Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - She's Too Pretty to Burn

You know how sometimes when you read a book, you aren’t sure how you feel about it? Like you need to sit with it for a minute, read other people’s opinions, etc. before you can actually review it? I definitely had to do that here. The very last sentence was incredible and my mouth was literally gaping. Then I thought, well I’m kind of upset that no one really developed that much in this book? But it also kind of felt like they did.. so I needed time to think, and here’s what I came up with: besides the wild thriller aspects of this book/Nico’s entire personality, the characters are relatable. They don’t have some “ah-hah” moment that snaps them into shape and they’re suddenly the perfect version of themselves. They slowly realize what they’ve done wrong and they try to change where they can. I absolutely love that a revolution never felt forced on them, like they had to suddenly fall on their face to realize they had done bad things. Obviously this happens but it isn’t in the same way as in so many romance books I have read.
The thriller piece was an absolute blindside. I did not read the description of this book before I started it, I never do honestly. So when

Mick was suddenly super into the fires and Nico was encouraging her, I was so confused. And I thought maybe it was a blip that I had read too much into but it definitely wasn’t, haha.

The last thing I will say, and the reason I did not give this 5 stars, is because there is that nagging feeling in my stomach that couldn’t help but be bothered when the kid who was in foster care ended up being the bad guy. I guess technically we don’t know if he was actually in foster care or not but either way, I hate that stereotype that foster care kids are going to grow up and be bad people because they didn’t have a steady home life. It just felt like an unnecessary detail. Otherwise, I loved this book and will keep and eye out for other books by this author.

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l_lilly_05's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

5.0

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leahlovesloslibros's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I read this book because of some friends on bookstagram raving about it and honestly I didn't love it. It wasn't bad, per se, but it just really didn't do much for me. It's compared to <i> The Picture of Dorian Gray, </i> but sapphic; I haven't read <i> Dorian Gray </i> so I can't say whether or not I agree, but I can say that this book doesn't make me want to read the book by which it is inspired.

Veronica is a teenage photographer hoping to be discovered. Nico is a performance artist who strives to make his points with controversial art installations. When the two best friends meet the enigmatic Mick, whom Veronica promptly starts dating, things quickly go awry, and Mick has to figure out how she fits into the friendship without stirring up too much trouble.

Honestly, the relationship between Mick and Veronica seemed pretty toxic to me. It immediately started with Veronica constantly trying to push Mick to do things which she expressed that she was uncomfortable with, and it didn't stop. It also didn't seem very realistic how quickly everything escalated with them. Even high school "love" doesn't usually move that quickly, at least in my experiences.

Nico seemed like a weird dude from the start. He always gave off a bit of a creeper vibe. His actions in the second half of the book kind of seemed like they came out of left field, though. While I know the author probably didn't want to give away too much too soon, it seemed like he went from quirky to unhinged practically overnight, and without much explanation.

I didn't see much character growth throughout the story, either.

The one major change was that Mick all of a sudden became comfortable being photographed, but that was kind of thrown in at the end, and again, seemed like it came out of nowhere.

The first half of the book seemed like it was just a lot of unnecessary "filler" information leading up to the second half of the book. Once we got to the second half, it was a very quick read, but it almost seemed like everything happened way too quickly. I also figured out most of what seemed like it was supposed to be the big twist 75% of the way through, before they revealed much. Sometimes that doesn't bother me, but in this case it kind of left me feeling blah as they threw the last few things at us in the last quarter of the book.

This was a quick read, and it did make me want to keep reading, which is why I'll leave it at 3 stars. I didn't hate it but I would only recommend it in certain situations.

Rep: lesbian MC, Latina lesbian LI, AAPI SC

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rexreads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

What I really liked about this book is overshadowed by the toxicity of the relationships in this book and the failure to address a lot of them. I loved the art installations, I loved the beginning of the main relationship, and at the start I really liked the two main characters. When all the twists started I found the story less and less believable, but I still did want to know what happened.

There are a lot of things that I didn't like about this book. Though it was heartbreaking, I thought the inclusion of the child dying was really interesting. I didn't particularly like how that story progressed. I didn't think it was believable that Mick suddenly started taking risks and lighting things on fire. I hated the sudden switch from Nico being a friend to stalking Mick and kidnapping her. I thought the art installations and the associated deaths were really interesting but extremely unrealistic to be happening with characters so young. This whole plot would have made a lot more sense for characters in their twenties. Veronica repeatedly violates Mick's boundaries by photographing her then using those photos for her own gain, and then they still end up together despite how toxic the relationship was. While it was a really enjoyable read because it was eventful and really unique/interesting, I didn't like the characters, didn't believe a lot of it, and didn't like that the toxic relationship wasn't addressed.

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