Scan barcode
A review by penguinna
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Lucy’s life has always been simple – until she realizes she’s in a burning, overwhelming, and all-consuming love with her very best friend, Susannah.
Torn between two worlds, Lucy must choose: will she remain the beloved daughter, accepted by her small-town society, and stay with the perfect boy who loves her? Or will she risk everything to be with the love of her life, Susannah, knowing she’ll face hatred and rejection from everyone else?
Paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong choice – of always being unhappy or losing everything she’s ever known or could ever have – Lucy finds herself unable to decide. Trapped within the confines of the expectations she’s built for herself, she causes pain to everyone around her, including herself.
Sunburn is an incredibly poignant and bittersweet tale of coming of age as a queer girl in the conservative society of a small Irish town. It explores themes of self-acceptance, complex parent-child relationships, repressed sexuality, and the struggle to fit in.
I loved Sunburn. This book feels like the peak of a scorching summer, where every page intensifies the oppressive heat. Reading it, you’ll find yourself longing for a thunderstorm to release all that’s been suppressed. But instead, the heat builds and builds, and the suffocating pressure on Lucy’s chest becomes almost unbearable.
“Susannah, Save this letter: it marks the moment that my life finally started. I have never felt closer to Heaven than I felt today on the road with you. I can only hope that it was real, and that you will not change your mind. Now I am away from you, I have never felt further from home, further from myself. Susannah, since the day I met you, I have wanted to let you know that you are a spill of gleaming gold on my otherwise dull and pointless world. Yours always, Lucy”
Torn between two worlds, Lucy must choose: will she remain the beloved daughter, accepted by her small-town society, and stay with the perfect boy who loves her? Or will she risk everything to be with the love of her life, Susannah, knowing she’ll face hatred and rejection from everyone else?
Paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong choice – of always being unhappy or losing everything she’s ever known or could ever have – Lucy finds herself unable to decide. Trapped within the confines of the expectations she’s built for herself, she causes pain to everyone around her, including herself.
Sunburn is an incredibly poignant and bittersweet tale of coming of age as a queer girl in the conservative society of a small Irish town. It explores themes of self-acceptance, complex parent-child relationships, repressed sexuality, and the struggle to fit in.
I loved Sunburn. This book feels like the peak of a scorching summer, where every page intensifies the oppressive heat. Reading it, you’ll find yourself longing for a thunderstorm to release all that’s been suppressed. But instead, the heat builds and builds, and the suffocating pressure on Lucy’s chest becomes almost unbearable.
“Susannah, Save this letter: it marks the moment that my life finally started. I have never felt closer to Heaven than I felt today on the road with you. I can only hope that it was real, and that you will not change your mind. Now I am away from you, I have never felt further from home, further from myself. Susannah, since the day I met you, I have wanted to let you know that you are a spill of gleaming gold on my otherwise dull and pointless world. Yours always, Lucy”