Electric. Vibrant. Scorching. Meticulously written. This book is going to set the YA world on fire upon its release and I can’t wait to watch it burn up the best sellers charts!

I finished this book in just a few short hours, because once I started reading it, I was mesmerized, much like seeing a fire turn from a small flicker into a raging inferno right before your eyes.

I was in a bit of a reading slump before picking up this book, but reading slump be damned because i was HOOKED. the writing in this book is so vibrant and electric. It’s like driving through the city at night with your friends, the entire night stretched out in front of you with the lights of the city alive and glowing around you, the anticipation of what’s to come next thrumming through your veins. There’s a sense of danger in the air, and it’s both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Reading about these characters was intoxicating and thrilling and I was both excited and petrified to see where they would end up.

Wendy Heard is one of the most talented new authors that I have come across recently, and her writing is some of the best that I have read in a while. Her characters were so very real and vibrant and alive, they practically thrived right off of the pages. It was so easy to lose myself in this story and the characters in it.

This book was also very unique in the sense that of all the books i’ve read (and i’ve read many) I can honestly say that i’ve never read anything quite like it. It was fresh and real and the YA market is in for a real treat in 2021 due to this book.

The relationship and love between Mick and Veronica was so sweet and it unfolded beautifully as the story progressed.

I felt the danger, the thrill, the terror, the excitement, the sorrow and love that these characters were feeling right alongside them.

This is a book about struggles. About the intoxicating thrill of adventure and danger. About love. About friendship. About relationships in all of their forms, whether it be romantic, friendly, or familial. About people’s true natures, and who they really are deep down in their core.

This book is one hell of a scorcher, and you will be missing out on something spectacular if you don’t pick this one up!!

5 out 5 fiery burning stars!!

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN by Wendy Heard in exchange for my honest review.***

5 THRILLINGEST STARS (thrillingest needs to become a word because SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN is such a book)

Shy awkward Mick, high school swimmer and daughter of a narcissistic mother meets and falls in love with photography phenom Veronica. V’s best friend and shadow, tagalong Nico, who has a propensity for blurring the lines between art and domestic terrorism, accepts Mick into his inner pranks-gone-wrong circle. The three dance on the edges of love, friendship and violence as people start dying.

As a fan of Wendy Heard’s adult thrillers, so when I learned she was debuting a YA novel, I was eager to read. SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN is one of the best, most thrilling thrillers I’ve ever read. It’s a true thriller, not a mystery falsely advertised as such.

Heard challenged me as a reader to get past some biases I have that usually turn me off. What appeared to be Veronica and Mick’s instalove was more insta unbridled passion. The love between the young women wasn’t gentle and tender, as I’ve come to expect. Their kisses were often unexpected, abrupt and rough which reminded me of the romances Kalinda from TV’s THE GOOD WIFE. She’s a bisexual investigator whose many romances mirrored Veronica and Mick’s. A decade ago, I saw Kalinda’s romances as abusive. Mick and Veronica made me realize because it was consensual, the roughness was merely a different style than me. I can’t remember the last time a book gave me such a personal insight.

SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN touched me in other personal ways. Some of the scenes between Mick and horrible mother could have been directly from scenes from my childhood with my father, almost as if Heard had been an observer. Let any reader who finds it over-the-top send me an email.

Both Veronica and Mick were complex, flawed characters. I identified more with Mick, yet understood Veronica’s artistic ambitions even though her choices wouldn’t have been mine. My favorite character was Veronica’s wonderful mom. I loved their relationship and how she was open-minded, sex-positive yet she had boundaries and appropriate anger toward bad behavior.

SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN is pretty much the perfect thriller. I can’t wait to listen to the audio when it’s available.