I just found it hard to get into this book and struggled to finish it. I just don’t think it was for me.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
I gave this a go seeing as it is a novella but I had to abandon it. The sentence structure and word choice is so odd, I can't really figure out what's going on but it's so bizarre. Also in a novella if I'm 30% in and have no idea what the plot is, it's a little too late

The beginning was promising. I loved how the synopsis sounded and I was excited to read it. However, along the way the story started to fall flat for me. I didn’t connect to any of the characters, I was starting to feel bored at some moments and halfway through I was just trying to get myself to finish the book. I’m sad I didn’t like it, cause I was really excited about it. But considering I wanted to Dnf it this book was not for me

For a minute I was confused. I think you need to know more backstory of the characters to see how the story was. It feels inadequate, I think this is not standalone, or should be read with accompanying books. TBH, i dragged reading this out cause it was not killing it for me. I wanted more tenacity and expected more of the FMC. The premise started out good tho, there was a lot of potential.

thanks netgalley for the ARC!

This was a great overall feel to the book, it had everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the feel of this novel. The characters were everything that I was looking for from the genre. It had a great competition going on and glad I was able to read this. V. Rivière has a great writing style and left me wanting to read more in this universe.

This book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, but it was definitely enjoyable. I really enjoyed the author's writing style, and the banter was fun to read.

I found this one hard to get into as I didn't first realize this is a novella in an ongoing series. So it started off a bit confusing for me, because of that.

this book was such a quick and fun read!!! I haven't read the other books, but it's easy to understand. the author's writing is fast-paced, so you'll be hooked in no time.

Tropes:
🏁 street racing
🏁 mafia
🏁 anxious fmc
🏁 family found
🏁 spicy

this book is about a street race and I loved it sm, it made me think of fast and furious haha very fun!

"You know how I drive. I can do everything a man can do, if not better."

the book cover is absolutely beautiful, it's the reason I asked for this arc and I'm so glad I did. If you want a fresh, fun read, this one's for you.

I want to thank NetGalley and the Author for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was really good, centred around street racing and mafia. It follows two characters Jade and Aiden who both are involved with the same boss. The street racing scenes are written really well and I loved the smut scenes!

I rated it 4 stars as I’m not a massive fan of the insta love trope. I felt like a bit more of a delay with them getting together would have made the book 5 stars however this is just my opinion.

Really liked the character Tearie and excited to read about her story! Will be reading the other two books she has published.

✧˖*°࿐ 4,5 stars
°•*⁀➷ Thank you to NetGalley and the Author for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review
╰┈➤ ❝Are you ready, little driver?
----------🏁----------
🏁This book takes place in the street racing culture, it has a mechanical setting but also a tad bit of Mafia to it, I found it nice to read.
🏁It is really refreshing to have the car world woven into a novella.
🏁Our female character is pretty badass and strong, she drives a Nissan 240sx
----------🏁----------
🏎️I genuinely loved the worldbuilding and the setting.
''There's a special emotion linked with driving at night, the peacefulness of the darkness where only the headlights of my car illuminate the streets. Where the lamppost server as ambience and Greensburg feels almost as a décor from a retro movie. Me, my car, and the streets. There's absolutely nothing like it.''


🏎️The spice caught me offguard tbh but it was spicy
----------🏁----------
🔧 ''Life has a way of reminding everyone is permanent. Time is fleeting, an idea.''
🔧 ''''You know how I drive. I can do everything a man can do, if not better.''
🔧 ''However, the tranquility of my favorite time of the night, coupled with Aidan's reassuring presence beside me, keeps my thoughts from wandering too much.''
🔧''When the sun retreats and the moon takes over; when the wind rises, and the fog whispers; when darkness envelops me, and the stars bid goodnight to the world, it's undoubtedly a moment I hold dear. ''
🔧 ''The road, our playground and the night, our secret''

This was such a juicy short story! Brilliant development of characters and made me wish there was more! Written really well and thoroughly enjoyed it!

I’m not usually a big novella person, however I LOVED this. I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, but I didn’t feel that mattered. Jade, our FMC had a really surprised history. With her friend and family having abandoned her years prior, she makes money by the own way she can. Which just happens to be street racing. Working odd jobs for War, she meets one of his mechanics and is offered an opportunity. Rather than running odd jobs, which doesn’t lead to the best payout, become one of Wars coveted drivers. If you enjoy racing, or any romance surround cars (like myself) you’ll love this. And a bonus was the spice was excellent!

