The Burning Star
by Jessie Lane
Summary: Can she reach her destiny before tragedy strikes?
The doctors have told Kay that she will die before she reaches her eighteenth birthday. Her mother’s determination to save her life leads them to a move outside of Asheville, NC to a new set of cancer specialists in the hopes to help her. But it’s not what Kay and her Mom find in the doctor’s offices in Asheville that lead them on the journey to save her before time runs out. It’s what Kay finds in the woods outside of Asheville, and an inhumanly gorgeous guy named Ryan, instead.
Myths and fairy tales come to life before Kay’s eyes, bringing her closer to the ultimate cure if she can stay alive long enough to get there. And if the cancer doesn’t kill her before she finds the cure the secrets her mother has hidden from her may be the beginning of the end.
Review:
I received a copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review.
I read this book a couple of months ago, but before I could post a review, the authors contacted me to notify me they were editing the original copy. This is a review for the newly edited copy, which was much much better and I’m happy to have been able to review the second version. The first book was riddled with errors, such as switching from third person to first person and a lot of spelling errors that were hard to ignore over time. Aside from one sentence and a couple of words, these errors were completely fixed. This version was much easier to read and enjoy and I’m glad I got a chance to read it!
This was a great story. It was fast paced, action packed, and full of interesting twists and turns. The book begins from Kay’s point of view, but occasionally switches to other characters. Kay, who is dealing with cancer, moves to Asheville, NC with her mom and meets Ryan, a handsome stranger, in the woods. She patches him up before her mom gets home after an encounter with a dog. The next morning, she meets Nick, a handsome satellite installer. I have to say, I’ve never once had a satellite dish installer be as nice, good looking, and compelling as Nick, but I suppose this IS fiction. =) When Ryan picks her up for a date, things take a dramatic turn. The story switches points of view from Kay, Ryan, and Nick.
Then, we meet Kira. I don’t want to give any of her story away, but it’s incredibly interesting and I enjoyed this part of the book. Kira isn’t introduced to Kay at all in the book, but I suspect there will be a introduction in the next book of the series. Kira gives her story from her point of view.
The entire premise of the book is completely original to me and it captivated me at once. I loved Kay’s character. She was charming and funny. I liked the slight competition for Kay’s attention by Nick and Ryan, who were both completely different. I liked them a lot. Kira might be my favorite character because I found her so intriguing. She was incredibly perceptive and I hope she is a major part of book 2.
This book has fairies, angels, werewolves, sickness, destiny, fate, drama, love, and mysteries. Such an incredible premise and all these elements were woven together quite well.
The reason I didn’t rate this higher is due to the writing. I thought the dialogue was incredibly weak and unnatural sometimes. It irked me how often the characters called each other by name. I didn’t expect this to change in the newly edited version and it didn’t, but it’s something I’ve thought about ever since I read this book the first time. I didn’t want to be too harsh, so I started paying attention to dialogue in other books and my own dialogue in life and I realized that we don’t typically call people by their names frequently in conversation. The characters in The Burning Star did this so much, it was ridiculous. Much of a dialogue began with “Well to be honest” or “Well, (insert name here)” and things to that effect. The writing overall felt really raw. While it’s certainly not terrible writing by any means, I think there is tons of room for improvement. If the dialogue flowed more naturally, I don’t know that I would have any complaints about the writing.
Also, while I liked that the story switched points of view, sometimes it made me stumble while reading. Certain parts didn’t seem to flow as well as others and I had to start chapters over again and really get back into the character who was narrating. Other times, this effect was kind of cool, though.
I thought the story was full of potential and it really interested me. I loved how it ended and it made me want more immediately. I will definitely read the second book. I would also recommend this book to others.
Labels: Review