Burning Bright (Going Down in Flames #5) By Chris Cannon Review

Author: Chris Cannon

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Date Published: June 4th 2018

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Page Number: 408

Synopsis: 

Bryn is back for her senior year at the Institute for Excellence, also known as shape-shifting dragon school. She isn’t sure which is scarier, the life-force sucking dragons stalking campus or the fact that she’s officially betrothed to Jaxon, a guy who will never love her. Not that she could ever love him, either… That’s just ridiculous.

Senior year should be fun. Her parents are alive, she’s finally fitting in, and she’s learning how to be a Medic. But what’s with Jaxon giving her strange looks? He runs hot and cold, and he doesn’t even have the excuse of being a hybrid fire-and-ice-breathing dragon like her. One minute they’re having a great time and the next, she wants to blast a fireball at his head. The marriage contract of doom looms over them--unless this match not made in heaven kindles a flame…

 



Review:

I was really looking forward to this book as it is the last book in one of my favorite series. The YA genre severely lacks in fantasy books featuring dragons so I was ecstatic when I came across this series, and I have been following it since book one. However, I couldn't help but feel let down by the ending of this series.

Bryn, the main character, seemed to become complacent with the Directorate controlling her life and seemed to give up in the end. Though she did start to develop feelings for a certain dragon she was betrothed to, it didn't feel real to me. Bryn had the kind of personality where she would fight anything and anyone who was in the wrong or tried to control her, but in this book, she gave up too easily for me. In addition to that, she didn't change the directorate like I expected (and hoped) she would. In the end, she didn't change the system, but she conformed to it. I can't say that I was happy about that. In the beginning, I felt like Bryn was a promise of major change and would give readers a sense of justice in the end, but I never got that. I just felt like there was something missing: Bryn's fire and resolve, a true love story, and most of all, a hard hitting climax that would end the series with a bang.

To me, the climax was lackluster and rushed. Compared to the other books, this climax just fell flat and didn't make my heart race or fear for the main characters' lives. I expected so much more and much more damage to come out of the "last battle", but I was left disappointed.

In the end, I cannot say I was happy with the ending even though Bryn seemed to be happy. I felt let down that such an amazing series so far ending with such an unsatisfying ending. I think that had we spent more time focusing on Bryn's relationship with Jaxon and building up the climactic fight, the book would have been a little bit more satisfying. I also wanted to see the directorate changed drastically and Bryn buck the arranged marriage idea even if she still chose who she was betrothed to in the end. The idea that she just let it go didn't sit well with me.

Nevertheless, I still love the series up to this point and the ending won't change the fact that this series still a favorite! I still highly recommend you read it because it is something unique and special!

COVER REVEAL: Unraveling in the Night by Lauryn April (First Look and Exclusive Content)

Today, I get to reveal the cover of the second book in Lauryn April's Cereus Vampire Chronicles series, Unraveling in the Night ! Also, Stay tuned for an exclusive excerpt and a free book!

Following the events of Unearthed After Sunset, Archer returns to Phoenix to discover Caroline has a new threat to face, one that puts both hunters and vampires in danger. Unraveling in the Night is set to be released this fall.

Synopsis:

It’s been over a year since Archibald Gregory Erickson died. He’s shed his human life, and gone on a journey of self-discovery, now Archer is back in Phoenix and finds himself quickly falling back into old habits. When danger strikes, putting Caroline in harm’s way Archer decides to stick around town a little longer, especially when it looks like Santo may be planning something. But things aren’t always as they appear. Archer and Caroline work together to uncover the cause behind a mass of vampire disappearances.

Before I unveil the eye-catching cover, I'll give you a little taste of what you are getting in this second book.

Excerpt:

Rusty mattress springs squeaked as I rolled onto my side. I lay on the floor in an abandoned building. I’d slept in. I liked getting a full eight hours rest as a human, but as a vampire, it wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep ten or even fourteen hours during the summer months. My body wanted to be awake at night, the rest of the time it seemed fine snoozing.

I headed out into the night. A few hours remained until midnight when Caroline asked me to meet her, so I decided to wander around town. Not much had changed in Phoenix since last year. It was the same eclectic metropolitan, a bustling and yet boring city filled with college students but also retirees and homeless.

I passed people of all kinds as I walked down the street. Through the window of a bar, I saw businessmen out for a drink before their ride back to the suburbs. A group of kids loitered at the street corner listening to loud music, and across the street, an old man carried a bag of groceries up his apartment stairs.

Then I saw something unusual. A block ahead, an old black van sat parked on the side of the road with the side door slid open. It waited right outside the butcher shop, and a moment later a tall man with a long face and black hair stepped outside. Dressed in a long sleeve shirt and jeans, with a complexion that hasn’t seen the sun in years, he had all the tell-tale signs of being new to town.

I slowed my pace to watch. I’d spent a lot of time as a vampire watching people, and I’d learned to notice people who were out of place. At first, I thought he was a vampire, but when he turned his head he lacked the tell-tale glow to his eyes, which also meant he wasn’t a hunter. He was human.

A bell tinkled out into the night, as the butcher shop door opened again. An unappealing meat smell drifted on the breeze. A young man in a white apron pushed a five-gallon, sealed, white bucket out on a rolling cart. He was a scrawny kid, still in his teens.

“Right in here?” The kid asked.

The man nodded. “Yeah, right in the van.”

Whatever was in that bucket must have been heavy. The young man strained to lift it. He set it in the van and the man slammed the door shut.

“Hey mister, what do you do with all this cows blood anyway?” the kid asked.

The man turned to him with a cold glare and said, “I make blood pudding.”

He was going to make blood pudding with five gallons of blood?

A moment later he drove away and I jogged up to where the kid still stood outside. He grabbed the rolling cart and pulled it back toward the door.

“Hey, what’d that guy order?” I asked before he slipped back inside. I wondered if maybe I’d heard the kid wrong. Maybe the five-gallon bucket had been filled with something else and he’d only bought a pint of cows’ blood?

“What?” His eyes were wide. “Oh, um, that guy?” He laughed. “He got five gallons of cow’s blood. Don’t ask me what he does with it, but he was here last week with the same order.”

The kid went back inside the butcher shop and I was left pondering what I’d seen. The man in the van wasn’t a vampire. I was sure of that, and even if he had been, a vampire can’t live on the blood of animals. My maker, Lila, had told me that the first night I’d turned. She’d said the blood of animals would make me sick. Then again, I’d never tested the theory myself.

I shook my thoughts free. For all I knew this had nothing to do with vampires. All sorts of people lived in Phoenix. That guy could be into weird ritual sacrifices or hell, really like the movie Carrie. One weirdo didn’t equal trouble.

Sounds interesting, right? If you like it, be sure to add it to Goodreads!

Now, are you ready to see the cover?

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It looks distinctive, right? I love the clouds in the background. Since this is the second book in the series and you night not have read the first, it wouldn't be right to leave you without a little present, right? Lauryn was kind enough to give readers the first book (Unearthed After Sunset, Cereus Vampire Chronicles #1) for FREE, which you can find here! 

Awesome, right? And if you want to know my thoughts on the first book in the series, you can read my review!

What are your thoughts? Do you like the cover? Be sure to get the first book for free!

Enjoy!