⭐️.5 stars
🌶️🌶️ spice

I don't normally give many 1 or 2 star reviews, so please let me explain...

There were a couple of things I really liked about this book - the cover first of all (love it!), the MMC who could easily venture into book boyfriend territory for me, the spice, and any of the racing scenes. Those were absolutely my favourite parts, but this book was very difficult to get through, which says a lot given it's a novella. I likely would have DNF'd if I wasn't reading the ARC.

It wasn't short on action and plot elements, despite the story jumping around a lot and the climax of the story falling a bit flat. It really tapered off in pace after the racing scene. I'm also definitely giving it some grace over the grammatical errors because it's an ARC, although it is already published so I wonder if anyone who is reading the published version had the same experience?

I think it was the writing style overall that I wasn't a huge fan of. It felt strangely formal in prose for a book about drag racing, and was overly descriptive with wording even during the dialogue. I found the way things were phrased was sometimes super confusing and didn't make sense.

Here's a few examples of what I mean:

"The small flames dancing, fighting against the wind, are beautiful. A stark reminder only time is consistent. Peaceful when we allow ourselves to be."

"A message that has my eyes checking the contact twice, not at least expecting it."

"I'm not proud of my pestering, but to desperate measures..." (that's the end of the paragraph)

"Looking at him is truly a show on itself"

I can kind of figure out what's being conveyed, but there is a lot of this in the early parts of the book - it's making me scratch my head a little at the 5 star reviews here. Hopefully some of these things have been revised in final edits, because this had so much potential.

Also, the fact she kept calling Aidan her "friend" even right up til the end of the book was infuriating. I can't explain why, it just did my head in.

A novella has this unique opportunity to give you a taste of a world without committing to a full book in a series, and I usually get hooked on them and end up down a rabbit hole for a week, devouring all of the books in it's orbit. Sadly, I don't think this time I'll be reading the rest of the series..

Tropes/Themes:
🏁Contemporary Romance
🏁Fast Burn
🏁Mafia/underground crime
🏁Drag Racing

Thank you for the arc copy!

I was unaware that this was a spin-off of another book. I will definitely be giving the other book a read!

This book was a quick and fun read. After reading this, I think street racing romances are my new favorite trope.
Overall rating: 4/5

dnf @ 33%

i was hoping that it’s short length meant it would be easier to get through, but i can’t make myself spend anymore time on burnout baby. i was drawn in by the amazing cover art, which has my favorite car (S13), but the writing is choppy, the plot is a little messy, and the romance had no development and reeked of insta-lust. i think this author has a lot of potential, but i have no wish to continue reading what she has already written.

I was very curious if I would enjoy this with not being a car girlie; and I'm happy to announce I did!
Absolutely adore the concept and very well executed.

Thank you, NetGalley and the author for giving me a free arc in exchange for an honest review. Personally, this book wasn't for me. The writing was great and linguistic. However, the romance didn't do it for me or it just didn't speak to me. It's a personal opinion, I don't enjoy reading a book where there is constant smut and then they fall in love with them barely getting to know each other on a deeper level. It's more like infatuation than love. Also, she killed her friend for drunk driving and she wants redemption- so she joins a group with illegal activity and becomes their driver and races cars like ??

I've known V since her first release and I'm excited to see her improve with her most recent books!! I love everything about apocalys and empire of madness so when I heard about the spinoff I screamed😭

I'm sorry as always my review is messy!!
*SOILER*

This book follows Jade and Aidan as they navigate the street racing world. There are cars (most of the book is about cars and racing) and mafia related tasks asked by War. I was curious about this story because when he first appeared in apocalys I thought he was only a secondary character but when the second book came out he was the antagonist, in Burnout baby he's the boss and the center of everything. I love everything about V universe because every detail can have a big impact on the story (when the Maddox warehouse exploded I thought it was the italians but Aidan tells us War sold the map to Blackwell family).
Burnout baby is a shortand exciting read and the romance is sweet. The sex scenes are well done and the writing has improved (I never doubted this author is my favorite). It can be read as a standalone as V advertised but in my opinion you should read both books in her series to really understand every detail it makes you go "OH IT'S THERE" like when Tearie and Romana appeared (I cried Romana is my favorite character I want her book so bad!!)
A perfect novella, I highly recommend this author!

This book totally gives me BabyDriver vibes as well as this awesome drag racing movie I saw with Emrata in it! I'm so excited to read share and acquire this one! I think it's unique and special and readers are going to love entering this world. Will be sharing a full review and thoughts very soon!