The Rutledge Brothers, Piper Scott

Tragic in the life Seth is forced to lead, and triumphant in how that part of his life ends.  The beginning and end of the story were just right, each giving the exact right feeling for where we began with Seth and where we ended up with him together with Tad.  It was the middle that suffered however, from the length of the story.  There wasn't sufficient character development and with only a basic knowledge of who these men are, there wasn't enough to connect me to them.  I enjoyed both of them on a surface level and appreciated what they brought to one another.  If the dramatic confrontation weren't forced and a "flash-in-the-pan" moment it would have really been powerful with seeing Seth really win against what held him captive both in circumstance and inside him.  This really needed to be reworked into a novel because I just wanted so much more.  3 stars.

By far the best story in the trio, Save Me was full of character depth, relationship growth, self-sacrifice, and the best parts of love.  I believed so much in Elijah and Silas' evolution and in them individually.  What occurred between them was exactly right to allow for Elijah to achieve his potential.  Being so completely brainwashed for much of the story as well as seeing his motives that stemmed from that, it would have cheapened anything he shared with Silas and would have spelled disaster for any kind of mental and emotional healing.  I still wanted more, especially from Silas and why he is who he is, so that I could call the story complete.  4 stars.

Sadly, this was the least developed story of the bunch.  I was incredibly intrigued by Harrison but got no answers as to why he chose a celibate life.  There was a story there and we got literally nothing about it.  Nathaniel was definitely young and I did feel like he knew himself, but there's so much individual growth he needed to achieve.  He kind of straddled the line between being an independent omega and a stereotypical one and I don't think both sides blended well enough.  There was a ton of the "first" moments when people find themselves attracted to someone, but nothing beyond an ill-timed heat to really bring them together.  Where in the previous stories the other brothers played a little role to tie them all together there was nothing here and that was a missed opportunity, especially since it could have served as a bridge to discuss Harrison's history or to guide him through accepting a future with Nathaniel.  Compelling is not the word I would use for the characters, the relationship, or the story overall, which is immensely sad since this was the end cap to the series.  2 stars.