The Rebel of Raleigh High
By: Callie Hart
Series: Raleigh Rebels
Book # in Series: 1 of 3
Genre: Dark Romance
Content Warning: Sexual Abuse, School Shooting
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: April 27th, 2019
My Rating: ✮✮✮
My Reading Format: kindleunlimited
Synopsis:
Silver
Hit me.
Kick me.
Hurt me.
Hate me.
There’s nothing that the students of Raleigh High can do to Silver Parisi anymore. Over the past year, she’s had to endure more pain and suffering than most people are asked to bear in their lifetimes. She’s a pariah, an outcast, a ghost. She’s also never been one to take shit lying down, though…despite what half the football team might say.
With only one hundred and sixty-eight days left of the school year, it won’t be long until graduation, and Silver’s planning on skipping town and leaving Raleigh firmly in her rearview mirror…
Until he comes along…
Alex
Orphan.
Degenerate.
Reprobate.
Deviant.
Alex Moretti’s earned most of his labels, and he’s not ashamed of a single one of them. He’ll earn far worse before he’s finished with his new found ‘friends’ at Raleigh High. Having spent years being ground down under the boot heel of society, it’s time for a little payback. And if exacting revenge upon the heads of the Raleigh elite means he can also help the beautiful girl who hovers in the shadows, then that’s all for the better.
Oil and water. Fire and ice. The differences between Silver and Alex are broader than any chasm. To reach one another, they must take a leap of faith and fall into the divide.
And falling?
Nothing good ever came from falling.
June 12th, 2019 was the first time I read The Rebel Of Raleigh High by Callie Hart. I remember feeling so happy that two misfits found their other half within one another. I remember feeling the fear of first time love and the satisfaction when the love was requited. Silver and Alex shared a common theme, they both suffered from heartbreaking trauma. And their bond over their trauma’s turned out to be an unbreakable thread. I remember falling head over heels for this rebellious boy finding and falling in love for the very first time. I felt his emotions from the tips of my fingers all the way down to my toes and back up again…. I loved the story of redemption coming from both characters and both points of views… I also remember the incredible fear I felt towards the end. I remember feeling that there was no way Silver and/or Alex were going to survive this horrific day. I remember when the second book, Revenge At Raleigh High, released and due to this book’s nature and themes, I decided to not continue on with this series at that time in my life.
Fast Forward Four years…. I was looking through all the books I read through goodreads and found this book. I remember loving it for the relationship and redemption points and hating it for the detailed trigger moments. All of those feelings came back to the surface, and at that moment, I had to know if Silver and Alex made it through to the end of this series.
After reading my review from the first time around I do recall not really being able to get into this one until the last half of the novel. I can happily say, this time around I loved Silver and Alex’s beginning! I actually think I did a switch up. I liked the first half of this novel better than I liked the last half.
The first half of the book was all about redemption for Alex and healing for Silver. I loved seeing each offer something the other needed. Alex showed Silver that she was a fierce fighter, when she thought she was nothing. And Silver showed Alex, he’s above his past mistakes. My heart broke for both of these characters in different ways, and somehow Callie Hart found a way to turn that broken mess around and bring my heart to the healing point…. It’s not fully healed, but I have a feeling carrying on with this series will heal it in no time.
If you don’t want to be spoiled with triggers, I highly recommend you skip this review. If you’re hear for my true thoughts, here we go.
The decision to read the first book in the Raleigh Rebels series did not come lightly given the extremely detailed content of a school shooting and a brutally detailed rape chapter. My heart hated reliving Silver’s traumatic moment this time around, just as much as I hated reading it the first time. In my opinion, I don’t feel the need for explicitly detailed rape scenes in romance novels. We all have an imagination, we can get the jist of the horrific actions without having them written in a chapter. I get, this is a dark romance and Callie Hart is a fantastic author that pays attention to fine details, but damn… there is too much of this happening in the real world.
Now let’s talk about the heavily detailed school shooting. Reading the review I wrote after reading The Rebel of Raleigh High the first time, back in 2019, I didn’t go into the details much due to spoilers. But now, I think it’s safe to say this time around I’m about to dive into my thoughts and views on this moment in Silver and Alex’s life…. Four years ago, I thought nothing of this moment in this fictional romance novel. Back then, I could read anything and be able to separate the fictional world from the real world. Today, however, was different, having lived six minutes away from a school shooting had the lines of fiction and reality blurring. I’m not going to dive into any more detail. From here on out though, I don’t think I’ll be reading anymore novels that detail and draw out school shootings. There is too much of that in our real world, we don’t need it in our fictional romance worlds…
And that is my honest opinion.
These details are the main reason why I decided to rate this novel 3 stars this time around, instead of the 4 stars I gave it the first time. It’s nothing on Callie Hart or her writing skills, it’s just my preference now. I loved Alex and Silver, but those moments were way too much for this soft reader’s heart… And that’s where I will end this review. I’m going to continue on with this series, something I wasn’t able to do in 2019… I’m craving a happily ever after for Silver and for Alex. I want them both to heal and find comfort. I need them both to find redemption!
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Peace Love and Happy Reading,
It’s interesting how time changes things, isn’t it. I’m glad this one worked better in some ways, even if it didn’t in all.
I know, right! Life definitely changed my opinion on this one.