Really compelling mystery--I thoroughly enjoyed it and know my students will too! I've preordered for my high school library.

If you can suspend a lot of belief and watch teens make one bad decision on top of another then you might be able to get through this book. The main characters are unlikeable. The romance was toxic. The creepiness is what kept me going. There are some interesting twists. The story had potential, but the execution didn’t suffice.

This book had me at “San Diego” I’ve read books with brief mentions of my home city, but never one that took place here in its entirety. At first I didn’t quite know where the story was headed, but I was still hooked and enjoying the mention of tons of familiar places. I disliked all the characters at some point, but in this case that was a good thing; I’m not used to books taking me to such grey areas. Nico narrates only a few chapters towards the end and when I first heard his voice it gave me chills. I don’t know what else to say without spoilers, but this is one that I NEED someone to discuss it with!

Absolutely adored this audiobook.

I might be biased since I am a diehard fan of Picture of Dorian Gray, but I really enjoyed this. The mystery is creepy, murderous, and the ties between the classic novel and modern themes made it super easy to relate to.

I liked the narrators for this too, they had distinct voices and their narrative style fit the story perfectly.

Also, love the sapphic rep in this. Also, Nico is my endgame. It's a must.

Thank you for the advance copy of the Audiobook!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the arc of this book! All opinions are my own.

First things first: I absolutely LOVED the narrators of the audiobook for this. They kept it interesting and really kept my attention. They did a fantastic job narrating for Veronica, Mick and Nico.

As for this book- it was definitely a thriller! Very twisty. Some of the twists I didn’t even see coming! I loved how realistic the relationship between Veronica and Mick was. Their fights/arguments and making up was excellent. I thought the relationship between each girl and Nico was an interesting dynamic and they really complemented each other. It made it super interesting.

I thought the pacing was great. I thought the characters were great and I thoroughly enjoyed the way this was drawn out and set it. It really kept you on your toes. It was excellent! Very reminiscent of You or Two Can Keep A Secret! It was great!

She's Too Pretty to Burn is a book I could see going on the big screen with no problem. As a matter of fact I think this would be one I might even prefer a movie over the book for.

The synopsis says it was inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray. I am not familiar with that particular work but if you are a fan you may be inspired to check this one out to do your own comparison.

In this book we have two main, alternating narrators. Veronica is a photographer who is looking for inspiration. She has her eye on art school and wants nothing to do with the fall back of going to the community college where her mom is an art professor. Mick is a swimmer also with eyes to escape her current life through a college scholarship. Her mom is a narcissist who seems to view her more as a prop in her life than a daughter.

When Mick is dragged to a party that Veronica is at they have an instant romantic connection and escape the scene together. When Veronica convinces ridiculously photo-shy Mick to let her take her picture the first shot ends up going massively viral and Mick is thrust into the last place she wants to be, the spotlight. The photo causes many negative ripple affects in Mick's life and she turns to Veronica's best friend Nico for help.

Nico is an artist working on some large, disruptive, performance piece installation art projects targeting an important political figure. Mick soon is immersed in his new, dangerous world.

The book felt a bit like two different genres melded together into one. What starts as a YA romance at the start of the book takes some wild turns into being a full on thriller by the end.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I thought the narrators did a good job bringing the characters to life, and the story was fast paced enough to keep me interested. If you like thrillers, art, or lgbtq stories, you will definitely enjoy this book!

Of Wicked Blood features a myriad of compelling tropes twisted together in an irresistible tale:
- Orphaned prodigal son grows up in extreme poverty and abuse
- Sheltered, naive, girl-next-door bookish girl has her world blown apart
- Small country town brimming with history, cobblestone streets, and best of all, magic
- A cursed magical item that propels a crew to go on an epic and super dangerous quest
- Enemies to lovers

Summary: No rest for the wicked... or the cursed.

