Burn - Paula Weston

Burn is book four in the fantastic Rephiam Series. Please be aware that Shadows, Haze and Shimmer come before this!

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

Gaby remembers everything . . . 

My Review

What can I say? I knew I'd love this book before it was even out. There's just something about this universe and these characters that makes me want to read and read and read and never put the books down. I was so excited to read the prologue I had to stop myself making excited noises and my heart was racing. Like all other readers, I was desperate to know Gaby's whole story at last.

Weston went about this in the absolute best way. Instead of trying to explain all that had happened leading up to Gaby's memory loss and making the writing clunky and awkward, Weston let us live it with her. And when I'm alongside Gaby, I'm all kinds of ready. It was fascinating to be beside Gabe for once and not the Gaby I'd come to know and love.

It was amazing how Gaby and Gabe were the same person a year apart and yet they were so different. Gaby's much softer and . . . wait, I really want this to make sense . . . Gaby has more memories and therefore sees the world a little differently and that subtle difference between the past and present in this story makes me want to bow down to Weston because it is nothing short of perfection.

And just as I get my head round explaining that, Weston blows me away by doing so in less than fifteen words:

"I've been someone else for a whole year; I'm a different shape now."

As with all four of these books, you get a such-a-long-day kind of feeling as you battle right beside Gaby. It's incredible that I can feel as though I'm living all of it. It really is a masterpiece.

I was in the middle of  Burn for about thirty-three hours. Twenty-five of which I was awake and obsessing about it. I couldn't sleep for thinking about it. Then, when it was all over, I was so lost. I felt like I was missing something . . . no, someone.

I miss Gaby already!

FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR!

Evaluation

Overall 10/10

Would I recommend it? Yes! In a heartbeat! 

Would I look up the author? Yes but I don't have to.

Burn was everything I was expecting and then a whole lot more.

Molly Looby
Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready
molly.looby@hotmail.com

Shadows - Paula Weston

Blurb

It's been almost a year since the car crash that killed Gaby's twin brother.

Across a crowded bar Gaby sees the man of her dreams, literally. Rafa not only looks exactly like the guy who's been appearing in her dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Now Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself is just a shadow of the truth - and the truth is more likely to be found in her nightmares.

My Review

Shadows was just what I was looking for. It is a typical teen fiction book that I just fell all over. Realistic, funny characters, a serious plot that's complicated but I can still follow it and a kick-ass protagonist who I fell in love with at once. And to top it all off a supernatural element. Yes please.

First of all, while I was looking through my bookshelf deciding what to read next, my plan was to just read the blurb and the first paragraph. Then based on that I was going to decide which sounded the most exciting and read that. However, I picked up Shadows and the first paragraph wasn't enough. I sat and read the whole first chapter and decided all my other books could wait.

This didn't really change the whole way through the book. I could hardly put the thing down. I read chapter after chapter after chapter, having no desire whatsoever to put it down. It was just so easy to read and so difficult to only read the one chapter. Every character, every line of dialogue, every action intrigued me. I just couldn't get enough of Gaby, who I fell in love with instantly. She was so real and relatable and not at all annoying in any shape or form.

Shadows was a total joy to read. I just connected with this book entirely and had a blast! I hadn't realised how much I missed reading books written in the first person present tense and I think that made the whole thing even more enjoyable. I can't remember the last book I read that was written in this way, and it's one of my favourite styles too!

The only possible thing I have to say about Shadows that is negative is that if you put it down for too long - I put it down for a week while I spent time with my cousins - once you come back to it, there seems to be too many characters and too much gong on that you don't know about. Gaby spends the majority of the book having no idea what's going on or why for most things. This is fine up until you take a break and then have no idea what to think when you come back. I even had to backtrack to remember who some people were and I hate doing that. But even so, I couldn't stop reading.

Evaluation

I give this book an overall 9/10.

Would I recommend it? Yes. It was brilliant and I enjoyed every page.

Would I look up the author? Yes. I'm definitely going to read the other books in the series!

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com