Madness & Mayhem is a full length dark romance novel and book two in the Hellcrest Heights Duet.
Secrets never stay buried forever… I thought I knew the man behind the mask. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As the bodies dropped around me, all that was left was the two of us, with a bloody knife clutched in my grip. Everywhere I looked, death surrounded me. My masked man was finally revealed, and as I watched the monster in his eyes, I realized he wasn’t the only one with a soul full of darkness. I shared the same madness, though he’s always known what I really am. We’re one in the same, and our chaos led us to fight for our lives. How long can secrets stay buried? They all reveal themselves eventually. And once they do, it’s absolute mayhem.
Warning: This book contains content that may be triggering to some readers. Please read with caution.
ღ 🅼🅰🅳🅽🅴🆂🆂 & 🅼🅰🆈🅷🅴🅼 ღ Is the final full length dark romance book in 'Hellcrest Heights' duet, by author A.R. Breck. It picks up where the previous book left off. Spoken in 'dual perspectives.'
After we were all thrown over that ridiculous BIG cliffy in the previous book I couldn't wait to jump back into this world and let me tell you the author didn't disappoint. This was inhaled at a record speed!! We're thrown back into Hellcrest Heights and Lakyn's world and her attachment to her slasher.🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 '𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒂𝒎. 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.' And I was all in and prepared!! 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
I lost count of the amount of times my heart rate jumped a beat, my hands got clammy, and even though the body count was increasing chapter by chapter with me sitting on the edge of my seat I was rooting for them..
This was insane, but in a good way. Twists and turns, a nationwide manhunt, gritty enough for even my dark heart and I was in my element. I loved how unique this series was, the survive or die elements, this series just cemented why I enjoy this authors books as much as I do, she always throws me into a tailspin, where my heart and head collide, where right and wrong walk hand in hand, dark and light with no inbetween.
How far would you go to protect the ones you love? The crew went from walking the straight and narrow line between good and bad when it came to protecting their friends.
Madness & Mayhem opens up immediately following the cliffy we were left hanging on in Slashers & Secrets.
From the unveiling of the Masked Man to an ever-increasing body count to a nationwide manhunt we are taken on a fast-paced adventure with ALL the twists and turns we’ve come to expect from Andrea.
Do yourself a favor and ignore any spoilers in favor of the experiencing this unique story as it happens!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Burn: 🔥🔥🔥🔥1/2 Darkness: 🖤🖤 Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Range of Emotions: 😳🥺🥵😭😍 Ending: 💗 {HEA} POV: 👫🏻 {Dual}
🗂 Genre: Dark Romance
✨ Tropes: Band of Brothers/Found Family, Second Chance, SeriaI UnaIivėr, Touch-Her-and-💀
💋 Kinks: BI••d Play
⚠️ Warning: It’s definitely NSFW or with a kiddo by your side. In fact, I would highly recommend you read this one after dark to avoid side eye or awkward conversations.
🚩 Safety Squad: There are triggering elements. If you have any hesitation, check the warnings before diving in. Otherwise, blind is best!!
📣 Type: Madness & Mayhem is the conclusion to the Hellcrest Heights duet. This series must be read in order.
🛑 Be Advised: My Goodreads shelves are … explicit in both senses. As such, they could be considered spoiler-y.
Firstly I knew who the masked killer was because the Author herself posted a massive spoiler on her Instagram on a 'Teaser' post, which meant when the time came to read Madness & Mayhem, I already felt slightly deflated but I was optimistic.
It was a strong start, solid...and then it wasn't. It's chaos, its inconsistent and lots of repetition whether that be Reign's adoration for Lakyn or simply the events that are happening. Theres only so many times you can "almost" get caught by the police before you're sat praying they do. Oh and when they did, it's anticlimatic and he's in and out across 3 pages. Its rushed and it's 0-100. The first book I adored, I loved it. But this fell flat and that in itself breaks me.
And don't even get me started about the lack of groveling, "Time heals all wounds" True but Three months doesn't heal your best friend accidentally pushing the love of your life out a light house and murdering him. It doesn't heal the fact said best friend slashed and gashed you too pieces and deserves a jailbreak by you. It was so, "Ah he did a bad thing but its okay". I'm heartbroken because it just didn't live up to the first book. I needed more.
This felt like she was trying to tie up the loose ends left behind in Slashers, fill plot holes and instead we're just over here with a sledge hammer creating more so we don't see the others anymore.
Also finally what the hell were those ID changes? Riker and Layana...oof
I absolutely loved Madness & Mayhem. This story was sexy, thrilling and so addicting. I loved being back in Hellcrest Heights and Lakyn's world. I absolutely loved the secrets, drama and the steam! This story was amazing!!
