. So they see each other in a bar, he wants to bang her, ends up saving her life (meaning he takes her away), and leaves her the next morning with a bunch of strangers for a week. Obviously when he gets back, things get spicy hot between them and they fall in love in like two days.

Sharp gives Phoebe the cut after a week, being convinced that this woman he knows nothing about, who is reacting the way she is because she went through trauma, is perfect for him. Oh, and he’s peer pressured by his brothers. Phoebe took a drink from a man and was imprisoned and tortured for six months. You’d think she would not be so trustworthy after this, right? No, she gives herself completely to literally the first man she sees. If this story were true, psychologists would have a lot to say about it.

Both of them like things rough on the spicy side, but they hide this side from each other out of fear of driving the other away. But by the time they actually discover this mutual interest, what they do doesn’t even qualify as soft BDSM. It’s all build up with no real pay off. Sharp is worried that Phoebe might not like his style, but apparently his style is as mellow as a teenager who just discovered new visual sites.

The Plot: Where Did It All Go Wrong?

The whole story seems to be written very quickly, with no clear structure, like the author started with an idea and then realised she needed to finish it fast. It’s like at the beginning of the book there’s one idea, and at the end of the book there’s another.

Mitchell is the big bad wolf who dominates the first chapters, and then disappears and shows up again only at the end. The Dark Sons is described as a motorcycle club that indulges in parties full of sex, but the scenes are barely described. Caravaggio is this big powerful mafia related guy, as others say, but his contribution to the plot is just to be a shadow who’s taken down pretty easily.

One common cliché poorly delivered was the scene when Phoebe sees half a scene of Sharp with another woman and runs away heartbroken. Again, she knows him for a few days. But of course he was just telling the woman in a not very pretty way to stay away from him because he’s now a one woman man. Again, after knowing Phoebe for a few days.

Of course after that episode, the woman refused by Sharp starts a fight with Phoebe, and Phoebe wins. Apparently she took some self defence lessons when she was a child that didn’t come in handy whilst escaping from her tormentor, only in fighting another woman. Actually, she did fight her tormentor and killed him at the end, probably because Ann Jensen wanted to make her a grey character to fit in Sharp’s world. Some kind of rage takes over her that she managed to kill him, rage that was not present whilst she was being tortured, apparently.

There were so many scenes where, because of miscommunication, both Phoebe and Sharp stayed away, afraid they’d done something to upset the other. It was just boring at some point. I think this was another ploy by the author to prolong the story and create suspenseful moments, but the reunions were so shallow that I was thinking, please, just don’t do it anymore.

And at the end of the novel, I was literally afraid the revenge on her tormentors would be dragged into another book, since I only had 20% left and she was kidnapped. But no, I was wrong. In those 20% left, she got her revenge, a lot of women were rescued, her hunters were dead, and the Dark Sons delivered two missions similar to military missions they got used to from their army days. All wrapped up in a neat little bow that felt far too rushed.

The biggest problem is that Ann Jensen tells us a lot but doesn’t show it, doesn’t make us feel it. The Dark Sons party hard and there are a lot of sexual activities involved, but these are just mentioned. Having sex with the man you have the hots for in front of his brothers was supposed to be a punishment? And it was either that or banishment from the club because of a rule she didn’t know existed. The logic doesn’t quite add up, and the scene itself felt more like a box to tick than an actual moment of consequence.

The plot lacks depth. And at least the spicy scenes should be spicy. Maybe if the story focused more on the deep connection and spicy things between the two main characters, I would not complain so much, but that was lacking as well.

The Final Verdict

I definitely will not read the next books in the series because it just feels like reading for the sake of reading, not to read something interesting or beautiful. TikTok sold me a dark, intense, ride or die motorcycle club romance, and what I got was a rushed story with underdeveloped characters, plot holes you could ride a Harley through, and spicy scenes that were more lukewarm than scorching.

If you’re looking for a well developed MC romance with real chemistry, complex characters, and actual tension, this might not be your ride. But if you’re fine with instalove, perfect heroines, and a plot that wraps up faster than you can say “rev your engines,” then maybe give it a go.

For me, this book revved its engine but never really got out of first gear.

Rating: A disappointing ride that promised darkness but delivered dim lighting at best.

Happy reading!