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nikitanavalkar 's review for:
To Burn in Brutal Rapture
by Nyla K.
Why are you this way and why do I like it?
I seem to be developing a strange relationship with this author’s books. First, I can’t stay away, then I don’t know what to think once I’ve read it. And I think that’s a good thing. Her words are pretty powerful and seem to get to me one way or the other. Anyway so this book is all kinds of forbidden and angsty and taboo, so much so that the large age gap and substance abuse doesn’t even register on the taboo scale. In fact, the age gap stuff is pretty well handled with none of the could-be-creepy grooming that can happen in stories of this type, and a very obvious attraction from Traci’s side right from the start and almost none from Lazarus until much later.
The whole first half (or more) I was feeling all sorts of things and invested entirely in a certain outcome, even when I basically knew what was probably going to be a thing and I was like we can get past this no problem. Then all hell broke loose and secrets came to light as expected, and I was still like, this could work. But then. Things went in a direction I wasn’t thinking they would, I felt things I wasn’t expecting to feel and I was seeing things in a new light, and then something happened that devastated me, made me mad and sad and then I was like, this should have totally gone a different way. Basically I was a gods damned mess and didn’t know what to feel. My heart ached for them. Especially for one person. This vague as heck rambling is brought to you by me trying to spoil nothing because seriously the best way to read this is to go blind and with an open mind, but definitely stay away if you have triggers and mainly just heed the author’s content warning in the beginning. I’m not even discussing the characters for fear of giving anything away.
Towards the end, I wasn’t even sure if the denouement was what I wanted, not because I was judgmental of their relationships, but because I felt like one of the parties in said relationships was getting the raw end of the deal. No matter how much that party kept saying that wasn’t the case. I would’ve liked to have seen some distance, some discomfort, and some proper groveling maybe. The author’s note at the end did help me see a little better however. Honestly I don’t know, I might, just might, have been even okay with a non HEA (gasp). I’d probably sing a different tune if that happened though.
I seem to be developing a strange relationship with this author’s books. First, I can’t stay away, then I don’t know what to think once I’ve read it. And I think that’s a good thing. Her words are pretty powerful and seem to get to me one way or the other. Anyway so this book is all kinds of forbidden and angsty and taboo, so much so that the large age gap and substance abuse doesn’t even register on the taboo scale. In fact, the age gap stuff is pretty well handled with none of the could-be-creepy grooming that can happen in stories of this type, and a very obvious attraction from Traci’s side right from the start and almost none from Lazarus until much later.
The whole first half (or more) I was feeling all sorts of things and invested entirely in a certain outcome, even when I basically knew what was probably going to be a thing and I was like we can get past this no problem. Then all hell broke loose and secrets came to light as expected, and I was still like, this could work. But then. Things went in a direction I wasn’t thinking they would, I felt things I wasn’t expecting to feel and I was seeing things in a new light, and then something happened that devastated me, made me mad and sad and then I was like, this should have totally gone a different way. Basically I was a gods damned mess and didn’t know what to feel. My heart ached for them. Especially for one person. This vague as heck rambling is brought to you by me trying to spoil nothing because seriously the best way to read this is to go blind and with an open mind, but definitely stay away if you have triggers and mainly just heed the author’s content warning in the beginning. I’m not even discussing the characters for fear of giving anything away.
Towards the end, I wasn’t even sure if the denouement was what I wanted, not because I was judgmental of their relationships, but because I felt like one of the parties in said relationships was getting the raw end of the deal. No matter how much that party kept saying that wasn’t the case. I would’ve liked to have seen some distance, some discomfort, and some proper groveling maybe. The author’s note at the end did help me see a little better however. Honestly I don’t know, I might, just might, have been even okay with a non HEA (gasp). I’d probably sing a different tune if that happened though.