I. Am. NOT. Okay.
Original Review: 2022
Thank goodness this box set was available, because I don’t know how any previous readers were able to wait between the release of the books. I am NOT okay. This series gutted me. I didn’t know going in what was going to happen. Just have your tissues ready. The love stories in this book series are so well written. You can feel what each of these characters feels.
Sean. Georgia. Cam.
I’ll be purchasing this, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read the series again.
Updated Review: 2025
It took my three years to be able to reread this series.
Three years for my head to overrule my heart to dive back into the story of Georgia, Sean, and Cam.
Three years and I'm still Team Tiger.
It's hard to write a review for this series, because I don't want to give away spoilers.
This isn't an easy read, at least the first story, The Story of Us. Gia and Sean fell in love when they met as young kids. They grew up together, but nothing happened until they were older. Then Sean and her brother Marley start touring with their band. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll...temptation and excess abound. Mistakes are made. Hearts are broken. Lives are changed.
Georgia is young, at least to me in her mindset, even when she gets a few years older. She's had everything she's ever wanted, she's been a spoiled child and only girl. Her behavior and actions are a result of not knowing how to cope and using things to escape her feelings. Nobody in her life tells her to "snap out of it," they just let her do what she does. Later in the series, we get to see a more mature Georgia, even though she retains her mouthy ways and doesn't back away from confrontations.
I know it's the story of Gia and Sean, but Cam is the one who stood out to me on my first read and still does. He fell and fell hard. He brought Georgia back from the edge and he didn't deserve the treatment he received. When he broke, it hit me harder than everything that came before.
The Carnage series will always be one of my favorites, in part because it provided me with an escape along with characters that have stayed with me through the years. It's one of the two series that I've purchased special editions for because I needed to have them on my shelves, which don't actually exist yet, because I need to buy them in the future.
If you want a story that will take you from young love to forever love, but not make it easy, the Carnage series is it.