"Last week Mateo worked an early shift so he could watch the Flyers game that night. That's all the information Issie needed. Since then she's gone into research mode, using her nearly twenty minutes of computer time a day to research players and teams.

'Flyers are playing the Rangers tonight,' Mateo says, grin widening. 'New York's going down.'

'No way,' Issie says. 'Lundqvist is gonna score on some Flyer ass.'"

Oh Issie...sweetie...you tried so hard... :( ( )

I really liked the first half, but after that it started to get all "trying too hard". I wish the story was toned down because the characters were very strong and carried the story without all these weird twists.

Just before Angela's scheduled release from juvie, THINGS start happening. First, a 10-year-old girl (Jessica) is brought in under high security. Then, a new program called Sci-Girls is causing a major stir among the inmates. There's something about Jessica, Sci-Girls, and the director of Sci-Girls (Dr. Gruen) that freaks Angela out. Weird things begin happening, and soon it becomes clear that there's evil in this prison that has nothing to do with the girls who are serving sentences.

My Thoughts:
You know how you read those books where you're just EXPECTING the twist at the end to be incredible? You're expecting it to be something you would never see coming and could never come up with yourself. Maybe even something you've never read about before. THAT'S what I wanted from this book... but it didn't happen. It's sort of the same thing that I had going on with the Mara Dyer series. It's all built up with this creepy-vibe, but the ending didn't live up.

The First Half: LOVED!! The characters, the writing, the atmosphere.... it all sucked me in. I felt bad for little Jessica. How does a little 10-year-old girl wind-up in max-security?? I also was really intrigued by Angela and her 2 bunkmates' backstories. I wanted to know why they were there and when they would get out.

When it became clear where the story was actually headed: UGH. Part of me liked the creepy/paranormal element, but part of me just felt blah about it. It definitely wasn't the thing that kept me reading. I stayed reading because I CARED about Issie, Angela, Cara, and Jessica. I cared abut their families and what happened to them.

The Villain and The Ending: I thought the ending was shaky. I mean, parts were explained and explained, and parts were left so muddled and confusing. It left off so that it's probably going to be a sequel. Maybe things will be better explained in that book. I'm not hopeful. Also, I thought the villain was a tad TOO villainous. It was too dramatic and I just didn't think that drama was necessary when the setting and characters were so strong.

There is a romantic element to this book, and all I have to say about that is PUKE!!!

It felt like [b:Orange Is the New Black|6314763|Orange Is the New Black|Piper Kerman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320520714s/6314763.jpg|6499995] (the TV show) and [b:The Walls Around Us|18044277|The Walls Around Us|Nova Ren Suma|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407168914s/18044277.jpg|25322052] had a baby, and that baby turned out not to be able to live up to his/her parent's spotlight. Sort of like when 2 celebs have kids and none of them have that "it" factor.

OVERALL: It was OKAY. The problem with that is-- okay isn't really good enough for me. I want more than okay, I want AMAZING. It's creepy, it has strong characters, but the over-the-top villain and the ending weren't for me.

My Blog:

( )

Not my usual kind of book, but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. ( )

A perfectly creepy thriller. The characters are incredibly well drawn, and the claustrophobic prison-style setting is just right for a story that mixes realism and the paranormal. The slowly building danger and tension pairs beautifully with the reader's growing affection for the characters. A great choice for a book you won't want to put down. I'd love this to be the first in a series, but even if it isn't, it's still a satisfying read.

Also! It's great to read a book featuring such a diverse cast of characters. Almost none of them felt like stereotypes, and all of them were interesting enough to carry an entire book on their own. The quiet, day to day moments of the story were just as interesting as the more creepy, tension filled parts, and I think this is because the characters felt so realistic. To sum up: you should read this. It's really good.

ps. Issie is my favorite. And a single spoilery thing that bummed me out about the story: one of the lesbian characters dies. I really don't like it when one half of a lesbian couple ends up dead at the end of a YA book. It's such a pervasive trope, and seeing it in YA is just EXTRA AWFUL. YA authors, please just kill your straights off instead.

(NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's provided me an ARC for review.) ( )

I'm not a big romance fan but I found that I liked the romance in [Burning]. It was "sweet" and didn’t overtake the story. I wasn’t however, 100% convinced by how it all worked... or if it would work at all taking into account the situation and the nature of the place the story was set in.

The thing I found the most annoying was the pace of the book. It was really slow and at times I was quite bored. I wanted to skip pages and get to the interesting parts. While the writing was smooth and easily readable, it seemed that the author was trying to throw so much stuff in that it confused the story. It left the reader wondering if it was intended to be a thriller...a crime... horror...or supernatural genre. The ending was intense. You had no idea what to believe or what was going to happen next. ( )