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A review by the_librarians_daughter
Through the Ashes by Julia Wolf
5.0
Triggers noted at the end of review.
Julia Wolf writes the absolute BEST broken people.
This is the second book in The Savage Crew.
This is Bex's story.
Bex is the good girl. The good daughter. The good student. The good artist. But inside? Inside is a swirling storm of emotion, heartache, broken pieces, and dark.
Asher is the golden boy. Good student. Star football star. Handsome, but not arrogant. Asher is playing a part. Asher is a tormented, twisted, complex layering of abandonment, loss, desperation and grief.
Bex and Asher don't make sense from the outside. What is the star football god doing with the angsty emo art chic? Bex and Asher shouldn't make sense on the inside either. Both have lost someone close to them. The person that knew them best and loved them as they are. Their people are gone with Bex and Asher standing on opposite sides of the same story.
Yet, Bex's broken pieces seem to match Asher's broken pieces. Both of them find peace in being with the other. Neither will allow the other to lie to them. If it's going to hurt, they still force the truth out each other. In doing so they begin to heal from their trauma.
Bex is an amazingly complex, strong, fierce little woman. She's spent her life either passively ignored by her parents or over smothered by them. Her older brother, once her only light in the home has been an addict for years, but this time he has pushed limits too far. Bex is now living in a confusing home of being both ignored AND smothered, while grieving different things. Within the span of weeks her life is turned on its head never to be the way it was before. Out of this turmoil she loses a boyfriend, but gains an Asher. Her childhood best friend flits in and out of Bex's life while Grace (her newest friend) further settles into the role of sister protector.
We also see more of the "Savage Crew". We'd met Bash and Gabe in the first book in the series (Grace and Bash's story). In Bex's story we begin to see more of Gabe. Honestly - I really can't wait to read his book. That's a story for another time.
Bex proves fiercely loyal to those who love her. As Asher calls it - she's a Bex-bear.
Asher has a similar past. A father that comes and goes from his life even though they come home to the same house. His father pays attention to Asher when he deems it necessary to keep his current wife happy. For her part, Asher's step mom Laura does try to reach out to Asher. He also has a wonderful bond with his younger half siblings. Seeing Asher's interaction with the toddlers gives the reader hope that Asher hasn't completely derailed. He's just lost and trying to find his way out.
Asher has perfected what some would label "Imposter Syndrome" he wears an almost uncrackable mask in public. He's the even keeled, easy going, star athlete with top grades. Inside though, he yearns for someone to love him the way Bex loves her brother Parker. Asher has heard Parker talk about Bex. Asher admits he has tried to talk to Bex and ask her out for years. Unfortunately for them both, Bex wasn't able to see it for what it was. Now that they are tied together by trauma caused by one brother and impacting the other brother, the truth comes out in painful gushes.
This book, much like Ms. Wolf's first book in her Savage Crew series is labeled a bully romance. In parts it is. However, this isn't a book about a broken soul who is lashing out at the world and at one person in particular.
Both Bex and Asher play the role of the bully in this story in different scenes. This book is less about bullying to me and more about new adults who are grappling with complex emotions that mature adults struggle with. There is grief, some depression, abandonment all mixed in with the normal teenage years struggles of finishing high school and moving on to college. As much as the adults in this book reach out to the kids asking them where they are in headspace, their lack of parenting shines through in the fact that neither are offered any sort of real or practical therapy. They find this instead in each other and their friends.
Honestly this is one of the better books I've read this year, and one of the most beautifully written about broken souls. I thought Grace and Bash's story was dark, complex, and utterly devastating. Ms. Wolf has taken us to a different but equally as dark place with Bex and Asher's story.
This isn't an easy read book, however it is a gripping read book. The further we get into the Savage Crew the more I crave the next book, the next story, the next thing that these teens are dealing with that the average high school senior isn't.
Triggers: drug use, parental abandonment, bullying, questionable sexual decisions (consensual)
Julia Wolf writes the absolute BEST broken people.
This is the second book in The Savage Crew.
This is Bex's story.
Bex is the good girl. The good daughter. The good student. The good artist. But inside? Inside is a swirling storm of emotion, heartache, broken pieces, and dark.
Asher is the golden boy. Good student. Star football star. Handsome, but not arrogant. Asher is playing a part. Asher is a tormented, twisted, complex layering of abandonment, loss, desperation and grief.
Bex and Asher don't make sense from the outside. What is the star football god doing with the angsty emo art chic? Bex and Asher shouldn't make sense on the inside either. Both have lost someone close to them. The person that knew them best and loved them as they are. Their people are gone with Bex and Asher standing on opposite sides of the same story.
Yet, Bex's broken pieces seem to match Asher's broken pieces. Both of them find peace in being with the other. Neither will allow the other to lie to them. If it's going to hurt, they still force the truth out each other. In doing so they begin to heal from their trauma.
Bex is an amazingly complex, strong, fierce little woman. She's spent her life either passively ignored by her parents or over smothered by them. Her older brother, once her only light in the home has been an addict for years, but this time he has pushed limits too far. Bex is now living in a confusing home of being both ignored AND smothered, while grieving different things. Within the span of weeks her life is turned on its head never to be the way it was before. Out of this turmoil she loses a boyfriend, but gains an Asher. Her childhood best friend flits in and out of Bex's life while Grace (her newest friend) further settles into the role of sister protector.
We also see more of the "Savage Crew". We'd met Bash and Gabe in the first book in the series (Grace and Bash's story). In Bex's story we begin to see more of Gabe. Honestly - I really can't wait to read his book. That's a story for another time.
Bex proves fiercely loyal to those who love her. As Asher calls it - she's a Bex-bear.
Asher has a similar past. A father that comes and goes from his life even though they come home to the same house. His father pays attention to Asher when he deems it necessary to keep his current wife happy. For her part, Asher's step mom Laura does try to reach out to Asher. He also has a wonderful bond with his younger half siblings. Seeing Asher's interaction with the toddlers gives the reader hope that Asher hasn't completely derailed. He's just lost and trying to find his way out.
Asher has perfected what some would label "Imposter Syndrome" he wears an almost uncrackable mask in public. He's the even keeled, easy going, star athlete with top grades. Inside though, he yearns for someone to love him the way Bex loves her brother Parker. Asher has heard Parker talk about Bex. Asher admits he has tried to talk to Bex and ask her out for years. Unfortunately for them both, Bex wasn't able to see it for what it was. Now that they are tied together by trauma caused by one brother and impacting the other brother, the truth comes out in painful gushes.
This book, much like Ms. Wolf's first book in her Savage Crew series is labeled a bully romance. In parts it is. However, this isn't a book about a broken soul who is lashing out at the world and at one person in particular.
Both Bex and Asher play the role of the bully in this story in different scenes. This book is less about bullying to me and more about new adults who are grappling with complex emotions that mature adults struggle with. There is grief, some depression, abandonment all mixed in with the normal teenage years struggles of finishing high school and moving on to college. As much as the adults in this book reach out to the kids asking them where they are in headspace, their lack of parenting shines through in the fact that neither are offered any sort of real or practical therapy. They find this instead in each other and their friends.
Honestly this is one of the better books I've read this year, and one of the most beautifully written about broken souls. I thought Grace and Bash's story was dark, complex, and utterly devastating. Ms. Wolf has taken us to a different but equally as dark place with Bex and Asher's story.
This isn't an easy read book, however it is a gripping read book. The further we get into the Savage Crew the more I crave the next book, the next story, the next thing that these teens are dealing with that the average high school senior isn't.
Triggers: drug use, parental abandonment, bullying, questionable sexual decisions (consensual)