Book Review: Of Love and Madness Trilogy by Karen Cimms

Book Review

Of Love and Madness; A Trilogy by Karen Cimms

Contemporary Romance. Contemporary Women’s Fiction.

4.5 Stars

A heart-wrenching modern love story I couldn’t put down.

From Book 1:Sometimes life gives you what you need, even if you don’t believe you deserve it.
Kate Daniels wants it all—a big, crazy life, lots of kids, and an adoring husband. Someday. For now, she’ll be happy just to survive her first semester of college. Billy McDonald wants it all, too. Since the day he got his first guitar, he’s had one goal—to prove he’s worth something. His dream is so close, he can almost touch it.Thrown together during a freak snowstorm, Kate and Billy’s lives become permanently entwined. On the outside, they have nothing in common, but scars aren’t always visible and abuse doesn’t always leave a mark. Kate keeps the pain of her past buried, while Billy carries his like a weapon.In spite of finding love, Billy continues to be haunted by his childhood and tempted by the excesses of the music industry. He struggles to keep his career on track and his inner demons at bay, until one night, he makes a mistake that could cost him everything. Kate may have found her happily ever after, but for Billy, the nightmare has just begun.

Set against a backdrop of heavy metal and emerging grunge, At This Moment is the first book in the Of Love and Madness trilogy. A love story that unfolds over twenty-five years, it’s the tale of two damaged people trying to make their way in the world without destroying themselves or each other in the process.

On a whim, or rather a nudge from my Instagram feed, I grabbed the first of this trilogy, At This Moment. A free Kindle download, I figured what did I have to lose?
Not used to reading this type of genre, I found the perspective on love and life refreshing. No long-winded courtship of maybe they like me/maybe they don’t, this one gets right into the nuts and bolts of what life is like, even with your one true love. With so many flaws creating baggage in each of us, this story really grabs how that might play out, regardless of intention.
Typically a more fantasy category reader, this real-life story tore at my heart, so much so I almost put the first book down about half-way through. Not because it wasn’t a great story, or that I didn’t care about the characters, but because I found myself so uncomfortable for everything going on, I wasn’t sure I needed that kind of stress in my life! Then, I was in it, and there was no more thought of abandoning the story…
Getting right into Book 2 as I finished the first installment, I was so glad I didn’t bail on Billy and Katie. In We All Fall Down, things really get hairy, and I was all in, eagerly allowing myself to get dragged through the mud of the story. Here were the tears. Here were the gut wrenches that make the world of books a fantastic place. Here were the moments that sit you up, angry you can’t scream sense into the characters you’ve grown to love so much.
The guitarist plays solo. Close-up. Dark background
When Book 2 ends, there’s even less of a reason for a pause than there was between Books 1 and 2. Now properly obsessed, I dug right in. All I Ever Wanted follows Katie’s struggle to reconnect to the world she’s abandoned and we learn why communication is so integral to any relationship, and how secrets can splinter our minds, creating non-existent worlds inside our heads. Worlds that fracture our reality so badly, sometimes we might not be able to come back from the damage.
Looking for a weekend of page-turning heartache? Looking for something to grab you by the feels? This is it. But don’t expect happy pages of sexual exploration. If that’s what you’re used to, or looking for, this isn’t it. This is real. This is gritty. This is real life.
at  index  AIEW eCover
Happy Reading 🙂
Check out my thoughts on Reviews here

 

 

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