I love him. From the instant I set eyes on him when I was just 11 years old I have loved him and nothing will ever change that. He owns me. He owns my heart and he owns my body and no matter how many lies are told, no matter how many people conspire to keep us apart, despite the fame and the distance, we will find a way.

• Buy CARNAGE (Kindle)
• Buy CARNAGE (Paperback)

WOW. WOW. WOW!!!!!!

What a beautiful, gut-wrenching and epic love story!!

This was a non-stop, edgy, passionate, and emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish and I LOVED IT!!!! It made me feel everything. It consumed me. It took over my life. I couldn’t put it down, didn’t want to stop reading, and I know that I will never forget this story.

But please note that this is not your typical romance story. It completely shattered all my “book rules”, but my love for this story makes it an exception to my rules and this is without a doubt one of my top favorites now. I know I’ll be re-reading it for years to come but just please go into it with a very, very open mind.

So, what’s the story about? …. I’m going to tell you as little as possible because this is truly the kind of story that you should just experience for yourselves but here’s what the story is about:

“I was eleven years old, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was staring into the eyes of the boy I was going to love forever.”

… then that boy grew up to be a world famous rock star. Carnage tells a story that spans two decades. We see Gia and Sean grow up together and fall in love. True, unchanging, unwavering forever LOVE.

“I’ll love you forever G, wherever I am in the world, whatever I’m doing, it will always be you.”

I’m torn about how much to tell you about the story. If you genuinely want to know nothing, just skip down the review past the part with all the quotes and just read the stuff I wrote after them but here’s a little bit if you want to have an idea of what you’re getting into….

This author has an incredible writing style that puts you right into the characters’ hearts. I loved the innocence of their teenage love. They were so full of hopes and dreams and plans…

“I’m fifteen years old, he’s seventeen and there’s nothing we don’t know about love and life, we have it all worked out… We have a connection that no one else understands, we know that other people think we’re just a couple of kids and we know how wrong they are.”

But as Sean’s band grows in popularity, things change. To the world, he was a rock god. To her, he was just the boy she’d been in love with since she was a kid. I don’t want to give away too much but I want to share this one line because it’s just such an epic moment. Here’s this guy with a world of fame, women, drugs, and scandals thrown in his face and he gets up on stage and this is what he says…

“All you ladies in the crowd tonight have gotta appreciate the fact that I’m a one woman type of bloke and I love my girl. I’ve love my girl since the very first day I set eyes on her and back then she was just a girl… but I’ve had the pleasure these past few years of watching her grow into an absolutely beautiful young woman and as much as I love touring and playing in front of you lot every night, I’m counting down the days till I’m back in England and in her arms.”

The intensity of their love for each other doesn’t change but there are outside influences that tear them apart and I feel that you should know that a part of this book is a second chance romance. They are torn apart for a few years and even though their love for each other always is the most important thing in their hearts, there is a love triangle of sorts. It’s probably not what you’re thinking though because it certainly wasn’t what I expected. Just like the rest of the book, it was totally unconventional and I honestly thought the way the author portrayed it was brilliant.

“Such sad eyes. Who hurt you, Georgia? Who took the light out of those pretty blue eyes, eh?”

At the lowest point in her life, Cam helps her heal and slowly brings her back to life even knowing that her heart will forever belong to Sean. And I don’t want to give things away but I’ll just say that please be understanding as you read — all is not as it seems.

“Cam, I really do like you but you need to know, you need to understand… There’s only him, it will always be him, there’s no room for anyone else. Wherever we go with this, you need to understand that my heart is sealed and there’s only him that’s locked inside.”

*Sniff*

Love is messy.

My heart hurt so much. It’s like the worst kind of romantic pain when the heart has been broken enough to cause emotional devastation but not enough to make you stop loving that person with every fiber of your being. So you love and you hate and you hurt so much because you still love that person with all your heart and always will. It’s ugly, raw, and devastating. But it’s real. I loved this book because it portrays a kind of “forever love” I believe in so strongly.

But even though there is separation, it’s not forever and we do see an absolutely epic, beautiful reunion, The thing is that even though I loved Cam, Gia’s heart belonged to Sean and always would.

“There’s no one else. There never was. It’s still only ever you.”

“… it’s suddenly all too much, he cries, I cry, we cling to each other and everything is just as it should be. Sean and Georgia, Georgia and Sean. Us against the world.”

Gah. I can’t even read that without crying.

There is so much more that happens but I’m going to stop here because I hope I’ve told you enough to make you want to discover the rest for yourselves. This is the kind of story you just need to be brave about, dive in, and let it take over.

“Georgia Rae, when we made love you used to cry”… He waits for me to sing my bit. I try to swallow down a sob but I just end up singing through it…

“I said I love you like the stars above, I’ll love you till I die.”

Guys, throughout the entire story, my heart was pounding, fluttering, melting, breaking. There were no lulls. The intensity poured off of every single page. You know that feeling you get where you’re almost breathless with how much you care for the story?? Where you have tears in your eyes just because you are feeling so much?? That was what I felt like from start to finish. This story will give you ALL THE FEELS.

I know so many of you are curious about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but I will say this: I can totally understand why someone would hate the ending, and I can also totally understand why readers are completely in love with this book. The story ends at a place that makes perfect sense given the events that occur, but there will be a sequel coming out this summer. Given the events that happened, I think I need the emotional separation between these 2 phases in the story so I don’t regret reading this book now, even though I’ll be looking forward to the sequel. BUT just please remember that this is an atypical romance with an unconventional “romance” ending. It breaks all the rules and is not what we’re used to so just go in with a very open mind. It’s beautiful and devastating at the same time.

This was my status update when I finished the book…

I hate that I loved this book so much. But I did love it even though right now I hate it.

Even though the story was entirely unique, the closest in feeling only that I can come to is actually “Thoughtless” (ish).  The love of this girl’s life becomes a rock star and gets sucked into the uglier side of that world: drugs, women, scandals, fame, etc. but they just have this kind of passionate love that defies everything life throws at it and just doesn’t let go. Gah, it’s very painful and messy and there are elements to this story that would sometimes send me running for the hills in some books but with the way it was written, I just loved it.

LOVED IT.

I also want to note that this book is currently in the process of being professionally edited and a free upgrade will be available as soon as that is complete. Right now, there are a fair number of “errors” in the book: spelling, grammar, misused words, incorrect punctuation etc — BUT — I loved the story enough that I totally overlooked this element of it so please don’t let it stop you from reading it, just be aware and forgiving as you read. Oh, also there was this one recurring line in the book that I still really don’t like and I figured that in the interest of full honesty, I’d just mention that it exists. (PS: don’t wait for the corrected version to start — just dive in now. It’s worth it!)

I finished reading this book a day ago and I’m still sitting here feeling overwhelmed with the emotions from it. It still feels like I literally just finished reading. The kind of emotions it evokes are so raw and powerful that they just don’t let go. I love that this book was so different. I love that it broke all the rules. And I love that I loved it despite the fact that it broke all the rules. But most of all, I am so grateful to have experienced this epic love story. I know I’ll never forget it. I know I’ll re-read it over and over again. And, I know it’ll always be in my heart.

Rating: 5+ STARS!!! An unconventional, atypical, epic love story.

PS — Bring tissues.

• Buy CARNAGE (Kindle)
• Buy CARNAGE (Paperback)

Casting images — click here and here (I’ll let you read into them however you want… )

If you want my review of book 2, click here.