Today's book review is Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke.
I have to say I wasn't looking forward to reading the second novel in the series. I remember waiting a whole year for the first book to come out and when it did I was slightly disappointed. For one I thought the series would be about the devil seducing a Victorian girl. That's what I got from the cover and title. Instead it's about a boy who likes to lie and mess with peoples heads with the powers he has. Honestly through most of the book I wasn't a fan of the characters. They were a little bland. The ending however made the whole book, sadly as I said it was only the ending. But I wanted to give the second book a shot and see where it would lead me.
Here's the blurb:
Freddie once told me that the Devil created all the fear in the world.
But then, the Devil once told me that it's easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.
The problem with River West Redding was that he'd done both to me.
The crooked-smiling liar River West Redding, who drove into Violet's life one summer day and shook her world to pieces, is gone. Violet and Neely, River's other brother, are left to worry—until they catch a two a.m. radio program about strange events in a distant mountain town. They take off in search of River but are always a step behind, finding instead frenzied towns, witch hunts, and a wind-whipped island with the thrum of something strange and dangerous just under the surface. It isn't long before Violet begins to wonder if Neely, the one Redding brother she thought trustworthy, has been hiding a secret of his own . . .
When I was reading the book I was so confused through most of it. I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. What was a dream and what was reality. What was fact and what was Violet's confused thoughts. It just frazzled my brain a bit. Don't get me wrong, if that's what April was going for she did one heck of a job. If she wrote it for the voice of the book to not be trusted by the reader then a job well done April. But he plot was annoying me, once you think you've cracked it and you know what's happening, something else is revealed and you're back to square one. FRUSTRATING!!
River annoyed me so much in this sequel. His bout of craziness was confusing. I started to really hate him. I agreed with Violet, she hated him in some ways but she still clung on to the boy she fell in love with the summer before. But even though I'm saying that I still felt bad for him. I still yearned for the boy in the first book. If anything will make a last impression on me from reading the sequel is that River had a shitty hand given to him in life and he deserved a lot better.
As the book carried on I started to dislike and distrust Neely more and more. There was something about him that I just couldn't put my finger on. Even in the first book I could tell that he was going to inevitably be bad news. In the end I deduced my feelings to his growing relationship with Violet. I was torn between wanting Violet to have a happy healthy relationship and wanting River to be better because I liked him more from the first novel.
I think Violet felt as lost as I did, which makes sense because how clear can we be about things when the voice to the story doesn't have a clue what's going on or how she should feel about it. She was vague and 'wishy-washy- right up till the end.
The one person I did like throughout was Finch. Such a calming Oasis to the storm that is the Redding siblings. It was a relief whenever a read a part that involved Finch, maybe then I would actually get some sense out of the story. And even that blew up in my face.
Overall it was a mess. Maybe a good mess, I'm not entirely sure. I'm still reeling from the confusion of the novel. Honestly I want to love it because the Redding boys are so interesting characters. The ending this time was also weak. I wasn't a fan. Hardly anything was tied up and I hate open endings.
Rating: 3 stars.
What did you think?
xoxo
Rebecca.
Tucholke: Here
Amazon: Here
Goodreads: Here
