*****5 ++++ Stars #MustReadRecomendation*****

"It wasn’t a kiss so much as an ignition— the sun lost behind the moon, the white-hot melt of flame and silver. It was the world flipped sideways, tilting us into chaos."

Together We Caught Fire is one of the most wonderfully surprising reads that I've experienced in a long while. The writing is EXQUISITE, the characters so perfectly imperfect. With a plot well thought out and executed, Eva Gibson delivers a story that demands your all and left me with a book hangover in the best way.

Elaine "Lane" Jamison is a complex young woman with a guarded heart and tortured soul – and a voice to match. In her senior year of high school, she finds herself a step-sister to the boy she has long crushed on, Greyson. Her feelings, hidden and unrequited, are further confused by their growing connection and his unavailability. The implications would be disastrous, but then a new person enters the equation, forcing Lane to re-examine what she believes about love.

We spend all of the story trying to understand where she's coming from. I loved and at times dreaded being in Lane's head. She's independent, compassionate, rebellious and funny. And also quite a bit lost. We are with her as she turns eighteen and begins to find herself at odds with the mess of her emotions. What she's always believed is challenged by this beautiful young man, artist Connor Hall. He sees her, truly see's her, and the connection they share is magical. But Lane doesn't always make the best choices.

"So sudden, the way our world had turned to flame. So wrong, how I couldn’t help but let us burn."

I just wanted to reach through the pages and hug her. She's been grieving for years and even though she's tried to deal with the trauma she experienced as a child, she's a very emotional and passionate individual, and we see that she has more healing to do. There are some heartbreaking and scary moments in this story and being in Lane’s head was incredibly hard. I assure you the empath in me felt each and every moment. As the ending neared I was very nervous, but it was sublime and absolutely heartwarming.

I'm so thrilled that Eva Gibson found a publisher and pushed this beautiful story out to the world. I finished the book almost a week ago and it's still with me. As I began y review and looked back at the highlights I made, I found myself absorbed in the story again and doing a re-read. It's even better the second time. I encourage EVERYONE to read this story. It's that wonderful and I'll be looking out for her next book. 5+++ Stars #MustRead recommendation.

This book is an emotional roller coaster; one page it is funny and the characters are witty and snarky and the next it is deep and raw and so eloquent and beautifully written. I absolutely loved this.

Characters:
Lane: Lane is such a realistic and relatable character. The depth of her pain and trauma are so evident and beautifully written. As someone whose father committed suicide, I can attest from experience that Lane’s grief, her nightmares, her anxiety are all so well represented. I love to see her growth throughout the book and to see her get help, fight her demons and push past her shitty circumstances and past.

Connor: Another character who is so authentic. He is an artist with a giant heart who wants to help others and give them a safe space to create their masterpieces. The way that he takes care of Lane and tried to help her through her grief and overcome her trauma is beautiful. Especially when Connor himself is dealing with repercussions of his own upbringing and his own abuse and life as a homeless teen.

Grey- He wasn’t my favorite character in the story. While he did attempt several times to do the right thing and stay away from Lane and be fair to Sadie. His treatment of Connor in various parts of the story kind of turned me off to him. But I do believe that him and Sadie were in a toxic relationship and would not have worked out so I am glad that Grey put his dreams first and ended with Sadie.

Sadie- At first I really didn’t like Sadie. She is written at the type of person who gives Christians and “religious” people a bad name. She is judgmental and abrasive and argumentative and expects those around her to follow suit with her religious beliefs regardless of their own. But, towards the end of the story we get a quick glimpse of what Sadie’s home life could really be like and the abuse that she may herself be suffering. I do wish that that aspect of the story had been delved into a little deeper.

Plot:
Together We Caught Fire is the most extreme version of a slow burn romance that I have ever read. I am so glad that the romance in this went the way that it did. These characters needed time to be apart, to work on themselves and all of their issues. This story is about a girl who has seen horrific things that no person should every have to, about a group of friends who are coming of age, who are learning to deal with the after effects of trauma, grief, abuse, and love. I love that Gibson dropped these characters into such difficult and raw places but didn’t allow them to stay there. She perfectly embodies the notion of “It’s ok to not be ok, but it isn’t ok to stay that way.” Life is hard, life can be horrible but in the end no one can brings us up out of those depths but ourselves.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was wonderful. It was well written and the pacing was quite wonderful. The story itself feels very character driven but it also strong in its story line as well. I really enjoyed Lane a lot. I loved how her feelings for Grey grew and how her friendship with Sadie felt super organic.

