The Burning is a fun, fast read! 

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This is a story that needs to be told. Anna Clark was so bullied that she had to move to a new country, a new school, even change her name. And it followed her. It haunted her. It all came back and almost ruined her life. While going through this torture, she discovers a young woman who was burned at the stake for witchcraft for the sin of being raped and bearing a child. The Burning explores the punishment meted out upon women for being women, and it’s a story that needs to be told.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and author Laura Bates for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

I found this book to be so, so important. This is sadly a very relevant problem going on in our school systems. Anna’s life has fallen apart. A rumor has spread like wildfire about her and has ruined her life. Her father is dead, and nude pictures of her have shown up online. To escape this hell, Anna and her mother move hundreds of miles away to put the past behind them. But sadly, the past comes right along with them. The internet is forever and always, and although she’s moved far, far away, her past starts to creep up on her again. 

Anna tries to separate herself from reality by diving into a history project about Maggie, a local woman accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. She finds a reprieve in Maggie and her story, which helps her cope with her current situation. 

This novel truly brought to light the concerns that need to be brought up about social media and just how dangerous it can be, no matter your age. The internet is forever, and our youth can’t quite wrap their heads around it. Even though they may forget what they post, it can always come back around to hurt them again. This is an incredibly strong and powerful YA debut for author Laura Bates. This truly makes you think back to your life and make connections, which is hard to find in books anymore. 

Thank you again to those listed for the chance to read this ARC!

This is one of those books that tend to elicit an extra star for the urgency and gravity of the issues it brings on the table rather than the way it brings those issues to the reader's attention and dissect them one by one.

In the beginning, we meet Anna, a teenage girl who had to leave her life in England behind to escape the sexist vitriol following a leaked nude. The first few chapters capture beautifully Anna's fears, her shame, her disappearance into herself to regain a semblance of "normal" life as she moves with her mother to a new beginning, a new life in Scotland. We are totally sold on the idea that her past will resurface at some point and she'll come up to face it instead of running away again.

But things start to jumble up like an old phone cord (remember those) and not in a good way. While we were dealing mainly with slut-shaming, social media trolling and gender-based double standards, other things were thrown into the mix. You feel the author's need to vent about those things too, but did it work for the story at hand? I don't think so. For example: to make the point that today's slut-shaming isn't that far off from witch-hunting of the old days we are faced with a supernatural/historical element one third into the book and this element starts a parallel plot alongside the contemporary plot that we were dealing with, not to mention a few other contemporary issues like challenging perceptions on abortion and consent. It was too much that the writing started to falter and loop around.

I loved the beginning of this book, I was less sold on the ending. Bates writes beautifully, but I think that the book was let down by the lack of an industrious round of structural editing. Nip and tuck the plot so it's focused and doesn't lose that urgency the first chapters created. A more contemporary empathetic handling of the issues would have been far more effective than the supernatural pastiche.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC.

Super quick to get through despite being a hard topic. I really enjoyed the story line, particularly the flashbacks to Maggies timeline and the similarities between the two situations. I would’ve liked a little bit more of Maggie. I think that was the one thing missing for me. I loved the relationship between Anna and her mom, and Anna and the friends she’s made at the new school. The relationships feel very real and genuine.

This book had some execution issues, but overall the meaning and place for this type of story is so important. Victim blaming is rampant in our society and something that I think most of us have experienced in one way or another. Poignant and current.

(3.75 stars rounded up to 4 stars...)

Anna's life is in shambles. Her father is dead and some nude pictures of hers wound up online. To escape the torment of these two events, Anna and her mother move to Scotland and change their last name. Unfortunately, the internet is both worldwide and forever, so Anna is unable to fully escape her online shame. Hounded by grief and uncertainty in her new environs, Anna is assigned a local history research project that leads her to the sordid story of Maggie, a young woman who became pregnant out of wed-lock and later was "found" to be a witch. Fascinated with the similarities between Maggie's plight and her own, Anna digs deeper into Maggie's story as she tries to deal with, and escape, her own troubles.

For me, this was a troubling book to read, and it cemented my concerns over social media and how dangerous it can be for youth. Once something goes on the internet, it's there forever, and I think that teenagers need to not just know that, but feel it in their bones. If they can't remember, the world won't let them forget. I think The Burning is a strong YA debut for Laura Bates, and I appreciate that her story is actually trying to give insight to the reader about a topic that matters today. Any book can tell a story, but not all stories help you take something back to your real life. Maybe after reading it, a few bright kids will avoid getting burned, and will consider whether they want that special picture or that caustic joke to follow them the rest of their days.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. 