This review is purposefully vague as to not reveal any spoilers. I loved the way the author further progressed the story after that intense ending in the first book. Lakyn was incredibly fierce and her desire to protect her crew. This was such a delicious conclusion to the story! 5 stars! ~Ratula ❤️
"You can hide from the world, Lakyn, but you'll never be able to hide from me... We're the same. Your madness is the same as mine. Don't hide, because I'll be back, and we'll create the most beautiful mayhem."
Wow!!! What a dark and wild ride was that!!! Honestly, I wasn't expecting this kind of development, even though I have not idea what to expect from a plotline like that!!! The story picked up exactly where it left us in the first book, in this insane cliffy and we are finally getting the identity of our slasher!!!! But aftet what transpired in "Slashers & Secrets, everything are about to change forever!!! And I was all in for this incredible ride full of blood, dark love and a terrifying manhunt!!!
"We're made to find our mate. Lakyn Ashford is mine, and I won't let her go. Even if I have to kill evereone around me to get to her."
I don't want to reveal much about this story, other than that with this turn of events and the slasher's reveal, Lakyn's world and perspectives are changing.... She wasn't like all the others and now, it is showing!!! Lakyn's darkness is rising and it is shockingly similar with the man's that's hunting her... What will happen when everything she knew are changing for the worst??? When the dead bodies are pilling up and the police is breathing down their neck??? Can a different love, full of madness to bloom into a bloody darkness???
"I want him. But I also hate him. And I don't know if I can ever forgive him. Yet, I don't know if I can live without him."
I really loved this story, even though from times to times it was becoming a little bit gruesome... Still I was rooting for this couple, though something was very wrong with them!!!! I enjoyed this journey that was paved in so much blood and darkness!!! I liked the loyalty that this crew were having between them, even when the darkness was hitting one of their own too... I liked how A.R. Breck's mind is working in mysterious ways and now, that I met her, I want to take many more trips along her side!!!
"It's love; it's madness. It's a fucking mayhem that we can't control, but we thrive in it, because it's meant to be. We're meant to be, no matter how wrong we are together, we're meant to be."
If you like dark and twisted romances that has the ability to shock you and surprise you in every turn, just pick up this duet!!! You are going to lose your minds in both good and bad ways and that's the beauty of it!!! Lakyn and her slasher deserve the spotlight and your focus!!! Trust me on that!!! Just for the record, I would love to return back in Hellcrest Heights world for once again and read another one story!!! It will be very intriguing!!! Just saying!! ;-)
"Mine, baby Lake. You've always been mine."
**I received an ARC for the exchange of an honest review**
After being left with a huge cliffhanger on book one I was very excited to dive into book two and find out who the Masked Killer is 👀 A.R Breck is known for her dark and chaotic writing and this is exactly that, a very dark and chaotic thriller with some excellent spice. I must say that I was a little disappointed in this, the book felt a little rushed and could be an epilogue imo. I might have preferred a non HEA, but it did keep me on my toes and it was a very quick read. The story of Hellcrest Hights comes to an end with this book, I did enjoy the angst and drama and I’m kind of hoping for a Archer story!
I wanted to wait to review to see if the second book got better. It did not. Lakyn is a horrible horrible person and she never redeems herself, yet her friends are always there? Even after stabbings and murder? The author gives no indication on backgrounds of these groups and why they are so close and what makes Lakyn so special. She’s whiny, annoying and it had me wishing for her downfall. I only read the second to confirm who the masked man was and I was disappointed. You could call that from the first few chapters of the book. I had hoped the author was using that to her advantage to have a big twist but nope, that was it. Absolutely no suspense.
Could’ve been so much more.
I did love Archer and Reigns characters though. I just couldn’t get past my distaste of Lakyn.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i had to see this through because of the cliffhanger at the end of book #1 and finally finding out who the masked slasher is. ahhhh !!
lakyn & her masked slasher. [go find out who and you don’t want to miss it.] i lovee the way their relationship developed as they terrorized through hellcrest heights. it was gripping & oh soo hotttt !! i quite literally cannot get enough of them and their happy ending was worth it after all. they’re madness created in a beautiful mayhem. 🖤
need i say i absolutely love the friend group and how they were so protective and risked lives to save each other. the realest ride or die friends you could ever have.
i loved this duet so much !! it was such an unhinged journey with 90s slasher horror film vibess and i had a lot of fun reading it !! i’m definitely going to miss the hellcrest heights world.
