Monday, October 29, 2018

Review: Rewrite the Stars - Charleigh Rose

Rewrite the Stars
Author: Charleigh Rose
Genre: NA Romance
Release Date: October 25, 2018
Cover Designer: Letitia Hasser @RBA Designs
Cover Model: Lucas Facchini

Evangeline Thorne is privileged. 

Beautiful and popular, if not a little jaded. 




Sebastian McAllister is cursed.

He knows better than to think otherwise. 




Too bad hope is a dangerous thing when you’re a McAllister.

5 Stars
Frustrated by her parent's overinvolvement in her life. It may seem perfect, her life of wealth and luxury, but it isn't until she's amongst the glittering lights and grime of the carnival that she feels alive. That ends the next day though, when life as she's known it is flipped upside down. The handsome boy on the motorcycle is now associated with the attack that ruined her life, leaving her hurt, angry, and fighting to make it to the end of high school. When each summer is marked by a visit with that same boy, Evan's mood changes, and soon she finds she needs Sebastian to make the escape from her once glittering life that's now tinged by despair. But can Evan cut it in Sebastian's no-attachment life and make herself at home amongst the carnival?

"It wasn’t the carnival I was drawn to. It was Sebastian. That wasn’t a coincidence. If anything, that was fate."

Filled with angst and passion, Rewrite the Stars is a coming-of-age romance that will make you fall in love and want to run away to the carnival too. Evan is a passionate teenager, a smart girl who has worn a facade for far too long. Sebastian is one of the handsome, but cursed Sons of Eastlake, a man who lives life in the fastlane, at least until Evan makes him want to slow down. The two are like star crossed lovers, their lives so different and yet they understand one another in a way no one ever has before. The odds seems stacked against them, especially once Evan finds herself on the road with the carnival and Sebastian ignores her and the chemistry that flames between them. I immediately was protective over both Evan and Seb, wanting their lives to be easier, wanting them to be together without anything standing in the way. They really are meant to be, but Charleigh Rose has created a complex plot and it wouldn't be very interesting if things just worked out. There's the hot dancer from the carnival, the creepy incidents that keep occuring, and the newest member of the Sons, Elliott, all trying to ensure Evan and Sebastian don't work out. These things only draw the two closer together, each learning to trust and share and finding comfort in one another. While their passion is explosive, their true relationship is built slowly and really makes the story as good as it is. 

"Hope is a dangerous thing when you’re a McAllister."

I loved the world Charleigh Rose created in Rewrite the Stars, I could picture every character, the entire carnival caravan, and I really felt like I was in the story. The carnival itself really made the story more magical, even as Evan unveiled the truth of how they live and what goes on behind closed trailer doors. The illusion of the carnival life is broken, but it's more raw and real than anything Evan's ever known. There's motorcycles, adult-only tents, fire breathers, and of course, those pesky girls that follow the Sons everywhere. The on-the-move life makes Evan's friend pool very small and makes the drama grow quickly, but it also makes for a family-like atmosphere and gives Evan a chance at what might even be more normal of a life than her previous life. The carnival is where she grows up, where she learns to trust and believe, and where she learns what love really is, even if fate might have other plans for Sebastian McCallister.

"Why should I stay?"
"Because I don't want feel like waiting another year to see you again."

Oh my lanta, Charleigh Rose, you are a gem! Rewrite the Stars is a unique, adventurous story that stands out among other romances on the shelves right now. The characters are relatable, despite their on-the-road lifestyle, and the story is whimsical, filled with the sort of magic and mischief you don't often get in adult romance. I knew I'd like Rewrite the Stars from the moment the blurb was announced, but I had no clue I'd fall in love with it. This book is a stunning, re-read worthy release from Charleigh Rose. And hey, if anyone else wants to run away to work at the carnival now, let me know, I'm in!


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