{Book Review} Into the Fire (Birth of the Phoenix #1)

Author: Ashelyn Drake

Genre: YA fantasy
Published: September 9th 2014
Publisher: Month9Books
Pages: 300
Source: Purchased Paperback
Available at: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Goodreads Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Cara Tillman’s life is a perfectly normal one until Logan Schmidt moves to Ashlan Falls. Cara is inexplicably drawn to him, but she’s not exactly complaining. Logan’s like no boy she’s ever met, and he brings out a side of Cara that she isn’t used to. As the two get closer, everything is nearly perfect, and Cara looks forward to the future.

But Cara isn’t a normal girl. She’s a member of a small group of people descended from the mythical phoenix bird, and her time is running out. Rebirth is nearing, which means she’ll forget her life up to this point—she’ll forget Logan and everything they mean to one another.. But that may be the least of Cara’s problems.

A phoenix hunter is on the loose, and he’s determined to put an end to the lives of people like Cara and her family, once and for all.

My Rating of this Book – 4 out of 5 stars

My Review:

If Into the Fire hadn’t kept triggering some hard memories and emotions, I would have swallowed this novel whole. It was that good! Full of suspense and romantic tension.

I could really relate to both Cara and Logan, as you could tell from my earlier comments. I had similar situations, some even recently. Practically when it came to family hardships and what was referred to by Cara and her family as “imprinting.” Those strong emotions. That strong attraction. How hard it is to stay away. Their story truly coincided with my actual life, only better results.

Though the inner thought was amazing in most of this novel, there were other things I didn’t like about the style. It didn’t feel the same as other works by Ashelyn Drake or Kelly Hashway; such as the settings. With The Monster Within and Campus Crush I could get at least a basic lay out of the town, campus, and houses. But in Into the Fire, I felt the description lacked. I couldn’t even get a feel of Cara’s or Logan’s bedrooms, which makes it difficult to picture the characters.

Also, a lot of the beginning and even some of ending dialogue was continuous and untagged, as if most of the interweaved action was cut from the text. I couldn’t place what the character was doing, what emotions they were feeling, or how the conversation was affecting them at the time. It was just pure conversation.

But, OMG, what an intense, heart wrenching ending! Forget the first chapter in the back of the book; this novel will make you want the sequel, Out of the Ashes, now!