RAW

“There’s something about Twitch. He’s just…raw. Everything about him is raw. And gritty. Andunbound.”In the recent past and perhaps maybe even today some girls were/are raised on the idea that someday their fairytale prince will come and rescue them from whatever unhappiness or emptiness they have found in their single life. “Someday my Prince will come.” And in our little girl fantasies he is handsome, wholesome, brave, strong, kind, etc. And, he’ll know how to make us happy.How many times even adult women decide,"If only I had the perfect mate my life would be heaven?" Then again, there are some so invested in the idea that they are not complete as a person without a partner. These women give up so much of themselves just to hold on to a guy who doesn’t love them. Adding insult to injury, this type of guy often makes the woman feel worthless while she is using up her emotional and tangible resources in an effort to hold onto this self-centered man.In writing the two main characters in Raw…Twitch, the hero, and Alexa (Lexi), the heroine, this author turned some of the above ideas on their side and upside down. I enjoy a character driven book. I also endeavor not to judge a character unless they are poorly presented and merely an unrelatable sketch in the narrative. This is certainly not the case in this book. Not all characters are appealing and maybe, just maybe, they were created by an author to be irritating and/or unappealing to tell us a story which presents a theme that encapsulates an idea or a truth.Some may find Twitch to be just too much, but for those of us who love the Dominant who plays and loves dirty…Well, Twitch is one tasty morsel of sweet escape in “biblioland”.“There’s only one way I [.…]” He takes a step forward, his eyes never leaving mine. ‘Dirty…And this type of dirty...’ He breathes deep and says on an exhale… ‘it doesn’t wash off.’”He has a ton of personal issues to lay to rest and personal demons to fight. He is borderline sociopathic…a pathology he adopted out of the need to thrive and survive in a world that was overly harsh to him in his formative years. Oh… and he is a major drug dealer. Some prince, eh?There are those of us who are tempted by this damaged, Dominant “dark fairytale”prince.“He is gorgeous…Just not in a conventional way. He’s tall, a little over six feet, with a muscular body and olive skin. His dark brown hair is shaved close to the scalp at the sides, but long on the top. He’s handsome and would look something like a clothing model without the tattoos. He has a strong chin, full bottom lip, and high cheekbones. His eyes are a soft brown.” Le Swoon!Our heroine, Lexi swoons over this mysterious stranger, Twitch, who made his presence known by stalking her as a shadowy figure in a hoodie. He then inserted himself in her life when she needed him to rescue her from a dangerous situation.Lexi had a rough go of it in her childhood. The author hints at abuse from which Lexi continues to recover. She built a life centered in her service to the dispossessed and disenfranchised youth, so that they might have a chance at maturing with hope and a good construct of themselves functioning productively in society.Lexi has come a very long way both literally and figuratively. Yet, she is somewhat naïve in her interactions with “Twitch”. The reasonable part of her knows that he is not even a suitable partner in life, given her goals and aspirations…but her heart is pulling her in the direction of Twitch. He is awakening something inside of her that heretofore lay dormant…undiscovered.”He’s still watching you. Have you forgotten he’s a drug dealer? And he clearly needs anger management. What makes you think any part of this guy is right for you? He goes against everything you work for. Do not [fudge] up your life over some guy. He’s just a guy. A dangerous one, at that. Wake up!” – Lexi’s thoughts.Theirs is not quite a “hearts and flowers”romantic love story, but a love story nonetheless told to us in alternating first person POVs. It is peppered with heart-stopping, savage and searingly beautiful sexual encounters described by either Twitch or Lexi. The POVs are voiced differently enough to be believably separate viewpoints. Vulnerabilities of and a growing bond between Twitch and Alexa manifest during these wildly erotic, sometimes tender moments.The plot progresses steadily through plot points involving interesting secondary characters interacting with both our hero and heroine. The climax of the story is quite something and written very well. Everything led up to it without any holes in the story. The story line definitely has a steep arc.In the end, my take away from this dark somewhat skewed tale of true love is that characters in books are written by humans who wish to communicate or tell us something through a story. Characters that challenge our thinking and comfort level invariably teach us much more than the comfortable, “expected” same old-same old type of character that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy about how we think and what we believe. I like my heroes dark, brooding, damaged, raw and gritty like this. I enjoy watching a naïve but good-hearted heroine who is ultimately strong enough in heart to make room for a love that isn’t quite perfect…but a precious and rare love, nonetheless. Lastly it is OK to lose a little of yourself to your lover if they, in turn, offer themselves in return.“I dreamed of Twitch while I slept. He was high up, mounted on a white stallion, wearing gleaming silver armour. His tattooed hand lowered to reach out for me. I stared at that hand a long while before I stepped away from him and watched as he faded out of my mind’s eye. Perhaps I built him up so much in my head that I don’t see him for what he truly is. I don’t want a knight in shining armor. I want a knight in scuffed armor. I want his helmet to have dents. I want my knight to be real, and dark, and savage. I want my knight to be a survivor. Someone who’s been tested and got through his trials. Not some [pansy] in gleaming metal. I don’t want gleaming metal. I don’t need a [flipping] knight. I need a fearless warrior. I need Twitch.”