Overall this was a wonderful read, I can't go into too much detail about the story, but it was truly great.

Blended families can be difficult, especially when you start to have feelings on for your new brother. In this story the relationships become entwined together to create confusion on all parts. Very beautifully written to have the reader wondering what will be become of this relationship. The characters must figure out where they stand with one another. I enjoyed this book very much!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

In Together We Caught Fire we meet Lane who now has a new step brother who has also been her crush for the longest time. Grey is smart, nice and good-looking and is making to very hard for Lane to know how she feels about this whole new situation of her dad being married to Grey's mom.
Grey's mom is a lovely character and I loved how much she cared for and helped Lane through some things.
Connor, oh man, I wanted to dislike him, he's a troublemaker, he's wreckless and wild, but oh man does he care about Lane. But he also has some stuff of his own to figure out. But they were definitely drawn to each other because of things that happened to them in the past.
Connor lives and works in an artist workspace/warehouse, and Lane knits hats, scarves, mittens, chokers, blankets, etc. for her family's booth at the farmers' market, so they're both creative people. Lane takes to spending a lot of time at the warehouse, where she feels safe and can work on her craft with people who understand.
There is a lot of teen angst in this novel and some of the content is more mature adult than teen, but I think it all added a good depth to the characters and their relationships throughout.
Trigger warnings for talk of suicide, PTSD, drugs and self harm.

⁣“What happens when the boy you want most becomes the one person you can’t have?⁣
⁣
Lane Jamison’s life is turned upside down the week before her senior year when her father introduces her to his new fiancée: mother of Grey McIntyre, Lane’s longtime secret crush. Now with Grey living in Lane’s house, there’s only a thin wall separating their rooms, making it harder and harder to deny their growing mutual attraction—an attraction made all the more forbidden by Grey’s long-term girlfriend Sadie Hall, who also happens to be Lane’s friend.⁣
⁣
Torn between her feelings for Grey and her friendship with Sadie—not to mention her desire to keep the peace at home—Lane befriends Sadie’s older brother, Connor, the black sheep of the strict, evangelical Hall family. Connor, a metalworking artist who is all sharp edges, challenges Lane in ways no one else ever has. As the two become closer and start to open up about the traumas in their respective pasts, Lane begins to question her conviction that Connor is just a distraction.⁣
⁣
Tensions come to a head after a tragic incident at a party, forcing Lane to untangle her feelings for both boys and face the truth of what—and who—she wants, in this gripping and stunningly romantic debut novel.”⁣
⁣
Oh my gosh. This novel was so beautifully heartbreaking. Just a trigger warning, if you don’t do well with suicide, Grief, or self harm this may not be the book for you. Lane’s struggles through the entire novel had tears in my eyes. This is so much more than just a NA romance. I also loved that in the back of the book the author provided the suicide hotline, grief support, and resources for runaway and homeless youths. MY HEART. ⁣
⁣
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC! Publishes February 4th!

Emotional and a bit melodramatic. Doesn't capitalize enough on the main conceit. Contains buckets of purple prose. But has its moments. Dream sequences that are gut wrenching and very well written (the author should consider writing horror, ghost or fantasy stories). The family is Wiccan, and the scenes of their religious practices are interesting in their normalcy. There is a conversation where the parents look worried about Lane's relationship and are relieved her bf is atheist; it's great. But there is too much that doesn't fit, isn't fully realized or is poorly worded.

I was in the mood for a little angst and, oh boy, did I get that with Together We Caught Fire.

The story ended up being a little different than I thought it would be, based on the synopsis. There was still angst for days, but it wasn’t all romantic, love-triangle stuff. Lane is a complete mess and had issues in every single aspect of her life, mostly stemming from discovering her mother’s suicide when she was five years old. She has nightmares every night, severe trust issues, intimacy issues, family issues, depression, the list goes on. When Grey becomes her step-brother she starts hanging out with him, his girlfriend Sadie, and Sadie’s brother, Connor. Each one of them have their own myriad of issues and dysfunction and it could all be a little too much at times. However, it was one very addicting read.

