Wow! I can’t believe I read the first book on this duo, Burned, over three years ago. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Whether that’s because of the content, the abuse, the love, or just the storytelling in general, I’m not sure. But I’m glad I got around to finally wrapping everything up. Like always, I love Ellen Hopkins’ writing, not just the style of it but the way she weaves her stories together. They’re heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I can’t get enough, even though they’re hard to read sometimes.
Published September 10th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry
After we finished the last book, we were left at more than one death, and a lot of horrific confusion. Pattyn had just lost the person she loves most in her life, her boyfriend Ethan, and not only him, but their unborn baby as well. That and her abusive father. He died by a gunshot in the shed in front of her and her traumatized and abused sister, Jackie.
So when we start this book, Pattyn is on the run from the police, taking a bus as far as she can go, to see the ocean before she’s certain she too will die. She finds herself after quite some time working as a maid and nanny on a farm far from anywhere she’s ever known, and quite content hiding away and trying to forget about what she’s been through. Jackie, however, is at home recovering from a very violent night of not only physical abuse, but sexual abuse as well. She faces a very different life than Pattyn, one filled with secrets and harsh words, forced to stay silent about what’s happened to her, while her mother tries to just forget anything ever happened, even inviting the boy that’s done that to her to come to a holiday dinner. Luckily, she makes friends with a boy at school, Gavin, who really changes her life, and her outlook on life.
This book, like all of Ellen Hopkins books, are a little hard to read because of the subject matter, but if you can bear to read the horrific things happening to the characters, you really get to see them overcome their demons and blossom into the people that they should be. That they know that they can be, and you know that they can be. Though it can be triggering, I can’t even begin to explain how nice it is to see that they can get through the bad things that happen to them, and that’s why I can’t stop reading the books that she puts out.
I’m so glad that I got to see this storyline all wrapped up, and that not all the bad things that happen stick around forever. Not only can these characters grow from their trauma, but you can too, and the author has added a blurb like she always does, at the end of the book about where to get help, and the statistics of people who are in situations just like the ones in the books. I highly recommend checking them out, and even if you find the subject matter hard to get through, really trying hard to see it through to the end because it is worth it.
If you’d like a copy, you can grab one here through my Amazon Associates link!
And if you’re interested in keeping up with the author, you can do so here!
Thanks for reading! I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.
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