Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Nothing Burns As Bright As You

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Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk

15 reviews

midnightmarauder's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Nothing Burns As Bright As You follows an unnamed teenage narrator who the reader follows through her intense homoerotic friendship with another girl.

Fire is used as a symbol throughout the novel. It is mainly used to represent the intensity of the relationship between the protagonist and her best friend/girlfriend. They have a strong bond, so strong that they do everything together and are a bit codependent on one another. This intensity is shown to be both good and bad, but mostly the latter. The protagonist's girlfriend is shown to be withdrawn and standoffish to her for most of the book. She is unsure of what she wants out of their relationship and makes it known, much to the protagonist's dismay. But, as the protagonist falls back and tries to give her what she wants, it only angers the girlfriend and makes her jealous and possessive. Even though the girlfriend's fiery disposition attempts to push the protagonist away, the protagonist only comes closer and closer to her, causing her to get burned constantly.

Another way that fire is used as a symbol in the novel is in the literal sense. The girls start two different fires in the book: one behind their school, and one in an abandoned house. The fervency of these fires and the status of their relationship when they are set are also parallel to each other. The school's fire was set during the beginning of their relationship when the girls were their happiest, and burned for only a short amount of time before being extinguished. The fire in the abandoned building, however, burned for quite a long time and was much more intense, during a point of great tension between the two girls.

Finally, preceding each chapter is a subchapter that lists "x Days Before the Fire", counting all the way down until "After the Fire". The "fire" mentioned in those subchapters are another word for

the girls' ultimate "break-up"

. Following the destruction of the abandoned house, the protagonist's girlfriend decides that she

wants to end things between them

. This devastates the protagonist and she describes her pain:

"The tears come as tempests, falling quick and heavy like a summer hailstorm. And it is still so dark that I want to start a fire. But what difference would it make? Nothing burns as bright as you."

This line signifies just how much the she meant to the protagonist, despite all of the toxicity that came with their relationship.

I really liked this book. As a lesbian myself, it reminded me a lot of when I was younger and felt a strong codependency with my own best friend, with who I had a slight homoerotic friendship with as well. The pain that comes with such a relationship, especially one that was unrequited (like mine) is something so difficult to be able to express in words, let alone for someone else to understand. Ashley Woodfolk does an amazing job at capturing what it's like to be a young, same-sex attracted girl and how that can lead some into relationships that aren't always good.

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booknerderika's review against another edition

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4.0

The poetry was beautiful and the story was so raw and real. The deep and confusing struggle that the characters experience is something I think many teens can resonate with regardless of their sexual orientation/preference.

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lexa's review against another edition

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5.0

Poetic. Traumatic. Beautiful.

Fantastic audiobook narration. This story was so beautiful to listen to, but at the same time left me feeling gutted.

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caseythereader's review

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"What does it feel like to be you?"

A story told with beautiful introspective poetry that will resonate with anyone interested in the idea that just because a love doesn't last doesn't mean it wasn't worth it. I loved that this portrayed a messy but ultimately loving relationship between two Black girls. The individual chapters are gorgeous and made me think, though I found the overall storyline behind the poetry to be less interesting. I also ADORED the author's note where Woodfolk discusses her experience with heartbreak from women.

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necromancer_xxvi's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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stardustandrockets's review

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bash5617's review

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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starla_anne's review

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emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The words in this book are so beautiful, powerful, and moving. I couldn’t put this book down.

Content Warnings

lolajh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So much angstier than my usual reads; focuses on a quite toxic and realistic relationship that is just full of heartbreak and unhappiness and not like the usual romcoms I tend to go for. This book is also written in a lettered poetry verse format addressed from one of the main characters to the other, never once saying either of their names, a fascinating stylistic choice by the author I quite like. I felt like I was very much in the head and situation of the main character writing in first person (and second person too I guess), every line written in verse so beautiful and so much more personal when it’s written by the characters themselves. There are also time skips in this book, jumping from the present to the past that all comes together at the end to explain “the fire” event titling one timeline’s chapters. The fact that the author was able to tell a story that could be recounted through solely verse, plus skipping through events in time, was incredible and so fascinating how similar it was to a story told in first person but so different at the same time because of this lettered structure that is the main character addressing her love interest, and makes what is being written so much more personal and raw than it would’ve been if it had of been written in any other way.

And the story. So incredibly heartbreaking and something that is so real and relatable to a large majority of relationships that don’t always go perfectly and showing the bumps along the way and heartbreaks and acceptance that when you aren’t getting something you want and deserve, to understand you deserve better and to move on in order to be okay with yourself independently from a relationship and knowing your worth. Such a beautiful piece and so different to anything I’ve ever read before.

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