A review by tays_readingnook
The Truths We Burn by Monty Jay

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book follows sage and rook. Sage who was mentioned briefly in the first book was the “princess of ponderosa springs” and rosemary’s twin sister. And Rook who is the devil spawn of ponderosa springs. So we start the book jumping briefly back in time shortly before rose is killed and we get to see Sage and rosemary’s relationship and how Sage viewed the hollow boys. But what I was NOT expecting was the secret relationship that rook and sage had before the murder of rose. And man oh man did i absolutely love it!! Sage is put in this little box to be the perfect child mind her Ps and Qs, not ask questions and do everything her parents wish of her because of how reckless and free rosemary was. Sage’s relationship with Easton was also not on my bingo card lol in this book you also learn more about Easton as a character oddly enough and MAN talk about a small plot twist. now when Sage comes back to ponderosa springs and in turn hollow heights university. In this book we get further into the plot and getting revenge for rosemary’s death. But we also see the found family aspect between the hollow boys and the girls grow into something bigger which I think comes from Sage becoming close to briar and Lyra while also rekindling her relationship with rook. Sage and the hollow boys teaming up to take down the men responsible for rose’s death was TOP TIER! But Rook………damn did I love rook! He was just straight up ruthless! And I loved every second of it. He was so protective of Sage and his friends, and was straight up psychotic but with a smirk 😂. What I also loved was how close rook and Silas are. Speaking of Silas let me just say the letter Silas wrote to rook was HEART WRENCHING! I was legit sobbing. (It’s giving joeys letter from redeeming 6 iykyk) But back to the story line lol The opposites attract between sage and rook with a smidge of enemies to lovers and a sprinkle of second chance romance was 👩🏽‍🍳💋.  

FAVORITE QUOTES:

“The psycho. The vengeful one.  The schizo.  And the devil.  The Hollow Boys.”

“Because I’d become a serial killer trying to fend off men falling in love with you.” 

“I did miss you. It’s just…” he whispers softly. “Can I keep you?” And my soul breaks because of it.

“You gotta relax, baby girl. Let me in,”

“You never really know how damaged you are until you try to love someone.”