A review by lezreadalot
Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk

4.0

I want to be close to the inferno of you,
even if it kills me.

4.5 stars. Gorgeously written,  hard-hitting YA about an intense relationship between two girls. Written as a long poem, it hit me in the gut every other line, or made me think, or took me back to my girlhood, or offered thoughtful commentary on growing up as a queer black girl. There's not a lot that I can say about this, other than the fact that Woodfolk perfectly captured the painful nuance of being a teenager in love with your best friend, the kind of co-dependency that isn't great but you want to cling to anyway, all wrapped up in gorgeous, gorgeous language. It was musical but brutal, and I just adored all the fire/water imagery. Listened to the audiobook as ready by Amani Minter: such a great performance. Even the author's note at the end had me in my feelings. I don't read a lot of YA these days, but this is exactly the kind that I want to read. Definitely merits a reread someday. Huge kudos to this.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

harassment, implied csa

I’d always been obsessed with water. Solid ground would never be enough.