I decided to stop reading this around 50% in. I see that it is supposed to be a story on how badly women can get treated and bullying and all that. It seems unrealistic. If this had really gone down (and I’m still not clear what it is 50% in), the kids doing the bullying would have gotten in some kind of trouble. It doesn’t seem realistic at all that the kids and teachers would all be a part of it and make this girl’s life a living hell. 

The story was also kind of boring too.

This was a great book.  It does have the occasional strong  language.  It took me a little while to get into it and then once I got into it, I did not want to put it down.  It really did a great job of dealing with issues of social media that young people feel today.  It almost seemed to be an updated version of Speak in dealing with problems for young women.  I would recommend it to students and have recommended it to other teachers.

Books like this one are important because they make people think about how they talk about others. I enjoyed the parts where Anna was studying about the Salem Witch Trials.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this book to my young adult readers.

3.5 stars
I really enjoyed this! I think it had great discussions about slut shaming, social media, bullying, rape culture, etc. I liked the friendships in here and the connections made between what happened to Maggie and what was happening to Anna.
I didn't love the fantastical? supernatural? not really sure what it would be considered elements of Anna studying witches and could have definitely done with less of that. also, some of the speeches at the end really read like a story that would be on r/ThatHappened and made me roll my eyes a little.
overall, I thought this was a solid feminist read and would be especially great for teen girls to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review. 

Ok I am honestly torn on how I feel about this book. The author has a lot, and I mean A LOT , of things to say about slut shaming. So much so that I honestly wasn't sure what the plot really was of this book till about the half way point. We follow Anna and her mother as they move from England to Scotland following the death of her father, and a massive social scandal. We don't find out what the issue is until again, about the half way point. Anna makes some new friends at her new school. She is given a history project to research a local person. Anna chooses a girl named Maggie who was burned at the stake for witchcraft in the 1600's. The flashback scenes to Maggie's story were my favorite parts of this book. Their stories coincide quite nicely. Anna's scandal ends up following her, as things do. I honestly started skim reading around 60% to the end because I was just ready to be done. 

I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Anna lacked a back bone in my opinion. There really wasn't much character development. Her friends were fine, but scarce. The one boy who had any relevance to the story was, more or less nonexistent. The slut shaming amongst her school mates was in full, almost extreme, force. I think the message is important, and the story fit that, it was just also boring. Too much inner turmoil, and zero action to do anything about it until the last page.

The Burning by Laura Bates is an incredibly compelling book. I was enjoying the story, but unfortunately had to DNF since some of the topics were very triggering for me. Overall, I found the "witch hunt" metaphor successful and the book well written - and I hope to return to it at a time when my mental health is a little less bleak.

The Burning deals with so many heavy topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, victim blaming, abortion and etc

I feel every emotions that Anna felts. Goshhh this story made me tear up a little bit. 

Btw there are a flashbacks of a woman accused of witchcraft and i kinda like it but it doesn't feel right or complete. It's going to be interesting if Laura add more of Maggie point of view. 

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for The Burning ARC!

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Rating Breakdown
Characters: 4 / 5

Setting: 4 / 5

Plot: 4 / 5

Pacing: 3 / 5

Writing: 3 / 5

OVERALL SCORE: 3.6 / 5

I received a free digital copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Anna and her mother move hundreds of miles away to escape the bullying and harassment of her former classmates. Just as she begins to settle into her new life, rumors about who she really is begin to circulate around her new school. Anna attempts to ignore them by dedicating herself to a history project about a local woman accused of witchcraft, but things are never that easy.

Author Laura Bates draws comparisons between the way young women’s bodies are treated today and the ways the European witch trials were used to control them. Her message is clear: using a woman’s body and sexuality against her is wrong, and rather than victim blaming, we should be teaching young men what is and isn’t acceptable behavior.

Anna’s story is both a powerful and transformative one. Reeling from the death of her father and her treatment at the hands of her former friends, she must learn how to move past these horrible experiences as she and her mother start their lives over. Bates explores the family dynamic between them, demonstrating what a mother and daughter will do to protect each other from their own feelings. When they finally do sit down and have a conversation about what has been going on, they are up front and honest with each other. Seeing such a healthy relationship between a child and her parent during what is surely a trying time for both of them sends a strong message to young readers: don’t be afraid to talk about what’s upsetting you. Adults can feel the same way sometimes.