SLATE
I didn’t mean to steal the Bloodstone from the De Morel’s crypt.
Scratch that, I did mean to steal it.
Until I realized it was a curse-magnet that only comes off if I, along with a jolly trio, successfully defeat four curses.
If any of us fail, I’m dead.
I’ve never been a glass half-empty sort of person, but my glass looks in dire need of a refill right about now.
The only highlight of this wicked treasure hunt: feisty, entitled Cadence de Morel.

CADENCE
I was raised on tales of magic, in a small town reputed to be the birthplace of French witchcraft.
Did I believe all the stories I heard? Absolutely not. I mean, if magic existed, Maman wouldn’t have died, and Papa wouldn’t be stuck in a wheelchair, right?
Wrong.
The night Slate Ardoin waltzes into my life, wearing a ring he stole from my mother’s grave, I call him a monster.
But then I meet real ones, and Slate, well . . . he becomes something else to me.
Something frustrating to live with but impossible to live without.
Something I will fight for, no matter the cost.

Thoughts:
- I loved the atmosphere of this book, and honestly, that is the best word to describe it: atmospheric. Brume is quaint, ancient, and brimming with beautiful dark French academia vibes.
- The historical layer truly makes this book for me because its the birthplace of French witchcraft (it's stated that Brume rivaled Salem, Mass. for the sheer number of witches burned) and is rumored to be the place where ancient sorceress Viviane traps Warlock Merlin (yes! THAT Merlin!) in a neighboring wood. So enchantments and spooky vibes abound!
-Slate Ardoin carries this novel. The End. Period.
-Cadence's naivete is a major setback for me and I can only hope beyond hope that she grows into a fully-fledged person in book two. Slate even reminisces in chapter 57 that when he first met Cadence he viewed her as naive, spoiled, and two-dimensional. He was not wrong.

✮ ✮ ✮.5/✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ !!!
She’s too pretty to burn was gripping and full of plot twists right until the last sentence! It was a fun and entertaining read. I loved how every character was morally grey, it
was such a refresher to an equal amount of character and plot- the characters were complex and even though the plot was predictable, it was strong. The writing felt visceral. I’m really impressed with this novel and 100% recommend all fans of thriller to pick this up on release date! This book will leave you SHOOK :)))

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC copy of She’s Too Pretty To Burn!

This was a very interesting and unexpected read. For the first half, I wasn't really into it, and I didn't understand where it was going and thought it was just a romance when it was supposed to be a thriller, but I saw that it was a Dorian Gray retelling, so I found myself pushing past because I was curious. I ended up liking the second half much more.

I liked the narrators a lot, but I didn't like the characters, so it was a little hard to listen to. I think that might be by design, though. The author did a great job really giving us the emotions and feelings of the characters; they were selfish and toxic both in action and thought.

This is a hard book to review because there were many elements I did like, but a few too many I had a hard time with. The art vibe mixed with the suspense will be right up someone's alley!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for letting me read this early!

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me at all. There are a whole list of content warnings (see below) that readers should be made aware of. I both read and listened to She's Too Pretty to Burn and struggled the entire time. I could not get past the truly unlikeable characters, the over the top situations, and all of the absolutely terrible decision making. I can suspend belief to a degree, but this was too much. I felt no romance between Veronica and Mick and I'm still not sure how this was inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray. Perhaps the story was just way over my head, but it didn't make the most sense. I probably should have DNF'ed this one, but I forced myself to push on. The writing was good, but the highlight of the book for me was the narration by Frankie Corzo, Bailey Carr, and Stephen Dexter. They did a great job capturing the terror and emotion of the story, but it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save this book.

Audiobook Review
Overall 2 stars
Performance 4.5 stars*
Story 1 star
*= Stephen Dexter only narrates a couple of chapters in the book.

CW: on page violence and death, parental abandonment, food/shelter insecurity, fire, drowning, animal abuse (not on page), kidnapping

*I voluntarily read and listened to an advance review copy of this book*

I love Wendy Heard's writing, and I've had this one on my TBR since I saw the announcement on Twitter. That cover is stunning, and I shrieked when I was approved for an audio arc.

