Author: Danielle Rollins
Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural
Source: Bloomsbury
Goodreads
After three years in juvie, Angela Davis is now months away from release. She'll finally get the hell out of Brunesfield Correctional Facility.Review by Nara
And then Jessica arrives... she's young - only ten years old - so why did she arrive in shackles under the highest security? And why is she being kept in segregation? No one knows what she did to end up there. But there are plenty of rumours.
Pretty soon strange things start happening to Angela and her friends. Could they be down to Jessica?
This little girl might just be more dangerous than anyone expected...
I'd actually never heard of Burning before being sent it for review, but after reading the blurb on the back, I was most definitely ready to give it a try. It sounded so creepy and thrilling and I wasn't sure whether to expect some sort of supernatural element to it. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite what I got.
Burning actually went off to a great start, but then slowly and surely fizzled out. At first, the book was pretty intriguing- I was interested to know why Angela had been sent to juvie, and what she meant when she said that she was a monster. When Jessica, the 10 year old "dangerous" girl mentioned in the blurb, appeared, I thought she was going to be super creepy, but no. Turns out she's just a sweet little girl who can't control some of the things that she does. Disappointing.
I didn't really get a good understanding of the supernatural aspect of the novel. Which I suppose is because the protagonist didn't have a good understanding of it either. In any case, I never felt like I had a good grasp on what was happening, not even towards the end where things were sort of explained. A bit of romance was also thrown in, which really didn't feel all that necessary. Especially since it didn't really get resolved at the end. Although I did begrudgingly like it to be completely honest.
According to Goodreads, it looks like the book is a standalone, which is unexpected because the ending isn't exactly the most conclusive of endings. It could easily be continued into a series or at least an extra book to explain all the things that were left hanging.
It was okay
RatingsOverall: 4/10
Plot: 2/5
Romance: 1.5/5
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
