Nothing Left to Burn

January 15, 2018
The Sunday morning after she loses her virginity, white 16-year-old Audrey Harper is home alone when the evacuation order arrives.A wildfire rages in the nearby canyons, and it's spreading, moving toward the gated Orange County community where she lives with her mother, father, and 13-year-old sister. Audrey's boyfriend, Brooks, a volunteer firefighter, is creepily euphoric about the prospect of fire; he seems to look forward to it. As Audrey acts to save some of her family's most cherished belongings, including her sister's secret pet kitten, and to find a safe place to wait out the fires, she reflects on her sometimes-rocky relationship with Brooks. The story is deftly punctuated with flashbacks of the past several months--from Audrey's meet-cute with Brooks to falling in love to their ill-fated three-month "anniversary"--showcasing events leading up to the present. As the story moves forward, and the fire moves closer to home, Audrey discovers Brooks hasn't told her the whole truth about his past. Is he the tortured soul he's led her to believe he is, or is he a manipulative liar? Clues throughout hint at the fire's origins; observant readers will have it figured out in no time. Audrey is aware that her gated community is "painfully whitewashed and lacking in diversity"; to that end, characters are assumed white.A decently entertaining story of love, loss, and hope. (Fiction. 14-18)

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February 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Audrey Harper knows who started the Caspers Fire soon after she loses her virginity. Uncertain, scared, and deeply heartbroken, she struggles with keeping "the silence before words." Despite the fact that Audrey longs for love, she comprehends the complexity of her situation as well her dreadful emotions. From the beginning, the author creates a sense of being inside Audrey's head throughout the most difficult time in her life. In parallel, however, there's a more engaging story about Brooks with many mysterious pieces that remain unconvincing. Audrey's fragmented and unsettled feelings infuse the story with melancholy, fear, and loss. The nonlinear narration is creative and the unconventional chapter headers with time signatures make the setting more believable. However, from the very first chapters, it is easy to anticipate the ending, making the story less suspenseful and gripping. Still, distinguishing a healthy and loving relationship from a manipulative one is a worthy message that may resonate with readers. VERDICT An additional purchase.-Taraneh Matloob Haghanikar, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 12, 2018
Ezell's prescient debut novel, about a teen girl whose Northern California neighborhood is evacuated in advance of an encroaching wildfire, captures the confusion and chaos that arises as a result of disaster. The menacing backdrop of the fires provides a constant source of tension amid other dramas in Audrey's life, including her sister's illness and her new relationship with her older firefighter boyfriend, Brooks. Audrey's first-person narrative shifts from present-day to the recent past, creating a structure that, while occasionally confusing, effectively conveys Audrey's disorientation. At the heart of this novel are frightening questions about trust, as Audrey begins to doubt Brooks. In a somewhat predictable turn of events, Brooks's terrible secrets become Audrey's, too, and she is forced to choose between her loyalty to her community and burgeoning romance. Ages 12-up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary.

January 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 The morning she's evacuated from her Orange County home to escape an approaching fire, Audrey Harper is already nearing the brink of collapse. After what seemed like the perfect summer romance with her boyfriend, mysterious, brooding Brooks, the autumn has left her with too many questions about who Brooks really isand who she'd be without him. Unfolding over the course of a single day, the narrative manages to mix the ticking-clock tension of the approaching, unforgivable fire with flashbacks that pull back the curtain on a mystery without slowing the pace. First-time author Ezell has perfectly captured the disquieting feeling inherent to the dawning realization of an undesirable truth. She avoids assigning Audrey's multilayered pain a neat set of labels or causes, allowing the character space to explore them. This is a gripping novel about finding out who you are under the worst circumstances, and still maintaining hope that your new sense of self will carry you through to better times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)