REVIEW: Love and Chaos Series by Emery Rose

 

OUR REVIEW

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through your e-reader listlessly, just looking for that one book to grab your attention? That's what happened when I happened upon my copy of Wilder Love, the first book in the Love and Chaos Series. I'd never read anything by Emery Rose but the synopsis intrigued me and I thought I remembered several of my favorite bloggers raving about her books so I thought, what the heck?!, and dove in.

You can ask Court, within chapters I was feeling the angst in way I haven't felt the angst in a long time. I was texting her updates just to give myself a break from the anxiety that was ratcheting up as I progressed through the love story of Remy and Shane. To give a little back story-Remy had just moved to Shane's beach town, after a lifetime of moves, with her twin brother and her neglectful mother. He was an up and coming star in the surfing world-many years her senior- and she was a junior in high school. When he discovered that she wasn't as hold as he thought she was, after a night of hanging out, they agreed that being friends was probably for the best. And they were friends, for a while and right before her 18th birthday, they gave in to the underlying sexual tension that had been simmering from the very first day they met. And yes, the build up to that scene was mildly angsty but it was that wasn't what had me all twisted up in knots. No, what had me all sorts of insane was Remy's bully. He was absolutely vile and the horrible way he manipulated her and played on her guilt and emotions that then caused her to end things with Shane was gahhhhhhh. And THEN! when Shane figured out what was really going on, the resulting tragedy was so incredibly devastating.  

Part two of this novel fast forwards us years into Remy and Shane's life and they're still not over each other, but nothing about this part of their lives is easy. There's more tragedy and sadness and love  and despite having a whole half of the novel to cover, I found it so much easier to read than the first half. The angst level was significantly lower and the build up to their happily ever after, while a little bumpy, was a balm to the angst in the first half.

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How could a love that feels so right ever be wrong?

Shane Wilder.
Pro surfer. Dream chaser. Thief of my heart. And completely off-limits.

It was infatuation at first sight. On our first date, he took me to watch the fireworks.

It was a magical night of stolen kisses and whispered confessions under the stars. But it all came to a screeching halt when he asked the one question I’d been dreading.

How old are you, Remy?

Right guy, wrong time.

There was too much at stake, and he didn’t want to cross the line. So, I told him I would wait for him.

I never meant to lie.
I never meant to ruin his life.
I. Destroyed. Him.

Now I’m back, begging for a chance to right my wrongs and fix what I’ve broken.
Only this time, I hope that loving Shane Wilder will be enough to save him.

Now I was hooked and immediately purchased the second book in the series, Sweet Chaos. After Wilder

Love and the angst-fest the first half of that novel was, I didn't really know what to expect. Much to my relief, this novel didn't ramp up the angst until when I normally would expect it. Prior to that moment, the story of Remy's twin, Dylan, and Scarlett (his ex-girlfriend's much younger sister, GASP!) was focused on their relationship and that Scarlett had immense guilt for falling for her sister's ex-boyfriend, even though it had been a while since they'd been together. Dylan had zero of that guilt and had no problem having a relationship out in the open but Scarlett just couldn't...not until she told her sister. This love story was also made more difficult because Dylan and Scarlett's family had a contentious history and now in his adulthood, he had no problem standing up to her dad (and on occasion, mom), which certainly didn't ease the path of Scarlett and Dylan's relationship. Of course, she was basically ex-communicated from the family because of her insistence to being her own person, even so, she didn't want to ruin the one fairly decent relationship she had with her only sibling. 

So the novel follows these two falling for each other and trying to figure out how to navigate it all without disrupting lives. Throw in his own personal emotional roller coaster and you have a recipe for a very fun read. I found Sweet Chaos to be a nice breather after the angsty-ness of Wilder Love. Next up, Until August.  

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Dylan St. Clair is chaos. And chaos always leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. I just never expected it to be my heart he destroyed.
I’ve had a crush on Dylan St. Clair ever since he climbed into my bedroom window ten years ago.

Wrong window, Romeo.

I was eleven, he was seventeen.

A bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks with a chip on his shoulder and fresh bruises from his latest fight, he went on to play the starring role in all my teenage fantasies.

But I always knew he was off-limits. So, over the years I gave up wishing and hoping we could ever be together.

Until he kissed me on a cold beach one starry winter’s night.

Until he said those five words that changed everything.

I picked the wrong sister.