Review: Meet Your Next Favourite Book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 15, 2011
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! (and would give it more if it was possible)You know what? This book left me speechless! I could not think of a word to describe it accurately. So I left it a while, and came back to write this review.I asked myself: Is it awesome? Yeah sure. Is it brilliant? Without a doubt. Is it breath-taking? Definitely! Is it captivating? Entirely. I could not stop devouring the words on the page.The thing is, it was all of these things and more. I cannot think of enough words to describe LOVE IS FEAR.This book is the sequel to LOVE IS DARKNESS (yes I have also reviewed and loved that one!). It is not a YA book. It isn't even entirely Adult Fiction. I also believe it is part erotica. It certainly has some beautifully written sex scenes in it. Not the most explicit, but what you conjure up in your imagination upon reading these words is mindblowing!Upon finishing reading LOVE IS DARKNESS (Valerie Dearborn #1), I was absolutely dying to read LOVE IS FEAR. I felt so compelled by Caroline Hanson's words, I was absolutely chomping at the bit for the next installment. Well, I finally got to read it, and I can definitely say, the only bad thing about this book was the fact it had to end.How to describe this book? I'm not sure I can do that accurately, but I will try.I already said that is isn't YA Fiction. That's the truth of it. So I shouldn't compare it to anything YA, yet I feel one comparison is a must.If you strip back your typical YA book to the very bones of it, you will usually discover that is is basically a love story. The meat of the story is what makes them unique. The way the author weaves their words to create their world, so that you as the reader enjoy their book for what it is. Whether the genre is Fantasy, Paranormal, Supernatural or what have you, the base is in romance.. They want you to fall in love with their characters. They put them through trials and tribulations, yet in the end, the good guy wins the heart of the heroine (as well as the reader). I mean no disrespect in this, I love a good YA book to settle into.It's just that the same simply cannot be said for LOVE IS FEAR. If you were to strip this book back to it's bones, you would find a story made up of lust, love, loss, greed, fear, jealousy, betrayal, compulsion, and I mean these feelings as primal instincts.Yes, there is a good guy, a bad guy, a heroine, a rival, and of course the bad guys that they all want to get away from. But at it's very heart, this book is unlike anything you have ever read before.I actually hasten to give any details about the story itself, as I fear I would give it away. I don't want to ruin your enjoyment of it based upon my review.I want you to go in with your eyes wide open, though you will never see what's coming. Just when you think you have it sussed, Caroline adds twists and turns that you just don't see coming. She puts Valerie, Jack, Lucas and Rachel through such trials and tribulations, testing their boundaries and pushing them to breaking point.LOVE IS FEAR is a beautifully written, gritty, compelling story. I said in my review of LOVE IS DARKNESS that it had the makings of a bestseller, and Caroline of a best-selling author. Well if I thought that before, I am now 110% sure in my conviction.The passion Caroline has so obviously written this story with will set your heart and soul on fire. At one point, I was not sure if I was routing for the good guy, the bad guy or both. All I know is, what I expected of the story was blown out of the water. It far surpassed my expectations of it, and let me tell you my expectations weren't limited.I truly believe that an author like Caroline and a story such as this are set to take the literary world by storm. If it doesn't, then I guess I will be left shell-shocked and will probably reassess everyting I feel about reading. I cannot even start to do this book justice in my review, but if I can embibe even part of the passion I feel of it onto at least 1 reader, then I have done what I can.I'm sorry if you were looking for a review with a summary of the story and saying yes I really liked this book. I feel if I tried to sum it up, I wouldn't do it without giving too much of the game away. I really, truly believe that you need to discover it for yourself.So, go buy LOVE IS FEAR. If you haven't already done so, buy LOVE IS DARKNESS too, and settle in for a tumultuous ride. It is one hell of a roller-coaster, and I for one am desperate for the 3rd installment. If book 3 lives up to it's predecessors, it too will be the ride of a lifetime. One you never want to get off.