Savage Review | Chaos Davie | Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A slick, high-heat sapphic crime romance with a ruthless queenpin heroine and a HEA — dark, spicy, and hugely satisfying for readers who love morally-gray power players.

Best for: Fans of dark mafia/crime romance who want a dominant, dangerous love interest, enemies-to-lovers sparks, real spice, and a happy ending despite the bloodshed.

Heat: 🌶🌶🌶🌶 (4/5 — explicit and frequent)

Rating: ★★★★½ (4.38 average across 440+ Goodreads ratings — a strong, enthusiastic reader signal)

Tropes: Dark mafia/crime romance · enemies-to-lovers · morally-gray queenpin · dual POV · interconnected standalone · HEA

Savage by Chaos Davie is exactly the kind of high-octane, morally-gray title that lands on any good list of dark sapphic romance recommendations. It pairs a bloodstained crime-boss heroine with a woman carrying dangerous secrets, and delivers plenty of heat alongside the danger. This review breaks down what it is, who it’s for, and why readers are rating it so highly.

What Is Savage About?

Savage is the second book in The Triarchy Collection, a set of interconnected standalone sapphic dark romances that Chaos Davie (the dark-romance pen name of C.C. Davie) writes for an adult audience. It follows Erryn Loxley, who rules London’s Triarchy with an iron heart and a bloodstained crown — until Helena crashes into her world and throws everything into turmoil.

Erryn never planned to fall for anyone, least of all a woman with shadows buried in her past. When those shadows resurface, she’s forced to choose between keeping her throne and risking it all for the woman threatening to unravel her. It’s a dual-POV story where every road, as the book warns, is paved in blood.

What Makes This Dark Crime Romance Work

Its 4.38 rating isn’t an accident — Savage hits the marks dark-romance readers come for:

A genuinely powerful heroine. Erryn is a ruthless queenpin, not a softened one — morally-gray done right.
Real enemies-to-lovers tension. The push-pull between Erryn and Helena crackles.
Dual POV that earns its keep. Seeing both women’s inner worlds deepens the stakes.
High, well-integrated heat. The spice is frequent and serves the power dynamic.
A satisfying HEA. Despite the darkness and body count, the payoff lands.

Book Synopsis

Erryn Loxley sits at the top of London’s criminal Triarchy, having built and defended her position with an unflinching hand. She’s not looking for love — love is a liability in her world — but Helena’s arrival upends the careful control she’s spent years perfecting.

As Helena’s past comes back into play, the two are drawn together even as the danger around them escalates. Savage balances its crime-world plot with a slow-burning, high-heat romance, building toward a resolution that gives readers the happy ending the genre so often withholds — without pretending the road there was clean.

I had a great time with Savage. It knows exactly what it is — a slick, spicy, dangerous sapphic crime romance — and it delivers without apology. Erryn is the standout: a heroine who is genuinely powerful and morally gray rather than a soft character wearing a dangerous costume, and that commitment is what makes the whole book work.

The dual POV is used well, letting the tension between Erryn and Helena breathe from both sides, and the heat is frequent and well-integrated into the power dynamic rather than bolted on. At 242 pages it moves quickly, and its 4.38 average reflects how consistently readers are responding to it.

My honest note: because it’s an interconnected standalone in an ongoing collection, a few threads clearly connect to the wider world, and readers who haven’t read Book 1 may sense they’re missing some context on the periphery. It still stands alone with a complete arc and a HEA — but as always with dark romance, check the author’s content warnings before diving in.

Element	In Savage
Central relationship	Erryn (crime boss) & Helena, f/f, dual POV
Core tropes	Dark crime romance, enemies-to-lovers, morally-gray queenpin
Setting	London’s criminal underworld (The Triarchy)
Heat level	🌶🌶🌶🌶 (4/5) — explicit and frequent
Series	The Triarchy Collection #2 (interconnected standalone)
Content notes	Violence, dark themes, adult content — check the author’s notes for the full list

How Spicy Is Savage?

On a five-chili scale, Savage lands around a 4/5. The intimate scenes are explicit and frequent, and they lean into the dominant/dangerous energy that defines Erryn as a character.

Crucially, the heat feels purposeful rather than gratuitous — it’s tied to the power dynamic between the two leads, which makes it land harder than spice for its own sake. If you want a dark romance where the steam is a core feature, this delivers.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you love dark mafia/crime romance, you want a genuinely powerful and morally-gray heroine, you enjoy enemies-to-lovers with real heat, and you want a HEA at the end of the darkness.

You may want to skip it if: violence and dark themes aren’t for you, you prefer low-heat or slow-burn-only romance, or you dislike interconnected series where some threads reach beyond the single book.

In short: a confident, satisfying dark crime romance for readers who want their sapphic love stories dangerous, spicy, and ultimately hopeful.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Savage a standalone?

Yes and no. It’s the second book in The Triarchy Collection but is written as an interconnected standalone — it has a complete arc and HEA on its own, though it shares a world with the other books.

Is it a true sapphic romance?

Yes. It’s a dual-POV sapphic (f/f) dark romance with a central love story between Erryn and Helena at its core.

How steamy is it, really?

Quite steamy, around 4/5. The explicit content is frequent and tied to the dominant power dynamic between the leads.

Does it have a happy ending?

Yes — the author confirms it ends on a HEA, so you get the dark journey and a satisfying payoff.

Do I need to read Book 1 first?

Not strictly. Savage stands on its own, but reading The Triarchy Collection in order adds context and richness to the shared world.

If You Loved Savage, Read These Next

If Erryn’s ruthless charm and the high-heat crime setting worked for you, explore more titles in our guide to the best dark sapphic romance, where you’ll find more morally-gray power players, mafia romances, and spicy enemies-to-lovers reads.

The Bottom Line

Savage is a slick, spicy, satisfying sapphic dark romance built around a genuinely powerful queenpin heroine and a dangerous enemies-to-lovers dynamic — and its 4.38 rating shows how well it’s connecting with readers. It’s dark and violent but delivers a HEA, making it an easy recommendation for fans of the subgenre. Check Savage on Amazon →