A review by sjj169
Burn Baby, Burn Baby by Kevin Craig

2.0

This is probably going to be a super popular book and of course... I didn't like it.
Frances is a seventeen year old boy who lives with disfiguring scars. His dad abused him often and actually ended up in prison for it. He is bullied mercilessly by the school jock. Thus the nick name of Burn Baby.
I hate bullies (yes, I do know I've been called one a few times) so I thought I would love this book. Because sometimes you just want the Lucy's of the world to get their due.


The thing is with the book is I never felt that Frances's character rang true. He is seventeen and it seems like he is so much younger in spots (yes, I do know abuse can do that) but then he is drinking every chance he gets. His best friend Trig could have been a great character too, but it sure as heck got weird for me with the way that Frances always wanted Trig to save him.
Then Rachel, the love interest gets thrown into the mix. No rhyme or reason to why suddenly she is so attracted to Frances. She is the new girl in school and automatically knows what a great guy he is.

There are a few fun moments about his twin brothers Paul and Simon...get it? Paul Simon. That's it.
The rest of the time I honestly felt that the book was over trying with the angst and over the top with trying to pull on the readers feelings.

It's a very short book of just over a hundred pages so that may not have worked in it's favor. More time to give you build up to why the characters were the way they were could possibly have helped.
I received an arc copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.