Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Nothing Burns As Bright As You

I wanted more main character growth, I feel like the main character took one step forward and stop. The poetry is beautiful, I really did almost cry at some points, especially when you remember your first crush or relationship with a girl. I was craving more of this “relationship”.

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midnightmarauder's review

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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 The protagonist's girlfriend is shown to be withdrawn and standoffish to her for most of the book.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.

Content Warnings

thenovelmaura's review against another edition

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reflective sad 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

3.0

Mixed feelings on this one; the poetry was beautiful but I struggled to connect with the unnamed main characters. I also felt a lot more comfortable with the book once I realized the author was intentionally describing a toxic relationship/hyper-intense first love (until then, I was concerned that this relationship was being idealized) and it took me awhile to get to that point. I don't recommend reading this one via the audiobook, even though the narrator was lovely! It made the time jumps way more confusing and I think the novel-in-verse style would have been more effective in a visual format.

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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5.0

"Little girls' bodies are war zones with no allies. And women are made of whatever survives."

I highlited like half this book. Something about the queer joy but also the inner shame and confusion, feels very close to home.

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erin1339's review

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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thissagreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

A SAD but relatable queer coming of age story that follows two best friends who are more than friends, down a spiral, each bringing out the worst in the other. It’s read almost like an entire journal entry or short story open letter, and the epilogue by the author was incredibly heartfelt and vulnerable.

Content Warnings

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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