LIFE OF DEBAUCHERY DUET by M ROBINSON

**SPOILER FREE DUET REVIEW**

“It may have been in pieces, but I gave you the best of me.” – Jim Morrison

M Robinson certainly pulls no punches when she turns on the angst and emotion in Cash McGraw’s raw and gritty story. A rock star, friends to lovers’ duet that took us from past to present throughout, the emotion gripped our hearts, bringing us to tears – tears of hope, frustration and pain. Cash and Journey’s story isn’t a pretty one, but it is compelling reading!

‘How could she leave behind the love of her life, when all he was trying to do was bury them alive?’

Cash McGraw is the only boy in a family of four children, and from an early age, Cash (named after Johnny Cash) knew music was in his blood. Always warring with himself to prove he could be more than he felt his family expected of him, Cash often let pride become his enemy, causing tension between his family and his best friend, culminating in Cash turning his back on his hometown to pursue his dream of becoming a rock star.

‘Behind every song was a story of the person who created it. You could hear it in my voice, see it in my performance, experience it with me in this moment in time. I hid behind my guitar, but the music and rhythm always found its way into the deepest parts of my soul.
Stripping me bare, I gave it my all.’

Journey Pierce was the little girl who idolised the older Cash – twelve years age difference, soon became insignificant when, at thirty years old, the eighteen year old Journey crashes back into Cash’s life at a time when he’s swept up in the sex, drugs and rock lifestyle he feels is his right, being part of the hugely successful Life of Debauchery rock group.

“I’m going to show you what love is, Cash McGraw! You’ll see, I’m going to show you.”

The young Journey stirs something foreign in Cash’s heart, but Cash is man plagued by demons – many, many demons. Bloody hell, this guy had turned his self-destructive lever on to maximum, many times putting our hearts through the wringer! But our hearts bled for him. The relationship he had with his family as well as himself, gutted us.

‘Cash affected my mind, my heart, my soul. His God given talent. I could touch it. Feel it. Taste it. It enveloped me. Devoured me…’

The age gap, considering the very tender age of Journey as well as her speech and behaviour in relation to her age was a tad uncomfortable in the first book, however, as the story progressed, and we moved to present time, Journey the young woman, was more than a match in maturity with Cash. Really, she was an old soul.

‘She hated him. She loved him. She couldn’t save him.’

This duet is a story of friendship, family, love and redemption, with Robinson covering every aspect in all its gut-wrenching agony. This author writes to the beat of her own drum, and whilst her love stories aren’t hearts and flowers, and her characters aren’t perfect, she brilliantly and unapologetically brings us flawed characters who travel a difficult road to find love. Their journeys make us sit up and take notice, making us wince as we share their pain and heartache.

‘I was blinded by her. Consumed by her. Wrecked by her.’

The Life of Debauchery Duet ties in with the Pierced Hearts Duet, though you can read as a standalone duet, as the author cleverly recaps enough of the story for the reader to follow. This is a duet you won’t be able to put down. Wiping tears from our eyes, we closed this duet once again marvelling at another angst filled, emotionally wrought and heart stopping love story.

‘Every intense melody.
Every tragic lyric.
Every powerful emotion you felt deep in your soul.
We were music.
Music was us.’