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:“I’m the villain in this story.”Twitch is a character that kept me turning the pages. He is a very addictive character. He is unapologetically dark and at times a little twisted.He is memorable.Twitch is one of those breed of characters that can shake up a reader. They are raw, gritty, dark, challenging to read and understand at times, controversial, but they are addictive to read.There’s something about Twitch.He’s just...raw.Everything about him is raw. And gritty. And unbound.He’s a raging fire.They are page turners for a lot of us. We want to understand what makes them tick.What is their back story?What dark thing are they going to do next?His eyes flash once more before he closes his eyes and lowers his forehead to mine. He says hoarsely, “I’m gonna hurt you.”A statement.I did really like Twitch’s voice. His personality throws curveballs at the reader quite often. I didn’t find him predictable.He is intense.“There’s only one way I fudge.”The words are so crude that my lips part and I huff in an unsteady breath.He takes a step forward, his eyes never leaving mine. “Dirty.” Watching my reaction, he adds, “And this type of dirty...” he breathes deep and says on an exhale, “... it doesn’t wash off.”From the prologue we know who Twitch is in relation to Lexi. That isn’t a secret to us as the reader. What we don't know is Twitch has secrets for the reader to discover along the way.I liked the whole dark, stalkering side to him.Taking a step towards me, his hooded brown eyes almost see right through me. “Monsters don’t always lurk in the shadows.”Reaching up, he runs a fingertip slowly down the length of my jaw. Leaning forward, his breath warms me as he mutters a hairs-breadth away from my lips, “Sometimes they hide in plain sight.”Twitch in a way, corrupted Lexi and she quite easily fell into his sexual style and accepted his help in making things go away. Lexi is a caseworker and she deals with teenagers and helps to keep them off the streets and she listens to them. She is good at her job. The kids all like her. Her morals were let down a little when it came to Twitch taking over and ...It wouldn’t have been hard for an anonymous person to have destroyed Lexi’s career with just a phone call. She was putting a lot on the line becoming embroiled in Twitch’s nefarious life.“Don’t ask, don’t tell, Alexa.”Lexi discovers a lot about herself that I think would have stayed dormant if she hadn't met him.Twitch really drives this book. Lexi was a good character but she was a bit of a chameleon. From what we know of her, she didn’t appear to be Twitch’s type.Ling. Yes!I will admit Ling was a little hard to read at times, but she should be. I feel like I want to know more about her. She is showing me a very damaged soul. I could read a book about Ling.I did have a few plot questions. But that is me as a reader, I note when I read and I ask myself questions.The sub characters were great. Dave and Nikki I felt I knew them even though I didn’t get to read a lot about them. I knew exactly where I stood with their sexual desires/fantasy’s. I knew they were good people for Lexi.I really liked Happy too. He has a great personality. I like the way he stood up to Twitch and how they behaved with each other. I liked how he behaved around Lexi.Happy stands, takes out a handkerchief from his shirt pocket, and dabs at his bloody lip, panting. “That’s exactly why you need to see someone, bro.”We stare at each other. “You’re not fine. I don’t think you’ve been fine a day in your life.”Raw was a page turner for me, mainly because of Twitch as he has a presence in this book that is hard to turn away from. He is a dark, dominating character who when challenged gives no second chances.Popping a piece of candy into his mouth, he sucks on the button and utters,”Yeah, about that. I don’t do well with being threatened. And I definitely don’t take orders. But you’ll learn all this. Eventually. "His dark side is quite frightening. I like a 3D read and Raw is definitely a 3D read.He ushers me in, gives the driver my address, then says to me sadly, “Not everyone can be a fairy-tale hero.” He pauses a moment, then adds, “The world needs villains too.”I had a favorite scene in this book and it was quite powerful. I'm not going to describe the scene as that will be a spoiler. I have instead torn a scrap off of the quote I thought was powerful...."What are you meant to be?"His gaze roams my body once more. His hooded eyes finally reach mine. Searching my face a long time, he finally turns away, looking into the crowd."Love."I did like the ending. I know another author who showed me it is ok to do these type of endings. She knows who she is.Belle left me gob smacked during the story. My mouth was literally catching flies. I did not see that coming and I love feeling that in a read. Having to spit flies out wasn’t much fun, though.I also got that doubled-over-emotional-kick-in-the-guts from Belle.I love it when an author can do that to me. I paid my money and the ride didn't disappoint.I am quite happy if this stays stand alone as I felt the style of the whole book... it was a great ending.Complimented the story.Belle and any author who writes a story likes this, will inevitably have some readers jumping up and down. I appreciate this style of story because it isn’t supposed to be a bed of roses. It is supposed to be dark and dangerous and deadly and difficult to witness in parts. That is what the author sets out to do.Mission accomplished, Belle.Michelle

