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.

Content warnings: Sexual assault, revenge porn, bullying.

Truthfully, this book was difficult to read- not in terms of quality, but in terms of content. Our main character, Anna, has up and moved away from everything she's ever known to escape terrible bullying and acts of revenge porn, a subject that is horrific to read about. My heart was not only breaking for Anna, but for myself, as this story hit very close to home for a number of reasons. Anna's pain was visceral- I felt as though I was her going through these terrible motions. Anna's story is told alongside the story of Maggie, a woman accused of witchcraft in her town in the 1600s, who Anna has begun researching for a school project. My main critique was that I wanted more from Maggie's story- we are shown glimpses into her life through Anna's eyes, but I would have loved the juxtaposition of Maggie's life as a scorned woman and the parallels between what Anna was going through. The discussions of sexism, sexual assault, and bullying are well done, but in my opinion, left something to be desired. I wanted to see the people responsible for Anna's trauma held accountable for their actions- I wanted to see them punished. Perhaps thats just my own experience speaking, but I felt everything was tied up too easily for such a painful experience.

The world of social media has created a window into everyone's private lives so what happens when a teenager's life is turned upside down through lies, bullying, and doctored videos? This young adult novel explores this world through Anna, a young British teen forced to move to Scotland when her school life in Birmingham becomes untenable. As she deals with her father's recent death and trying to adjust to a new school, Anna's past not only finds her, but the past of the small Scottish village and its witch trials do as well. This is a powerful story of a life that rolls out of a teenager's control, the scary power of social media, and a woman's ability to fight back. Loved it!

First off I want to thank @netgalley, @sourcebooks & @laurabates for my free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
•
This one was a very powerful read about bullyinyg, slut shaming, rape and many others. It was very consuming and touching to read.
•
I was not expecting to enjoy it at some point into the book I wasn't enjoying it as much. Glad I pushed through because when the story starts to develop further and the girls start taking action it really turns into such a powerful book. I was a victim of bullying and slut shaming in high school so I was relating to this one so much when everything unfolded. I also really loved the fact that the author loved through some of these horrible things, it makes it even more touching. Honestly, it's an intense rollercoaster ride and you just have to push through and finish it to understand the whole message of it.
•
The ending was the perfect conclusion for me. If you're a fan of YA and real life issues definitely add this one to your list.

I am really conflicted by how I feel with this book. I really wanted to enjoy it because I <i>adored</i> the premise - a scorned girl finding solace with a witch from the 1600s, sign me up! The book does have a lot of things to say; it discusses slut-shaming, misogyny, double standards,and cyber bullying (to name a few). I think Bates did a really good job at painting the pain the main character, Anna, goes through. There were times in the book where I was physically cringing at what Anna was experiencing. I also really, really enjoyed the historical aspect of the novel. It was super interesting and I loved seeing a perspective from someone accused of witchery in 1655 Scotland. I was fascinated by these parts. The novel's downfall is that I felt it was tackling <i>too</i> many topics. A lot of the novel felt messy, I felt a lot of the book left much to be desired on certain topics. I also found some of the writing to be awkward and a little dated for a YA novel published in 2020. Overall, I loved the message of the novel concerning slut-shaming and misogyny as well as the historical aspect, but the rest of the book felt lacklustre to me and left me disappointed.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this, but I was pleasantly surprised! In this book we follow Anna, who has recently moved from Birmingham to a small town in Scotland to get away from her past. Soon she begins researching the town history and becomes fascinated by a witch trail that took place in the town. Soon she starts connecting dots between what happened in the past and what has been happening to her in the present.

This book is a lot deeper than I initially thought, touching a lot on slut shaming, and victim blaming. I thought the discussion about these topics was done fairly well, but I wanted the book to take it just a little bit farther. I felt that some characters got away way too easily and I wanted to see more consequences. I thought the shifts between the past and present were well down, and I liked how it all wove together as well. I also liked how the mystery of why she moved was revealed slowly.

The characters themselves were also really intersting. I really felt for Anna and all that she was going through and I could appreciate her friends. I felt there were a lot of minor characters that were super intersting, but we didn't get to know the at all. I really wanted to see more from Robin, especially when he could have become so pivotal towards the end of the book.

Overall, this was a compulsively readable book that was deeper than initially seemed.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great book and an easy read. I felt very connected with the main character and the relationships she built. I loved the pacing but I felt the story could have had more depth.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

This is a book with a strong message--didactic, even. It may well speak to girls who have been sexually shamed or bullied online and it might also be preventive for younger readers.

This was a solid work of feminist YA fiction! I found the tie-ins to 17th century witchcraft accusations and trials really interesting, especially how that compared with the shunning and abuse that happened to Anna. A lot of this book was hard to read because of the abuse she suffered by the hands of her peers, and I was just waiting for anything good to happen for her.

The Burning was one of the best books I've read this year. The writing was simply beautiful, and the characters were extremely real and relatable. Anna was one of the most complex characters I've read, and the side characters never felt flat or as if they were just there as plot devices. Anna's experience with online bullying was also heart-wrenching in its truth. Nothing was dramatized or exaggerated like some novels dealing with bullying; this was all very realistic.
I also loved the flashbacks of Maggie's perspective. The author tied together the stories of Anna and Maggie seamlessly, and I really appreciated how Anna herself comments on the ways in which sexism has not changed since Maggie's lifetime.