Bates also makes it a point to explain the culture of victim blaming. When Anna and her mother finally confront her new principal about the sexual harassment the other students have been subjecting Anna to, he expresses sympathy and then tries to brush it off, saying that Anna brought it on herself with her own actions. Rather than take his excuses, they stand their ground and demand that he take action. They confront this toxic culture head on.

Modern bullying is very different than it was in years past. With advances in technology, it’s easier than ever for today’s predators to take advantage of vulnerable young people. Modern responses to this must adapt as well. Sexual harassment is a form of control. Drawing parallels between modern bullying and the European witch trials, Bates offers a story of misogyny and women’s rights that spans centuries and, taking readers by the hand, leads them into a battle that is still on-going.

The main weakness of this novel falls in its pacing. It forces the story to jump around, setting up for action sequences and then sometimes skipping the action itself entirely. This issue with the pacing is small but can make the story feel rushed in places.

The Burning has a lot of things going for it. It’s a great contemporary story with some subtle supernatural elements thrown in, certain to capture the attention of young adult readers and adult readers alike. Anna is an example of a girl learning to navigate the unique challenges women face as they come into their own. It’s also a great way to start those difficult, often uncomfortable conversations with young boys about how to treat women.

In addition to being an author, Laura Bates is also the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an organization that supports women who address workplace sexism and takes steps to promote gender equality. Their website can be found here (link)..

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS FIRE for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Already published in the UK in 2019, The Burning tackles the issues of slut-shaming and cyberbullying and draws comparisons to the witch burnings of Scotland's past. I found it a very interesting read and read it one evening, but I will concur with my fellow reviewers that there is a tonne of issues. Issues that not just the main character, Anna, grapples with but also other characters in the story. However, it worked for me and caught my attention much like The Truth About Alice and Speak did.


Goodreads review published 07/04/20
Publication Date 07/04/20

Eye opening. A must read for every woman teenage or not. Make it a part of your TBR pile. It's a story that will linger with you long after you're done. Happy reading!

I loved this book, the elements of mystery and intrigue worked well to captivate me as a reader. I was swept away in Anna's tale of friendship, magic and history. Thank you for the chance to review this book!

It has been a while since I have read a standalone novel that has pulled me in from the very beginning and didn't let go. This is part cautionary tale, part history lesson, part glimpse into the ugly truth of bully culture and slut shaming. I am floored at the amount of feelings that this book brought up for me.

Anna has dropped her entire life and moved to a different country with her mother to escape her past, a past that catches up to her no matter how happy she finds herself in her new life. She had deleted all social media and any trace to her old life in England, but somehow, after finding herself a group of seemingly genuine friends in Scotland, she is thrown into that same hell she ran from. Running parallel to the hell she is dealing with, she is uncovering some strange things in her new house. Upon finding a necklace in the attic, she is caught up in intense dreams every time she closes her eyes. Dreams about a young woman named Maggie who lived in the town in the early 1800s, amidst the witch burning culture.

I have to say that I found an odd disconnect between the dreams, in which Anna is seeing Maggie's life and the life that Anna is actually living. I understand the intent, but I found it distracting. Aside from that, this book was pure perfection. Anna is bullied relentlessly and it was heart breaking! There were times that I wanted to scream at the book, and times when I shed actual tears at the unfairness of it all. It was a whole experience that I am so glad to have been a part of.

I am now left with the feelings of sadness that girls (people in general, really) actually go through these things that occur in this book. In this generation of technology being so completely at our fingertips to the point of it being second nature, we leave kids open and vulnerable to the absolute worst kinds of bullying and torment. This is an eye opening glimpse into what can and will happen when secrets and private moments can be instantaneously shared, altered, faked and anonymous.

"The Burning" by Laura Bates was a quick and enjoyable read. I couldn't put it down. That's not an exaggeration: I was holding my tablet with one hand and eating dinner with the other, which did not earn me points with my husband, who made the dinner.

Anna is starting a new semester at a new school. She's hoping to outrun what happened at her last school, but she can't. She's having dreams about Maggie, a girl in the 17th century who was accused of witchcraft. Both girls are the victims of a mob mentality that demands perfect behavior from women.

Anna's experiences at school are probably the most realistic I've ever read, and by that I mean there might be trigger warnings for bullying and misogyny and abortion and sexual assault. The Burning is full of strong women who manage to stick together through all of that. I'd buy this book, I'd read it again, and I'd recommend it to every girl and woman I know.