A whirlwind young romance develops between photographer Veronica and Mick, a demure swimmer with a phobia of having her picture taken. As the summer progresses and their personal lives become complicated, Mick and Veronica become entwined in a rebel art scene, led by their charismatic and mysterious friend Nico. The stakes are high, and the body count is growing.

I really enjoyed this book.

For the audiobook presentation, I loved the narrators. I thought their voices read well and emoted at the right times. I wasn't distracted by phrasing or pacing, and the chapters moved quickly. The NetGalley shelf app, however, was finnicky, and I had to delete and reinstall the app numerous times, as the chapters would play dead air.

It's been years since I've read Portrait, so I think that helped me go into this with unclear expectations of where the plot would go. I loved Mick and Veronica's relationship in that it wasn't idealistic, but rather a nuanced portrayal of toxic love. At times sweet and innocent, Mick and Veronica seem to care about each other. There is a physical attraction, a shared commonality of wanting more, and the spark of the infatuation phase. But there's also a darker side, an unhealthy obsession and flippant dismissal of boundaries. They both lie. They take advantage of the other's trust in order to serve their own selfish motivations. They struggle with their decisions, but that doesn't stop them from living in the morally ambiguous areas.

And I LOVED that. Oftentimes in YA, we see romanticized ideals of first loves. There's a Betrayal, but it's a miscommunication or motivated by the desire to do right by the other. We don't always see that with Mick and Veronica, and I think it is so necessary to explore the ramifications toxic relationships can have at a young age. Teenagers don't always make the best or wisest choices, in spite of intelligence, common sense, or knowing right from wrong, and I think a lot of younger readers will relate to the intoxicating yet dangerous nature of their relationship. I would also add that Heard does an amazing job of giving us this imbalance without romanticizing the blurred lines, leaving the reader to examine the commentary on consent, social pressures, and the degree to which we're willing to accept "the wrong thing."

Overall, She's Too Pretty to Burn is a fast-paced, layered, exciting read with plenty of unpredictable twists that you won't want to miss.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an audio arc in exchange for honest review consideration.

Whew. I have to admit that this was slightly more intense than I was ready or wiling for. But it’s extremely good, so even if you’re tastes run as tame as mine don’t let that stop you! There’s so much important stuff about art and vulnerability and ownership and personhood in here, on top of the thriller chassis. It’s a very smart book.

Where it loses points for me is that I felt like the third POV near the end came out of nowhere and I didn’t like the place it took in the story. I also found the ending slightly dissatisfactory. Too well wrapped up to be a series opener, not resolved firmly enough to be a stand alone.

The queer rep was good (and pretty steamy before fading to black). One of the protagonists is part Hispanic, but I can’t speak to that. Other than that there wasn’t a whole lot of diversity, but the core cast of characters is very small.

All in all I liked it, even though it was a little too much for me.

ETA, almost forgot, since I listened to the audiobook I should say something about the narrators. Each of the POVs is voiced by a different reader, and while I found both of the main characters’ voices to be ok and fit the story, they sounded really similar to each other and it was almost more disorienting than if they’d had only a single reader doing different voices.

I've never read The Picture of Dorian Gray, the book the inspired this story, so I can't comment on how it compares to it.

This is a sort of coming of age story, your first intense, passionate love that makes you lose all sense of who you are. Betrayal from people who were supposed to be friends.

I really enjoyed the relationship between the characters, at least for the first 75%. Mick's mother is gross and probably shouldn't be a parent.

This story is well written, but I don't think the "voice" is different enough between Mick and Veronica. Between their internal dialogue being very similar and the lack of distinction between the narrators it was difficult to keep track of who's POV I was in at any given moment.

Overall an enjoyable, fast paced story.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this eARC.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC of the Audiobook for She's Too Pretty to Burn in exchange for an honest review.

I spent so much time agonizing over how to rate this because while it's fun, it's also absolutely ridiculous. I get that mystery thrillers have to go a little over the top, but I like thrillers for their subtleties and the creeping suspicious that something like that could genuinely happen and this one goes to almost a cartoonish level of villainy. I get that that dramatic approach might work really well for some readers, but it didn't work for me.