4.5 This one picked up right where the last one finished and we were straight into the action again. I loved how dark and twisted this duet was. I don’t wanna say to much with this review as I don’t want anything spoiled from this or the first book. I loved the friendship group, even after everything that went down and how they stuck together. I loved the Lakyn and her Masked man and how twisted they become together. A few things did seem a little far fetched, and it became one thing after the other but I enjoyed where the story ended up. Everything seemed to fit them perfectly and I think this will always be a fave duet of mine.
This is great dark romance! ‼️ Check trigger warnings ‼️
We pick up right where the first book ends. And it just keeps going. This book is so fast pace. You don’t know if Reign and / or Lakyn is going to caught.
This book keeps you on your toes. A.R. is such a talented writer. She broke my heart along the way. But with every page I drawn farther and farther into the storyline. I was so invested into the characters and the plot.
The good had a great ending. It ended the duet just as it should be.
The spice in this book is amazing. Each Spicy scene was so well written and made you hot while reading thief 🥵
I hope one day we get a book for Arch because he needs one.
After the way the first book ended, I could not wait to jump into this book. Baby Lakyn is all grown up. She has her "masked killer" to thank for that. He literally would kill anyone who comes between him and Lakyn. The chemistry between these two just got hotter and hotter.
I do have to admit that while, the other guys kind of got on my nerves. I did appreciate how protective they were with Lakyn as well. So, I missed this pack mentality as the group was not in this book as much. It was mainly focused on Lakyn and her killer.
If you thought the first book was dark, this one got darker. Yet, readers of A.R. would not expect anything less. Looking for your next stalker romance then you need to read this duet.
I LOVE this story and the plot is thickened in the second novel for sure.
This book starts out exactly where our first one left off. And after that cliffhanger, I was very grateful for some immediate answers.
The spice, action, and mystery is all bumped up a few notches and it was a super fast-paced read for me. I will say though, that right around the middle of the book, it started feeling very rushed and a LOT of things happened back to back that made it hard to keep up with. But that would be my only issue with my ARC read.
All in all- you receive the closure that we all crave by the end with a ton of character development and a great deal of sauciness!
Wait he's the slasher, Lakyn did what? Who else dies?. Just a few questions that your going to be suprised about. This book continues to amaze me. The twist ,turns and suspense is none stop. This book held my attention from start to finish
The bloody conclusion to the Hellcrest Heights Duet. This books picks up right from where Slasher & Secrets ends, we follow Lakyn and the gang through the gory end of their journey. This book was fast paced , action packed and had you on the edge of your seat not knowing which way the story was going to go. As always AR builds a world of utter chaos and destruction and leaves you gasping for more! I would have preferred if we had , had a Bonnie & Clyde style ending instead of the HEA but I’m glad everything worked out for the gang and Lakyn finally found herself away from her friends and the pressures of her life and upbringing.
Madness & Mayhem is the conclusion to the Hellcrest Heights duet and starts right where book one leaves off. I was anticipating who the masked man was after that cliffhanger in book one and in this book we get all the answers. I loved the elements of horror throughout the story and of course the spice. This book has so many twists that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. An epic conclusion to the duet
Ate this shit up in 24 hrs when I say I couldn’t put it down I’m not joking, the ENTIRE book had me on the edge of my seat like no other book ever has, I LOVED IT. I’ve never read anything with this kind of plot and I NEED more recs like it.
I knew who the slayer was from the first book but the lead up to Lake discovering who it was was sooo good. Her character development was insane.
The pacing throughout the book was very fast and it had me turning page after page, my anxiety was through the roof seeing how they had to fight to survive and everything they had to deal, just when they caught a break something else happened setting them back made me feel like I was living in the moments with them😭.
The manhunt and everything that happened in the last 30% of this book was amazing i’d give it 5⭐️’s solely based on that in itself tbh. I devoured this duet and I’m so glad I read it.
Madness and Mayhem brings us straight back to the ending of Slashers and Secrets and throws us right back into the action and the cliffhanger that left my jaw on the floor.
I can't say much because i don't want to spoil it, but I will say for the first 65% of this book I was completely hooked and I gasped at a few of the revelations. I feel like the book plateaued a little after this and whilst I did enjoy it, it didn't give me the same feeling the first half did. I did love seeing Lakyns dark side and how much it matched up with the masked mans. But overall I loved that it just showed a group of ride or die friends, that would literally die for one another.
It was fast paced in all the right places and I felt on edge with the suspense of the cat and mouse like game going on. I really enjoy A.R's writing and I can't wait to see what comes next.
We get all our answers here. It was amazing, this has me on chokehold, everything about this duet was amazing apart from some little things I didn't like.
This story took off like a rocket from the very beginning. Picking up exactly where it left off in Book 1! Soooo much happens and very quickly. It kept my heart pounding and me page turning throughout the entire book!
So much happens that no matter what you pick up on in reviews, what spoilers you see, and who you talk to about it… THIS IS A BOOK AND STORY YOU NEED TO EXPERIENCE ON YOUR OWN!!! You won’t guess who the slasher from book 1 is… and you will NEVER see what Lakyn does after she finds out coming… and what happens with all the other friends. This is one of those books that will keep you guessing and keep you gasping!
Again... Holy crap, what did I just read?! While the mystery is solved and no longer a storyline, the chaos, violence and suspense continued to blow my mind in Madness and Mayhem. I am so sad it's over and already need more. It's best to go in totally blind, so if you don't want any possibility of it being ruined, set down this review and go start reading.
M+M starts right were S+S left off, we F I N A L L Y get to know who the Slasher is. I have no clue how Andrea did it, but so often she had me convinced my theories were wrong (and many of them were) only to show me who it was and she still absolutely blew my freaking mind. There was a couple truth bõmbs that came up that literally had me gasping. I absolutely loved it.
This conclusion is straight chaos. It's them running and getting caught and escaping and running again, filled with so much gore and death. No one is safe. These two are absolutely unhinged and it was glorious. Someone standing in their way of freedom? No worries, they have a knife in the gut now *cackles* It was just so much dark fun.
I really loved the last couple chapters, their happily ever after was so perfect and totally them. I don't think it'll happen, but I want more from Hellcrest Heights. I'd love to see this crew again, I really loved them all and can't recommend this series enough.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Madness and Mayhem is a perfect title for this book. We finally get some answers on who the masked man is, and it’s nothing but an adrenaline rush from then on. We get to see Lakyn embrace her darkness and see how she truly becomes a match for the masked man. A.R. Breck’s spice in this duet is top tier, and most of my highlights are either the possessive unhinged words and dark endearments of the masked man or straight up smutty scenes. I love how it’s set up like an 80’s style slasher film, and found myself laughing at some of the predictable and unrealistic scenes and found myself holding my breath at the the true suspense of what will happen next. I think my only complaint is the ending was sweet as the gang held together strong for one another, but it might have plateaued a little. Their attempted escapes at the end became a tiny bit predictable and far fetched, but overall I ate the story up! I think this was a unique storyline and plot, and I’d love to see Archer’s story maybe in the future.
Read if you have a thing for men in masks, an adrenaline rush, dark romance, and lots of suspense. Also read if you enjoy top tier spicy scenes, a dirty talker, and some more intense k$nks. Tropes include stalker romance, small town romance, second chance romance, found family, and a masked man with serious ‘touch her and you die’ vibes.
I have been anticipating this book since finishing Slashers & Secrets. I had lots of questions that needed answers. Let me say, this book was not disappointing. It was a bit darker and has a bit more 🩸🩸🩸 than the first, but once you start it, you understand why.
From page one of this duet, Lakyn has grown. She has come into her own with her darkness shining through, calling out to her Masked Man. The group dynamic changes with events that happened at the end of book one, but know that they will do ANYTHING for one another.
I absolutely LOVED Hellcrest Heights! It has all the elements of a classic slasher film plus some. I hate that Lakyn's story is over, but this is one of those duets that will live in my brain for a while. I'm going to have to revisit them from time to time in the future.
Picking up right where we left off from the first book we are thrown into this intense situation that Lakyn finds herself in. From the beginning the emotions are high taking us on a ride that doesn’t really slow down. Lakyn discovers that she is willing to do whatever it takes to protect those she loves and even if that brings out a darkness within she is embracing it. This book has so many twists and turns as the reader you find yourself pulling for the bad guys and hoping things can go their way, but with the intensity of each situation you just don’t know for sure until the end. I really did enjoy the ride this took us on as it was a different kind of love story that twisted things up and kept it interesting.
I have been waiting for this and once again A.R Breck has done it again by creating another masterpiece. The suspense throughout the book was perfection. I'm sad that this story is over but i cannot wait to see what other creations you bring to life. Please read TW. This is a DARK romance book
This was not as good or as spicy as the first one, but it was a decent enough conclusion to the story. I had the same issues with this one as the first, but I do think this one was better designed and structured. The first book was more intriguing and enticing where as this one was fast-paced and adrenaline-inducing. A fair fit to finish the duology.