Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Salvation
SERIES: Darkest Skies, Book 3
AUTHOR: Garrett Leigh
NARRATOR: Dan Calley
PUBLISHER: Fox Love Press
LENGTH: 8 hours and 29 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 16, 2021
BLURB:
Reformed gang boss Dante Pope is out after a four-year stretch in prison. But freedom has found him faster than he’s ready for. His only brother hates him, and with nothing but PTSD and a newfound fascination with plants for company, the outside world is a terrifying place.
A prisoner rehabilitation scheme lands him at a stately home that might as well be the moon. Working for gorgeous gardener Sid is a welcome distraction – his shoulders are broad, his rugged jaw unshaven, and his long, tanned legs?
Wow.
But Sid has problems of his own. A life-changing disease has left him limited in ways he can’t bear and accepting help, even from a stranger, makes him want to curl up and die.
If Dante would let him.
Newsflash: He won’t, and he’s not a stranger for long. With his dark smile and sinister ink, Dante Pope is the most beautiful man Sid has ever seen. Life is hard, but falling for each other is easy.
Sunshine and shadows.
Old ghosts can haunt Dante all they like. Loving Sid is the only salvation he’ll ever need.
Salvation is a sweetly angsty stand-alone MM romance novel in the Darkest Skies series. Expect: second chances, forced proximity, friends-to-lovers, and buckets of hurt/comfort themed loveliness. Content warnings for childhood trauma, violence, and chronic illness.
REVIEW:
In Salvation, the third installment in Garrett Leigh’s addictive Darkest Skies series, we finally get Dante’s story, and it’s unexpectedly beautiful. Ms. Leigh’s tells this story of Dante and Sid through her brilliant writing. No surprise there. What’s unexpected is how she’s able to give Dante redemption with hope, despite his dark, seemingly unshakeable past.
This quote from Salvation pretty much sums up this Darkest Skies series:
“Life is hard, but falling for each other is easy.”
Indeed, in each series book, we see morally ambiguous men who have made wrong decisions but want to do better. But real life doesn’t make things that easy. What happens without intention, and even against their own will at times, is falling in love.
The relationship between Dante and Sid just pulled me in and wouldn’t let go. I loved the first two books, but this one just checked every box for me. What we see here in Salvation is Dante struggling to be better. He can’t wipe away the past, nor does he try to. Instead, we see how he tries to find his way forward despite what he’s done in the past. In this, Sid is Dante’s salvation.
You’ll remember Dante if you’ve read Redemption, book one in this series. He was the “bad guy” in that story. He’s Luis’ brother, former head of a gang, and has done some terrible things in his past. He’s rehabilitated after four years in prison, but in his mind, he’s still that horrible person who can never change. He has PTSD, panic attacks, and a general inability to acclimate to life in the real world. The only reprieve from his sad, lonely world is Sid.
Sid is a sweet man but struggling and sad. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago, and he’s grappling with its debilitating effects, especially as he tries to continue to do his job as a gardener at a manor in Manchester, England. Dante is brought on to work as Sid’s assistant through a prisoner release program. Sid unfailing believes in Dante and that he is a fundamentally good person.
The love story between Dante and Sid is complicated but beautiful and absolutely addictive. Their relationship is portrayed authentically. It’s my favorite of the series. But the heart and soul of the story are the two men in the relationship: their complex, myriad emotions and their desperate recognition of the other as the balm to their soul.
You can read Salvation as a standalone, but I prefer it as part of the series, mainly because it brings closure to the overarching storyline concerning the Pope brothers. This is an excellent read that I highly recommend.
However, the audiobook version of Salvation, narrated by Dan Calley, fell short of Ms. Leigh’s written content. Given Salvation‘s emotional depth and complexity, Mr. Calley’s narration lacked the dimension I hoped for. It felt a bit flat to me in counterpoint to the nuanced dynamic texture of the story. It made it difficult at times to reconcile the words I was hearing with how they were said. Mr. Calley’s range of various regional English accents is impressive, though. They sound authentic and well-executed even though I did have some difficulty parsing through them at times.
It’s apparent Mr. Calley is an experienced narrator who knows his vocal fundamentals and has evident skill behind the mic. I’ve listened to other audio from him and have enjoyed them. His approach is thoughtful and performance invested. I think the intonation mismatch is what unsettled me here. I do think he did a better job handling it here than in Deliverance (a story I loved but similarly struggled with the intonation issue). It’s something I’m extremely sensitive to as a listener and, consequently, I didn’t enjoy the Salvation audio as much as I wanted to. But audio is quite subjective, and you may enjoy it much more than I did. Regardless, Ms. Leigh’s excellent story deserves reading whether on paper or in audio format and I highly encourage you to do so.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: