I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Excellent book! I loved the dramatic narrative and the romance between the characters. The voice was very good.

Unfortunately, though I wanted to love this book, it fell a little flat for me. :(

I found it quite difficult to root for the "love-interests-who-are-now-(step)siblings" pairing, and though the Lane x Connor romance was steamy and compelling while it blossomed, in the grand scheme of the story, it just didn't hit as hard as I'd hoped it would.

There were some strong suits -- the story grapples with some difficult topics in a really mature and delicate way, and the writing was lyrical, sweeping me into the story easily each time I sat down with the title.

All in all, TOGETHER WE CAUGHT FIRE held an interesting premise, but though many will probably love it, it just wasn't entirely for me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was just fine. It was nothing new, another typical YA romance.

A bit of a taboo and spicy for a YA contemporary, but I absolutely devoured. Not the best written book, but it was completely page turning and held my interest. Read it on sitting!

I had a difficult time connecting with this story emotionally, and never found myself really able to root for any of the pairings throughout the story. The writing was good and there was definitely good character growth, but it just didn't quite hit the mark for me. That said, I can see that there will be a great number of people who will be able to connect to this on a more personal level.

Lane, Conner, Grey and Sadie are the main characters in Together We Caught Fire, a book about forbidden romance, teen angst, and a lot of other issues that may not be okay for everyone to read. There is definitely a need for trigger warnings with this book - suicide and drug use, among others.

The beginning of this book was extremely confusing, I wasn't sure what was going on. It got better but to be honest, the overall book fell a little flat for me. There were some great parts, I'll give you that. At first I enjoyed the playful friendship between Conner and Lane, and the time they spent together. But then things changed and their relationship changed to this weird back and forth. Sadie was an interesting character that felt out of place to me.

Overall, this just wasn't the book I was expecting. I think people are going to fall into 2 categories with this one, you're either going to love it, or not and it looks like I fall into the latter.

Whoa. What a ride. I don't usually dabble in contemporary reads but there was just something about the synopsis or the cover that spoke to me. I am so glad. I was completely caught off guard by how good this was. This was definitely a more emotional contemporary read so don't go in thinking its one of those angsty teen reads. Together We Caught Fire tackles some tough issues, and I think many teens will be able to relate to relate to the feelings that our protagonists are feeling and going through.

Overall Together We Caught Fire is a fantastic emotional rollercoaster contemporary read. That will sure to not disappoint.

If you like your cross-over books, well written, with fully-realized characters, a heavy dose of romance, and an even heavier dose of angst, then this impressive debut novel by Eva Gibson is for you.

I received this novel a way back from NetGalley. I uploaded a review on there but forgot to on here. I have decided to reread this novel so its fresh in my mind.
Due to my noisy neighbours talking outside my window all night, I decided to put my insomnia to use and reread this novel. I first skimmed through it for Netgalley to get my review in on time, but damn. I'm not sure if it was because I was reading this novel at 3 am and my emotions were elevated or what, but this novel made me cry so much. The only other, once I can remember crying this hard, was when I read The Kite Runner in high school. I HIGHLY recommend that novel, it's not YA but oh my god, I just don't have words to express my feelings for that novel. Anyways back to Gibson's novel.
For a debut novel, this was well written and developed great. As I had an advanced copy, there were spacing issues with my kindle version but has been rectified. This novel touched on issues such as Endometriosis (something I suffer from), mental health, self-harm, drug abuse and slut-shaming. This is not the typical novel that I would read but I am glad that I did.
We first meet the main character Elaine or Lane (18) going out on a ride with her stepbrother Grey (18), who she has a crush on, his girlfriend, Sadie (18), who is super religious and her life plan is to get married after high school and start popping out babies and her brother Conner (I believe his age is around 20-22), who Lane believes is gay.
I should clarify something, Lane and Grey have only been step-siblings for a month and Lane doesn't even consider him her. The back blurb of the novel describes a love triangle of sorts which can be evident with the whole Lane-Grey-Sadie aspect.
It is revealed in the second chapter that Lane's mother loved their bathroom and would be disappointed in herself with the mess that she left, later stating that her father almost went broke moving them out of that house as fast as possible. It wasn't clear at the beginning on what happened to Lane's mother but was later stated that when Lane was 5, she came home to a trail of blood, similar to Hansel and Gretel breadcrumb trail, leading to her mothers' favourite bathroom. Lane found her mother dead by slitting her wrists, with this, she has developed PTSD when it comes to blood and knives. With the fact that her mother killed herself, Lane seldom relies on people and rarely dates people, only has a fling for a distraction.
Everyone has their issues in the novel which they need to work out. I do appreciate that this novel touched on issues that teenagers face but don't necessarily talk about. I think that this was a great debut novel. Gibson was able to attract the readers and obtain their attention.
I am going to give this novel a 4/5, only because I feel that the blurb provided though retailers should have a warning about what topic this novel covers and I was not aware. If someone reads this novel and struggles with one of the topics that the novel touches on, it could be traumatic for them. I dunno, that just my two cents.
Overall this was well done!

