{ about the book }
standalone novel
publishes March 13, 2018 by Razorbill
ARC provided by the publisher
ARC provided by the publisher
The autumn morning after sixteen-year-old Audrey Harper loses her virginity, she wakes to a loud, persistent knocking at her front door. Waiting for her are two firemen, there to let her know that the moment she's been dreading has arrived: the enormous wildfire sweeping through Orange County, California, is now dangerously close to her idyllic gated community of Coto de Caza, and it's time to evacuate.
Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, as Audrey wrestles with the possibility of losing her family home, she also recalls her early, easy summer days with Brooks, the charming, passionate, but troubled volunteer firefighter who enchants Audrey—and who is just as enthralled by her. But as secrets from Brooks's dark past come to light, Audrey can't help but wonder if there's danger in the pull she feels—both toward this boy, and toward the fire burning in the distance.
•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•
{ my review }
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
At the time I'm writing this review, it's 11:00 PM on a Wednesday night.
I've spent the entire day reading this book. I'm going to spend the entire night thinking about this book and how it made me feel, how it's making me feel.
As a general rule, I try to stay away from contemporaries that don't have a happy ending, or something like that. Gritty novels make me feel things and I don't really like the feelings I get.
I classify this as a gritty novel. Which. Which isn't a bad thing. Nothing Left to Burn isn't a bad book—far, far from it. But it's a complicated book and I can't even begin to express everything I want to for it.
I guess I can start with this: I really, really liked it. And I really, really didn't expect how it would affect me.
The story itself is almost on two separate, yet intertwined, timelines. The now takes place in a single day, while the then takes place from the moment Audrey met Brooks, and the start of their relationship. It's told like this: the time, now, and something about the past, something that evolves over the course of the book, until you understand everything about Audrey and Brooks and their complicated, messy relationship.
I had a feeling this book would leave me sad from the start. I kept on with it because wow. I loved Audrey. I loved everything about her that it's hard to explain just why, but it's like I got her and I saw parts of me in her. Her voice, her entire character jumped out to me the entire time and it's definitely part of the reason why Nothing Left to Burn was hard to put down. Audrey is a flawed character and it makes her all the more real. The whole time, the whole book, I wanted her to be free. I wanted her to just be free.
I... I hated Brooks. Also from the start. Their entire relationship had me uneasy and that didn't go away while I kept on reading. I thought he was manipulative and it hurt me whenever Audrey thought she had to, like, not make it up to him or something after saying or doing the wrong thing, but feeling like she should be sorry for everything she needed to understand.
I can't claim to know what it's like to be in an abusive relationship, only through what I've read, so I'm not going to pretend I do. But just reading it, just getting behind Audrey's feelings on their relationship, it was... wow.
I learned a lot about fires and about evacuating from this book. I find it all of it amazing and very horrifying, that threat of having to lose your entire home, all your belongings, in one fell swoop. The urgency, the fear in this book felt so authentic and so real. It's clear Ezell is talented with both writing her characters and her setting!
So. Overall: I just really hope this review made sense. I still feel a little over the place. Nothing Left to Burn comes out soon and it is a spectacular debut. There's just so much packed into it, that I couldn't even begin to process it all. 4 stars and I would highly recommend this!
I've spent the entire day reading this book. I'm going to spend the entire night thinking about this book and how it made me feel, how it's making me feel.
As a general rule, I try to stay away from contemporaries that don't have a happy ending, or something like that. Gritty novels make me feel things and I don't really like the feelings I get.
I classify this as a gritty novel. Which. Which isn't a bad thing. Nothing Left to Burn isn't a bad book—far, far from it. But it's a complicated book and I can't even begin to express everything I want to for it.
I guess I can start with this: I really, really liked it. And I really, really didn't expect how it would affect me.
The story itself is almost on two separate, yet intertwined, timelines. The now takes place in a single day, while the then takes place from the moment Audrey met Brooks, and the start of their relationship. It's told like this: the time, now, and something about the past, something that evolves over the course of the book, until you understand everything about Audrey and Brooks and their complicated, messy relationship.
I had a feeling this book would leave me sad from the start. I kept on with it because wow. I loved Audrey. I loved everything about her that it's hard to explain just why, but it's like I got her and I saw parts of me in her. Her voice, her entire character jumped out to me the entire time and it's definitely part of the reason why Nothing Left to Burn was hard to put down. Audrey is a flawed character and it makes her all the more real. The whole time, the whole book, I wanted her to be free. I wanted her to just be free.
I... I hated Brooks. Also from the start. Their entire relationship had me uneasy and that didn't go away while I kept on reading. I thought he was manipulative and it hurt me whenever Audrey thought she had to, like, not make it up to him or something after saying or doing the wrong thing, but feeling like she should be sorry for everything she needed to understand.
I can't claim to know what it's like to be in an abusive relationship, only through what I've read, so I'm not going to pretend I do. But just reading it, just getting behind Audrey's feelings on their relationship, it was... wow.
I learned a lot about fires and about evacuating from this book. I find it all of it amazing and very horrifying, that threat of having to lose your entire home, all your belongings, in one fell swoop. The urgency, the fear in this book felt so authentic and so real. It's clear Ezell is talented with both writing her characters and her setting!
So. Overall: I just really hope this review made sense. I still feel a little over the place. Nothing Left to Burn comes out soon and it is a spectacular debut. There's just so much packed into it, that I couldn't even begin to process it all. 4 stars and I would highly recommend this!
2 Comments
This one slipped past my radar! Sounds like this one is very special to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
it was! thank you for reading!!
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