RED | S. Elle Cameron

Sixteen year old, Peyton is all grown up and lives without the guidance of her mother or father. Raised by her older cousin, Mason and his wife Adalyn, she lives life making the same reckless mistakes her parents once made; left with only hallow words penned in her mother’s journal and vaulted music from her father’s band. But sometimes mistakes are necessary to grow even when they mean life as you know it will completely fall apart.

After constantly getting involved with the wrong guys and making questionable decisions, things start to look up for Peyton when she’s introduced to Ronan, a newcomer from New York. Nevertheless, when things start to look up we should be ready to shift our eyes downward because a fall is sure to come.

As Peyton makes a mess of her life in Arizona, she relocates to Los Angeles to live with her famous Uncle Jackson where she meets her musical muse, Alex Kinsley. But does a change of scenery really change who we are?

In the second installment of the RED Tragedies series, RED picks up where A Tragic Heart left off.

Review of A Tragic Heart

As the first book I read from my Anticipated Releases post back in 2014, this one did not disappoint. In fact, it's almost 600 pages and I finished it in a little over two days. That being said, it wasn't perfect. In fact, the characters were, more times than not, frustrating and bipolar. They did and said the wrong thing at the wrong time which, of course, ended up in a whole lot of trouble. But that's what humans do, isn't it? They break things again and again until they're irreparable. 

Like A Tragic Heart, RED is intense, though, I will admit, it lost its element of surprise from the first book. Cameron does a fantastic job of making the reader feel as though they're right there, witnessing Peyton's actions, however reckless they were. And the character development in this book was absolutely phenomenal. Watching each of the characters struggle through the aftereffects of A Tragic Heart, particularly Mason and Jackson, was an incredible journey, and I honestly can't wait for the next two books. 

While the writing and events of this book were especially well done, this book did make me very angry. There are moments when I wanted to reach into the book and shake some sense into Peyton, tell her to wake up from the fantastical life she thinks she's living. And a lot of this feeling had to do with the fact that, personality-wise, I couldn't connect with Peyton at all. I couldn't wrap my head around her rash, intense behavior because I could never picture myself in her situation. But nonetheless, I could still appreciate her personality and development as a character. 

Overall, this was a captivating read and I do recommend this book/series, more for an older audience, as it does contain some racy and controversial behavior. But it's the perfect passion-filled book to spice up a bland and boring day.