This book is emotionally raw and beautiful. I didn't think I'd like a book about a topic of step sibling romances so much.

The characters are so real & relatable. I understand what they're going through, because I've been there.

This book is so beautifully written.

What a great way to start off my reading for 2020! Together We Caught Fire may be Eva V. Gibson’s debut novel, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. This book has exquisite writing, depth, and a story that made me feel a plethora of emotions.

This is a forbidden romance, however, this novel is so much more than that. The characters were so well developed, and I was immediately pulled in and invested in their lives. They all had their own issues that they were trying to deal with, which were equally heartbreaking, shocking, and slightly disturbing. I’m choosing not to go into great detail because I think that readers should pick this book up and experience it for themselves.

As a reader who loves an angst-filled novel, the author not only promised angst, but she delivered it. It filled me with all of the anticipation that I love, made my stomach flip flop, and built up the tension to a perfect crescendo. I was more than happy to go on this journey with the characters and eager to see where it would all end up.

I highly recommend Together We Caught Fire. It is a moving, beautifully written novel. I highlighted so many passages in this book because the author’s words just touched me. I am certainly looking forward to reading more books by Eva V. Gibson in the near future.

*4.5 Stars

2.5/ 5 stars

Together We Caught Fire is a mature Young Adult novel.

The narrator is 18 year old high school senior Elaine/Lane (1st person POV).

The beginning of the book was extremely odd to me. And I had a bit of a hard time figuring out what was happening. However, after that the book was a lot easier to follow.

The main characters are Lane, Grey, Sadie and Connor. Sadie and Connor are brother and sister. Also Lane's father and Grey's mother recently got married.

Lane has a lot of problems/issues. Some of them were not really dealt with to my satisfaction. And others were only really mentioned towards the end of the book. I think that I would have preferred to have all of the serious topics in this book dealt with more throughout the book.

The book blurb mentions some big forbidden romance. And honestly I was expecting that to be the focus of the book. I was really disappointed with how this part of the story was handled. If that was supposed to lure in readers then I want some big scandalous affair. Or something substantial. But that was not the case.

The end dealt with some important issues. And I grew to sort of like all four of the teenagers. However this was not the book that I was expecting at all.

I hadn't read the description enough before reading this book but it is not for me, it is a romantic relationship involving step siblings which I just don't read.

Rating: 4.5

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Wow. This book was jam packed with a lot of hard hitting subjects. Secret crushes, religion, homelessness, endometriosis, trauma and mental illness.

The main character Lane has been in love with Grey ever since they were paired during a science project/experiment together. When her dad invites her to dinner with his new girlfriend and their son she learns that the son is none other than Grey. Within weeks of this meeting the parents are married and Grey moves in to the bedroom beside Lane. This is where the story unfolds.

Having to navigate through this new family dynamic, Lane starts to hang out with Grey and Sadie his girlfriend. In one of these outings she meets Sadie’s brother, Connor, who’s an artist that lives in the loft of an artist’s warehouse. The story takes you through how Lane’s traumatic past relating to her mother is suppressed, a love triangle ensues as she learns what love is, teenage relationships are questioned, different religions butt heads, and certain incidents trigger different emotions from each character.

This story at times felt unrealistic and a little older than it should with the way the characters were speaking to one another yet so realistic at the same time. I laughed out loud, cringed, and felt moved throughout.

This was a great first read by this author and I’d be interested in picking up books she puts out in the future.

Wow! Was not expecting to enjoy this type of book as much as I did.
It was very swoony and I loved every minute of it!
The book was so well written and thankfully unlike lots of other novels the plot lines followed through instead of building up suspense only to drop it.

Loved this book can’t wait to read more from this author