Review: Adriane Leigh's "Beautiful Burn."
Synopsis:
I've broken him, bent him, and burned him, and each fevered moment was worth every ounce of pain.
Auburn Lawrence has loved her English teacher, Reed West, since she was sixteen. Through brainstorming stories, reading classic literature, and plenty of fiery banter, they've forged a bond that neither of them expected.
Propelled by a chance encounter after her graduation, they discover just how deep their connection runs, but love requires more than chemistry to flourish. They spend three electrifying summer months discovering each other under a veil of forbidden passion and desperate lust before they learn that the unattainable is often destined to remain exactly that.
By the time temperatures dip and snowflakes fly, their relationship will face a deep freeze that threatens to snap the bond they thought they shared, shattering their lives one secret at a time.
Review: Surj Harvey
I'm a huge fan of Adriane Leigh's work.. whether it be her new adult books or the erotic fiction she writes, she's an automatic one click for me. However, it kills me to say that "Beautiful Burn" left me really conflicted. In fact if I could sum up in one phrase my thoughts on Auburn and Reed's story, I would say I wanted more.... so much more... more pages, more words, more feels, more emotions, more of Auburn's POV ... and the list goes on. That's not to say this was a bad book, not at all. I mean the premise of the story line was brilliant .. who does't like a forbidden teacher/ student romance right? And with a synopsis like that, it was difficult not to be drawn in. Plus, Adriane Leigh knows how to write a bloody good sex scene and this book was filled with all kinds of toe curling hotness. Reed and Auburn really did like to go at it and in the best possible way. Add to that, a filthy mouth and I was in book sex heaven. Plus, that ending... I did manage to work out something wasn't quite right from the clues littered amongst the chapters but that.. nope, never in a million years. Holy crap... a gutsy move if ever I saw one.
I've learned that love lies. I've learned that love breaks us.
I've learned that love is a beautiful burn in a quiet corner of the heart that won't be ignored.
So what didn't work quite so well for me? OK, this was a really quick read (as in less than three hours from start to finish) and I personally feel that the book would have really benefited from being longer. In fact, parts of the story unravelled so quickly that I had to re-read just to make sure I completely got what was happening. I needed more meat on the bone, more depth to the plot and the characters. There were scenes I wanted to savour, to drown in but blink and the story had moved on. I really wanted to connect to the characters, get to know them on a personal level, get an understanding of how they felt, the emotions coursing through them as certain scenes unfolded but for me, that connection lacked because of how quickly everything evolved. I wanted nervous anticipation... you know where your heart beats so hard, you think it might jump out of your chest, where you're sat on the edge of your seat because you have no idea what's going to happen next... I needed that but more often than not, it never came which left me gutted.
She was forbidden and dangerous- we were playing with fire and would no boubt
get burned, but I couldn't bring myself to leave.
As much as Reed and Auburn's journey wasn't as straight forward one, I was't sure that it should have been as forbidden as it was. After all, Auburn was 21 and at a different college. She was only attending a summer writing class which had people of all ages present. This wasn't a literal teacher/ student romance... not the way I saw it anyway which meant I didn't always buy into the whole secrecy thing. I also didn't like the way Reed kept going on about his job if they got caught... what about Auburn's reputation? I wanted him to put her first and protect her more, after all, this was the women who had made such a massive impact on his life.
And even in those moments, when I felt at complete peace, there was a sense of impending
doom. the balloon would surely pop and I was terrified of the aftermath. I only hoped
these moments with her would make the risk worth the reward.
These points are definitely a personal thing because having spoken to friends who read "Beautiful Burn," they absolutely loved it. I honestly cannot wait to see what Adriane Leigh brings out next because as much as this didn't work massively well for me, I know whatever this author has up her sleeve for her next release will more than likely blow my mind.
I rated "Beautiful burn" ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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