I didn't know what to expect from this one other than that the characters would be queer and messy as hell. I had read Wendy Heard's other book The Kill Club and knew that she could write a twisty unpredictable thriller with queer characters and a fast pace and more depth than one might expect. But She's Too Pretty to Burn took that to another level.

Mick and Veronica were at times messy, at times selfish, at times sweet, and almost always way in over their heads. I thought their relationship developed way too fast and then I realized there was absolutely no other way for it to go. I knew going in that this was a Picture of Dorian Gray retelling (though I'll admit I remember very little of the source material, having read it almost 10 years ago), but I loved the choice to use social media and expectations rather than an actual magically changing portrait. The darkness we see is entirely of human making and it makes it so much heavier.

There's a "false ending" that kind of threw me off. It felt like the story had come to its natural conclusion and then there was a lull, and I looked down to see that there was almost an hour left in the audiobook. As the last pieces unfolded, I realized there's no other way it could have gone.

Unfortunately I think the narration let this one down a bit as I found it pretty hard to tell the difference between the narrators for Mic and Veronica, so I was frequently lost. The story had a really promising start but then it went downhill after about the 40% mark when it kind of lost its way.

NOTE: My first audiobook, and it was a great introduction to audiobooks.

This book was so PRETTY! Intense at times but so pretty!
Wendy Heard does an amazing job describing; imagery, emotions, and thought process. This story was inspired by Dorian Gray but genderbend and LGBTQ representation, and it does a lovely job of taking that work as inspiration and breathing new life and twists into it.
The narrators fit Mick, Veronica, and Nico so well that I can't picture any other voices that matched my idea of the characters in my mind. They did an amazing job -even with other characters, matching the tone of the original introduction of the character from the other narrator!

I loved this story, but I wouldn't say I liked Veronica. She was selfish and overstepped boundaries the very first time she met Mick and kept crossing the boundaries Mick had set. I appreciate that she went to the police (LIKE I WANT EVERY THRILLER CHARACTER TOO). I will say that in the end, both Mick and Veronica were very toxic in their own way, but Mick, only at the beginning of her toxicity, could be forgiven.
Nico was a very, VERY interest character because we and the characters see hints of darkness and doubt that he is innocent. I want him 10000000000 feet away, though!
Overall this was an excellent book, and I was so interested in Veronica's chapters but was desperate for Mick's when everything peaked! AND that ending, me holding my phone fixated on the picture as I listened to the last 7 chapters!

Audiobook provided by NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all are in for one hell of a ride with this one! Just when you think you've got everything figured out, Heard throws readers a curveball to keep them guessing. And that ending! OMG. The last 20% of the novel will have you holding your breath and on that edge of needing to know what happens, but also afraid to find out what happens.

Narrated by Frankie Corzo, Bailey Carr, Stephen Dexter, the audiobook is easy to follow along as the story changes between told by Mick, Veronica, and Nico.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audio copy of this book!

In this explosive thriller inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, Mick's life is changed when she meets Veronica at a party and they begin falling for each other. Mick detests having her picture taken, and Veronica is a photographer that would do about anything for her art. Things begin to fall apart when Veronica's best friend Nico takes a special interest in Mick and recruits her as part of his elaborate and illegal art pop ups. Things quickly escalate, and disaster soon follows.

I wish I could give a better synopsis then that, but I really recommend going into this book without knowing much of the outcomes. The surprising twists and turns it takes are incredible and gripping, and I think it is much more interesting not knowing what is going to happen!

I absolutely loved the writing style of this book. It seriously gave me chills and enthralled me from the very beginning. I loved the in media res start to the book and the full circle ending. I loved the depth and creativity to the three main characters, and seeing how they would react to the increasingly drastic situation.

The character development in this story was definitely the best part, though I also really enjoyed the surrealistic plot! I didn't think this needed the added few chapters with Nico's POV toward the end, however.

I really enjoyed the narration for this audio, but I did find it was extremely slow! I always increase the speed on audiobooks, but this one especially needed it.

Pub date: March 30, 2021

Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief