Review: Burned

Burned (House of Night, #7) by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Ebook
Pages: 336
Source: Purchased
Amazon | Audible | Goodreads
★★★★★

When friends stop trusting each other, Darkness is there to fan the flames….

Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampire High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left…

Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home but also threatens to explode her whole world.

In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite: ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you could call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether she wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance.

Three girls… playing with fire… if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned.

As with all House of Night books, I was nervous starting this one. Surprisingly, there is little I can complain about… I think I might even say that Burned is the best of the series! While the female characters still speak like valley girls,  this book features little guy related drama (my biggest pet peeve with the other books). Zoey isn’t going back and forth from guy to guy through the whole book! She actually sticks with one! Thank god.

Burned offers a great opportunity for character growth and exploration; namely Stark, Zoey, Stevie-Rae, and Rephaim. The best part about this series is that we get to read from all the main character’s point-of-views! The alternate POVs add an entirely new dimension to the story. I really enjoyed watching Rephaim and Stevie-Rae explore their imprint through their POVs.I’m developing quite the soft spot for the evil birdman <3! He is very intriguing and a more complex character than I originally thought. Each character’s perspective was interesting enough that I wasn’t skimming through one to find out what happens to the other. I think that shows some skill on the authors’ parts.

There is something that keeps me coming back to this series every time! Burned was worth suffering through the previous books! I’m hoping that Awakened continues this move in the right direction.