Words & Sinew

The cover has instagram-hipster all over it but it's admittedly pretty. I was really hesitant over the sequel. The first novel, Burn for Bur, I felt had a decent conclusion. After all that went down, Mary, Kat, and Lillia were obviously going to be forever reminded of what they had and were going to live with personal guilt they feel over it. I just didn't feel like the first warranted a second book, much less a trilogy. Add on the fact that for some goddamn reason, Mary was still obsessed with Reeve. Like really? I wanna shake her, slap in her in the face. Her naivety frustrates me. She uses the, "He can be different," argument to justify her infatuation which I can't understand.Want to know what also frustrates me? The constant outfit description. I don't care if Lillia is wearing a blue silk dress shirt or a suede booties (that I want). Move on. Also, Kat's language is... eccentric. She shouts things that are over-the-top and out of place for the context and how others talk. Rennie also occasionally had dialogue that was jarring, taking me out of the novel. They also like to word the use baby a lot. Not in that mushy-couple-God-where's-a-bin-so-I-can-hurl way, but in a way of, "I'm a badass so I say baby because nothing says badass like saying the word baby a lot"? Putting it short (which I will never learn to do), dialogue needed cleaning up. It was just weird at times.However, despite all the rage, I really did enjoy the novel. It's a guilty pleasure to the core and rides that fact to the very end, just being a classic revenge plot with a slight twist that never seems to get old. Just look at all the teen dramas on TV. The characters are shallow as hell with you not really rooting for anyone as much as you are just wanting to see how everything plays out, even if you have a big honking idea on how. Speaking of un-twisty twists, I'm actually really glad Lillia + Reeve happened. I saw it Burn for Burn thanks to the somewhat subtle hints the authors dropped but damn, their chemistry was written really well. Their banters were complete foreplay with a push-and-pull that will end up benefiting them both at the end, simply because they challenge in each other when no one else absolutely will. I agree with Rennie on the fact that Lillia gets what she wants so seeing Reeve challenge that idea, not making it easy, is refreshing. Same with Lillia not always thinking Reeve is hot shit and calling him out on his bullshit. At the end of day, they're both really shallow characters, hopefully they'll both help each not be so shallow. Or at least not end up like their parents. Hah.While I'm raving about shallow characters, let's take a seat and talk about Lillia's sister, Nadia, for one second. I'm sorry but what kind of sister are you? There's not way in fucking hell you didn't know your sister's "best friend" is talking shit about her and yet you still go out of your way to help her? Speak to her? And then have the audacity to place the blame on your sister. "It's not about what she's doing, it's about what you're doing." While a decent point, you're basically saying that you're sister is a being a bitch for trying to defend herself against a group of the shittiest friends I've ever seen (except for Lindy who, while is a complete sweetie, is dense). A person only takes so much and even then it is your goddamn sister. You take her side and defend her instead of waiting hand-and-foot the bitch whose freezing her out! Nadia doesn't even know what Lillia did or that Rennie knows so she doesn't even have a decent argument on way she's taking Rennie's side. I'm a big sister whose little sister is my absolute best friend despite our age gap. Even though sometimes I feel like my sister was wrong, I take her side. I say, "Hey, what you did was messed up. I love you, I'm gonna support you no matter what, but what you did sucked." Nothing. Nada on Nadia's side. What the actual crap.With the last novel, I had problems with the supernatural elements of it and that still hasn't changed. I'm actually even more frustrated about it because it makes no damn sense. There are way too many plot holes for it to even work. There was zero explanation. They spent too little time investing on the idea in the first novel for it to even sell in here. There should've been build-up on the idea, not exposition. I definitely dig the idea of it but the execution was just no. No, no, no. I ended being so frustrated over it because of all the holes I kept seeing and all the questions but lack of answers it provided. Damn, it would've been so interesting if it was just fleshed out earlier. Ashes to Ashes, the final novel, I presume will provide all the novels but still, that is a lot of holes to fill. The same point goes for the secondary characters. I could not give two flying fraks about either of them. They had no personality, playing out every trope in the book, who serve no purpose. There's a realization that some of them only serve the purpose so that there's a posee surrounding Lillia and Rennie for both to manipulate, but some sort of plot or development would've been nice. Or at least more than a paragraph appearance for one of them. The supporting cast is to support the main cast, and usually steal the spotlight. But these guys? Nothing. On top of everything else, the will-they-or-won't plot line for Lillia + Alex is in play for no reason. Other than to make Reeve jealous? But that's a cheap shot at best. I feel bad for Alex, I really do. Way to screw over the only decent friend you have Lillia. (Even if he's only doing everything to impress you. But even then!)I seem like I'm complaining a lot. Truth to be told, there's so many things I can rave and nitpick on but I'd be flat out liar if I said I didn't enjoy it one bit. Like I said, guilty pleasure to the core. Not mean to be good or thoughtful, just a fast, fun ride. I'll say the three girls friendship is very fun to read. Despite being such different people, they find little things to have in common making it work enough to be believable and maybe the only thing you root for in the novel.