I read book two first and it was so good I thought I'd read the first. This one was more romantic and so endearing. Paying back a debt of kindness a troubled man seeks redemption and stalks his way into a social workers life.The characters are beautifully written with good back stories and personalities.Lexi is a sweet and caring woman who wants nothing but to help and save people. Twitch is an angry unforgiving man who only sees darkness.Major spoiler twitch tells Lexi some awful news but she reacts at the time but not after. She lost someone who means the world and they are not mentioned in the epilogue.This needs addressing as so much focus is presented on this character. I think this was missed in this book as it wasn't brought up in the second.Also knowing her brother was a drug addict why would Lexi take drugs and be with someone who sells drugs knowing the damage drugs does not only to her brother but to the children she's fighting for.It's a cracking read, absolutely loved it.

I wanted to read this book after seeing the author may be the author in the mystic book box for the next month. As soon as I saw it was a stalker romance, I knew that I needed to read it ASAP. and I'm so glad that I did. What can I say about Twitch? He is someone you want to tell that 'it's going to be okay' even though you know it won't. This is exactly what Alexa tells him when he is eight years old, and she is six. She tells him it'll all be okay, and he held onto that. Only now he's an adult and not everything was okay.Alexa is a social worker in Australia, she moved from America and didn't look back. Over the last year she has noticed that someone in a black hoodie has been watching her, she feels him staring. But she's not scared of him, more intrigued. She should know better in her line of work. But she ignores those instincts and carries on with her life. Then she meets him, the one who watches her, he saves her. Now she doesn't want him to hide.Twitch has had a hard life, he doesn't like labels. There is no stopping him from what he wants, and what he wants is Alexa.The author warns that this isn't a normal story, and the ending was a good cliffy, it would have killed me if the next book wasn't out. but Book three RAW: Rebirth follows on from this book, so you can dive straight in.If you love a stalker dark romance, then read this book. If you have triggers please check these before you read.

Whilst not the darkest book I have read RAW definitely made me feel uneasy and on edge a lot of the time. It’s deep, intense, I would say all consuming, and I loved it. This is definitely not your typical romance, with drugs, violence and rough, erotic sexual games, often at the forefront.These characters are flawed. Twitch, with his stalkerish ways, is no saint, a bad man you want to hate but really can’t. He is certainly not easy to love, he’s a twisted man, the monster hiding in plain sight. Lexi has overcome her own demons in the past but she has no idea that her journey has only just begun. Whilst understandable, her internal struggles almost drove me mad at times. She can’t stay away from Twitch, so she may as well hang on tight and enjoy the ride. He is a force of nature after all.I love the unconventional and unusual in a story and this has both in spades. A real rollercoaster of a journey with an ending which quite frankly gutted me.

Okay so this is the best book I have ever read in my life. No joke, I can’t even comprehend what just happened. Twitch is my LIFE! Alexa is his QUEEN. So we’re sister wives. That’s the end of it. Written like beautiful dark twisted tale filled with sex, tears, murder and hope. In the beginning I didn’t realize what I was in for. The story truly took me on a journey, Belle is just beyond talented. I don’t know how she even came up with this story but god bless that beautiful mind of hers. Every single person on this planet should read the book. My sweet, beautiful and broken Twitch. I just adore him so much I would bow and kiss at his feet and he would love it. He’s so crazy but I love him. I can’t imagine not having read RAW. It’s so past being amazing, it just out of this world. That ending ended ME. I cried so freaking hard I thought I was going to make a pool in my room. Grab some tissues, that’s all you need to know. Get ready for this crazy ride!

Escape into my Reads Book BlogI could not put this book down! I loved it right from the start and was left with a wtf no I need more don’t leave me yet finish! The story pulled me in straight away and I loved Alexa and Twitch. Raw is gritty, suspenseful, emotional, heart-breaking, sexy and quite the dirty read that will leave you in a heated mess. I loved Twitch in his hoody stalking Alexa it was hot even though it was creepy it didn’t factor. The sexual build up between the pair sizzled with heat and their chemistry was off the charts. Alexa is a strong sweet heroine who works as a social worker providing support to kids placed into foster homes. She’s the good girl who’s made the most of her circumstances and not let her past ruin her future. Twitch is a bad boy and he isn’t ashamed off it nor changing for anyone, he’s possessive, sexy, badass, raw and secretive. He’s had his eyes set on Alexa for a while, and the storyline is paced to keep you guessing why he treats Alexa the way he does and I loved reading every second of it. His nightly visits to Alexa is supercharged with sexual tension leading to sweet and sexy times. Raw left me in a mess with the epilogue and I was in a serious book hangover state, but it’s still one of my favourite reads of 2016 and I’m so glad there’s more to come in this series.