Raw by

Belle Aurora

“Love is love. It don’t discriminate. And it sure as fuck don’t wait ‘til you’re ready for it.”
                  ― Belle Aurora, Raw

When I read the comment below, I should have known;

            Author Note: This is not a love story. This is a story of a love gone wrong.

I should have taken heed, put my big girl pants on, gathered a box of tissues, left the light on and settled down for the night – but being none too bright – I disregarded the warning and  pottered on regardless.

This was my first and only mistake because having now finished the book, I know the author was right but I also know that this book will never leave me.

The story is exactly as the title warns you – it’s RAW.

Other words that would fit the bill are dark, brutal and uncompromising but those qualities add to the read, not detract from it.

Alexa ( Lexi) comes from a rough background – pathetic parenting she didn’t have much of a childhood but she eventually finds someone to take care of her and when her foster mother breaks the news that she is moving back to Australia, Lexi goes with her and that is where we find her – a single professional, living in Sydney.

Working as social worker Lexi feels that it is her past that has brought her to her chosen profession – she feels a need to help kids – in a way that she wasn’t.

She revels in the ability to care for her “cubs” and proves to be one tough “mama bear”.

But as normal twenty something – she goes about her business with the ease and aplomb of someone her age, she works hard and with her two best friends in tow she plays hard also.

She just has one small detail that sets her apart from the rest of us – she has stalker. She knows he’s about, she can sense when him. She catches glimpses, here and there. Fleeting glances of the hooded figure watching her, but never any contact. No=one knows about him – not her friends or her colleagues but she knows and she keeps him for herself.

All that changes when he decides that he doesn’t want to be on the edge of her life anymore – he has plans for her life and he knows that it will revolve around him, whether she likes it or not.

Enter the enigmatic Twitch.

Twitch implants himself, front and centre in her life- when he rescues her from a would be assailant. He is brutal in his treatment of the attacker and that should have been Lexi’s first indication that she should tread carefully with this man – but her head and heart are definitely not singing from the same page.

Almost instantly Twitch becomes a major player in her life. And she knows it!
Twitch is the epitome of a bad guy – look it up in the dictionary and I am damn sure that he is listed next to the term!

That is not an issue for Twitch – he knows he’s bad and he doesn’t care.

Twitch wasn’t brought up – he dragged himself out of the gutter, from the earliest of ages and living – no sorry, existing on the streets and in Juvenile Detention through his informative years he learnt that life is tough but you just have to be tougher.

From the depths of despair and depravity Twitch took on life and won – he set out to create a life – not just any life but the one that he has now – one he owns, one he deserves.

There are many words to describe Twitch – he is absolutely ruthless, a sociopath if you must, the villain of the peace but he is honest and loyal. He has morals and passion and a loyalty to those around him that knows no bounds.

 Twitch dominance with Lexi is painful to read at some points and will have you screaming at her to tell him to just fuck off – he is a bastard at best but awakens something in her that like a moth to a flame, draws her in. He is the water that quenches her thirst.

Lexi acknowledges to herself early on that despite his flaws, she isn’t willing to be without him.

As uncompromising as always, Twitch warns her that he can’t be what she wants – does it stop her, not a chance.

The sex between the pair of them is off the charts – it is absolutely no hold barred – Erotic to the extreme.Twitch has no boundaries and he pushes every one of Lexi’s – and without exception she lets him. Together they are a force of nature.

We learn early on that Twitch doesn’t act on impulse – he has a plan for Lexi – he has always had a plan – he wants her dependant on him and he manages to do just that, he consumes her life but her willingness to accept him in whatever way he sees fit to give himself to her – has him seriously rethinking his whole agenda.

His plan- harboured for years is unravelling before his eyes and he is powerless to stop it – she is under his skin and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

The relationship between them is rough, unforgiving and dangerous but it is passionate, truthful and intense.

I liked the other characters in the book – I especially liked the dynamic between Twitch and Happy. They really are brothers in the true sense of the word – when blood would never have been enough he has Happy.

Lexi’s friends Nikki and Dave are just the type of friend a girl needs and I would like to hear more from them but most of all I would just like to hear more of Twitch.

I’ll admit that the end of the novel made me cry, not only because of the events that unfolded but at the pain I felt for the loss of the characters.

Their story will stay with me – they really were that powerful.

We are all creatures of our upbringing, our childhood moulds us into the adults we are supposed to become – but it is our free will as adults that gives us the ability to decide whether or not we accept natures plan for us or whether we decide to fight for the person we want for ourselves.

Twitch fought for himself and the woman that he ultimately came to love.

I get that life is not all hearts and flowers and it is realistic that not everyone gets a completely happy ever after and to that avail the end of the book did what it was supposed to do but it did leave me with one niggle – it left me wanting more.

It left me grieving for Lexi and Twitch.

It left me with a void and the overwhelming hope that the author may consider giving more of their story.

The book will leave you breathless and believe me when I say that it won’t always be in a good way.

It will emote many emotions; it will make you sob out loud, it will make you cry silently, it will make you scream but over and above all of this it will do one thing that is much more important than that – it will open your eyes to the brutality that is love in all its forms.

This is a powerful statement piece of writing and I would recommend it to anyone with the stomach to look at life without the rose tinted glasses

Take heed of the authors warning – after all she wrote the thing – she should know!

Rating 5 out of 5- Breathtaking