Ruled (Outlaws, #3)

by Elle Kennedy

[EBookObsessed]

Great story. This series is getting more exciting. The tension and the romance worked well in this threesome.

This is the third book of Elle Kennedy’s dystopian series, Outlaws and the action has kicked up. Claimed (Book 1) was our introduction to this new society, and Addicted (Book 2) started giving us more in depth look at the characters in the various groups.

Not only is this a dystopian series, it is also great erotica. In Ruled, we go back to get a more in depth look at Reese’s Town. We also get a more in depth look at Reese and Sloan’s complex relationship, added with the spice of sexy Rylan.

This is a menage story, but what I liked best is that it was truly a bonding of all the parties into the new leadership of the Town. When Ryan was at camp with Hudson and Conner, they all played together from time to time, but it was definitely two on one in their exploits. Here, Rylan and Sloan spend just as much time playing pattycake with each other as they do with Reese.

In Ruled, Rylan has been chasing Reese since the moment that he saw her but Reese wants nothing to do with him and it has less to do with Rylan and much to do with how much Rylan reminds Reese of her ex-lover, Jake. Reese, Sloan and Jake started and then ran the Town. Jake was everyone’s friend but he had a dark side and when he started hurting women in the Town it became necessary for Reese and Sloan to take him out.

Reese can see that Rylan is missing Jake’s darker side, but she doesn’t trust her own judgment where he is concerned so when she finally agrees to have sex with him, she makes Sloan come watch in order to make sure she doesn’t get too carried away. Rylan, who is always up for a party, tries to get Sloan to join in, and doesn’t understand why two people as close as Sloan and Reese and who are obviously attracted to each other, haven’t gotten together. With Rylan’s help, Sloan and Reese break the barrier which has kept them apart and the three of them play while trying to decide the future of the Town.

Their actions outside of Town might just put everyone at risk. Reese, Rylan, Sloan and several members of Connor’s outpost and Reese’s Town have been attacking the City’s Outposts, killing Enforcers and stealing guns and ammunition. Nothing points to the Town but the Enforcers don’t trust them, especially after one of their teams went missing not long ago in her neighborhood and the tale of bandits seems just too shaky.

Now they must decide if they should risk everything by going further and trying to raid the larger Enforcer Outpost while they are still recovering from the last attack, or play it safe and lay low for awhile before the Council decides to take out Reese’s Outlaw Town.

Elle Kennedy does a great job of keeping tensions high for the surviving Outlaws who are trying to create a life for themselves even though the penalty for living outside the City is death.

This series does a great job in balancing the story for survival with the romances which reflect an attempt to grab a life in a dangerous world. In the end, the fact that Reese, Sloan and Rylan come together as a unit both as leaders of the Town and as a romantic group, shines in this story.