Author: Jenny Hand & Siobhan Vivian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Publication date: September 16, 2014
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary/Paranormal)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 387
New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.
After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.
Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?
*may contain spoilers if have not read Fire with Fire*
I have been waiting to get my hands on Ashes to Ashes for so long, because Fire with Fire sure ended in such a huge cliffhanger. Ashes to Ashes is the final book in the Burn for Burn trilogy, which means that everything is finally going to rap up in this book. So many questions have arose from reading Burn for Burn and Fire with Fire, and I just couldn't wait for this book to answer all of those questions for me. Ashes to Ashes immediately began with Mary, and to be honest, I just didn't like Mary anymore. I originally thought Burn for Burn was going to be a contemporary trilogy about friends and revenge, but I really disliked the paranormal twist that was added in the story. I just didn't get why Jenny and Siobhan decided to do that, but overall, the paranormal factors was what really bothered me in this book.
Bothersome factors aside, I enjoyed this book. Although, if I had to compare it to the first two, this would be my least favourite. In Ashes to Ashes, we definitely got to know and understand all the characters, not just Mary, Kat, and Lillia, a bit more that we ever had. The romance was also very interesting, and we got to really see who ended up with who. I guess this book was no longer about the revenge (boohoo!) and more about the conflict between Mary and the girls. Due to the fact that I'm not much of a fan of Mary, I really just wanted to get her out of the overall picture.
Overall, the ending was a great one for this trilogy. Although it was definitely unexpected, it was still a good ending to the books. Would I recommend this trilogy? Definitely yes, but I would have to mention that it's not completely contemporary, and not get someone fooled like me (*cries*) Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian certainly delivered a good trilogy, and I can't say I'm not excited for future works by both of them!
Other books by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
This does look like a contemporary series just by the cover so I can understand your surprise that it hand paranormal elements to it. It's unfortunate that this was a negative for you, Farah. I know Jasprit has really enjoyed this series, but I haven't seen her thoughts on this last installment yet. Wonderful review! :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked the ending of the book. I thought it was very realistic and bittersweet. Great review!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm sorry that you weren't able to enjoy this book as you did the rest of the books. Fire with Fire was actually my favourite, I almost ended up dying on many occasions with that book and I even ordered this book early from TBD so that I could read it straight away, but of course life ends up getting in the way! I shall have to make time for this book soon. I look forward to comparing notes! :)
ReplyDeleteI thought this was going to be contemporary too!! Until that "Carrie" ending in the first book... then I realized stuff might get weird. I wasn't a fan of Mary either... I went from feeling SO bad for her, to being annoyed... and then I could see the twist at the end of the 2nd book coming a mile away. But I love the writing and the other 2 characters, so I am going to read this final book soon. Oh yeah, I haven't read this final book yet BTW :)
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