Review: Heartbreakingly Delicious!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2013
~ It was at that moment that Steph realized she loved him. Selflessly, painfully loved him. ~Whew…where to begin. Firstly, if you have not read Fury, you need not proceed any further. These books move in conjuncture with each other and MUST be read in succession. While there is no cliffhanger in the first book, there are definitely many things left up in the air. But fear not reader, they are more than eloquently answered in this newest installment, Rage. While I loved Fury, with the passion of furies, Rage took that adoration to an entirely different level! This book left me in such a good place, but I’ll be honest. It took most of the book to get there. Rage is a journey in a way that my favorite books are. Heartbreak, angst, devastation, frustration, sexual tension, and then…….. Well, you’ll just have to read to find out.~ And for Steph, a wedding didn’t symbolize new beginnings, but served as a tragic reminder of her own self mutilating cowardice. ~Oh Steph, Steph, Steph. What are we going to do with you girl? I just LOVE this character. Well, we have a love/I wanna kick you in the butt relationship   Her snark, her wit, her independence, her confidence (usually), everything about her screams “I am woman, hear me roar!” She is the kind of friend that anyone would be lucky to have in their corner, because she will come out fighting. But whew, she drove me to the point of wanting to tear my hair out. I totally understood why she guarded her heart, and I know in her head she believed it was the best thing to do. But there is much more to Steph Brier than meets the eyes, and unfortunately, no one had ever looked deep enough to figure that out. She was emotionally stunted, rightly so, and needed someone to fight for her. To prove that she was capable of love and of being loved in return. My heart ached for her! Like pit in my stomach, despair shining through, just wanted to give her a hug ache. And at the same time, I wanted to scream at her, will you PLEASE just communicate?! He is worth it, and maybe things aren’t as they seem. Maybe he isn’t a bastard like all the other men you’ve been with. Maybe, just maybe, he wants you for more than the exterior. Maybe, just maybe, he wants your heart.~ “Their break-up convinced Steph that no one could ever stay together. Marriage became a trivial joke to her after that. I’ve been all over the world and heard the confessions of thousands of people. My sister is still the single most jaded person I’ve ever encountered.” ~In as much as I ached for Steph, I hurt just as much for Phillip. Not to say that he wasn’t partly to blame for the events that transpired and then spiraled out of control, but he was doing so mostly without full knowledge of the situation. One of my favorite things in a good book is being able to hear what goes on in the man’s head. Often, as women, we assume they aren’t as deep or feeling as we are, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Phillip feels, maybe even more than Steph, but the authors portray him in a way that is real and honest and completely true to the character. The pain that he endures internally lashes out externally towards everyone in the vicinity. God help you when Hurricane Phillip comes near. He wears his pain like a badge of honor, unabashedly for the world to see, and it’s so damn refreshing.~ “We were doomed from the start. Oil and water.”“More like oil and a blowtorch, if memory serves. We were nothing short of amazing, Stephanie.” ~Let me tell you, these characters fight WELL. They fight honest and somewhat dirty, all the while with their heart on their sleeves. These are two people so obviously in love with each other, but acting on misguided material the result is catastrophic for everyone involved. I am not lying when I say my heart was literally torn in two reading this. I felt their pain to the depths of my soul and it quaked in my bones. That was what I LOVED about this book. The angst. For me, angst = feelings, and needless to say, there were no shortage of these in Rage.~ “Stephanie…I love you. I can’t explain it. I can’t quantify why, so don’t bother asking. I wish to God it weren’t true, but it is.” ~Across the board, the personal growth in Rage was astounding and heartwarming. From the cohesiveness of the authors, Steph and Phillip, and even to the other band members. Where Fury made it to third base, Rage hits it out of the park! I was overwhelmingly pleased with how we left ALL of the characters in the end, and know they will forever be in my heart. With that said, this is most definitely getting 5 stars from me! Thank you Pace and Coons for giving us more of our favorite Brit rockers!~ “My worst day with you was a billion times better than my best day without you.” ~