It’s kind of hard to describe any of these characters as “likable”, but I was pretty invested in them. I wanted to see them work out their issues and heal and we do see a little bit of that by the time the book ends. Out of all of them, I did like Connor the best. It’s arguable that he had the most tragic backstory, but he was still the most well-adjusted, despite his issues. I liked how he was with Lane and I definitely shipped them. I had a hard time really understanding Lane’s “feelings” for Grey. He had moments where he could be sweet, but for most of the story he acted like a jerk and he had some definite anger issues. He and Lane had a few charged moments of longing glances, but I could never really get on board with the idea of them getting together. I liked them much more as step-siblings than as romantic interests.

While religion didn’t play a huge part in the story, the two ends of the spectrum were represented here. On one end was Sadie’s Fundamentalist Christian church, which her father pastors (who are, of course, the villains of the story as hateful bigots), and on the other end is Grey, the Wiccan. Lane is firmly in agnostic land, but partakes in her family’s pagan rituals. I have to say that even though these aren’t huge points in the story, it kind of brought my overall reading experience down. It always annoys me when the Christians are portrayed so poorly (even if they are fundamentalists and not your average Christian church) and I also was a little uncomfortable with the whole paganism thing. There’s even a point in the story where Lane’s father sits her down to talk to her about her relationship with Connor because he’s so afraid he’s going to “convert” her and then he’s overjoyed to find out Connor is an atheist. I mean, honestly, my main recurring thought while reading this whole book was, “These people need Jesus.” I did like, however, how it portrayed that no matter what your faith is, we all have our issues and brokenness we have to work through.

Overall, I did enjoy Together We Caught Fire. I don’t think it would be for everyone, but if you think you can handle the angst, buckle up and clear your schedule for this addictive debut. Even though the writing was a little more flowery and used a lot more imagery than I generally care for, it is super addictive and I could hardly put the book down. I’m definitely interested in seeing what Gibson does next.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Stars

I received an arc from netgalley.

Content: Lots of profanity, non-graphic sexual situations, drinking, drugs, mature themes such as suicide and mental illness.

My thoughts are all jumbled up about this book. It's the kind of book you kind of need days to absorb before you try to write your thoughts about it down. But I know that I'll be moved on to something else by then and I'll forget to review it all together. It reminds me of Speak, Looking for Alaska, and 13 Reasons Why. It is honest and brutal and sharp. It's important. It is a bit on the mature side and I would recommend it for 17 years and older. It's not the kind of story you can really like. It's the vehicle for too many ugly possibilities and truths. But it is well written and will definitely find its place in the world of YA literature.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me the opportunity to read this book before publication. I highly enjoyed it! I was expecting this to be just a teen romance, but it turned out to be so much more. It covered the full spectrum of mental illness and childhood trauma that can follow into adulthood. It was a coming of age story as well. Some reviews I read noted that the relationship dynamics between Lane and Grey were unrealistic, but I have to strongly disagree. Teens are full of angst and all of these great expectations. I compared Lane's love for Grey to a teen or adult fanning over some celebrity crush they may have. We can fall in love with any celebrity based on how they are portrayed by their characters they've played. The truth is that if we met these celebrities in person, they probably would have a different personality compared to the one we have imagined them to have. Spoiler alert!: Lane had been crushing on Grey for years that initiated from a single incident in a classroom where he had helped her and made her feel safe. From that point on, she formed this idea of who he was and who she thought he should be. From there, a fantasy began of him. It's not surprising to watch her learn the truth and be crushed by this reality. It's very realistic and believable to me. I love how everything played out in this book. There are two reasons why I didn't give this book 5 stars though. One is that I never found that it was made clear how Sadie and Lane became such close friends so fast being that they only started to hang out with each other once Grey had moved into Lane's house and became step-siblings. Secondly, I found myself on several occasions having to read back a few lines to determine who was speaking sometimes. Dialogue would sometimes become confusing, and I had to figure out how who was speaking to who. Other than that, it was a great story, and I would recommend it to other older teens (sex, drugs, and suicide addressed) and adults who like YA fiction. I'm also adding it to our public library collection for teens.

Oh, my heart. This was a tough one, guys.

OK, so there are some triggers in this book, and the author clearly states them up front in an author's note. So if you're going to pick this up, know that info going in. And then hang on, because what follows is a crazy emotional roller coaster.

I'm not going to recap the plot here, because you can read the blurb. Instead, I'm going to talk about the characters.
<b>LANE</b> - is our MC. She is half-orphan (her mother is dead), but has a loving - if a little in denial - father. She suffered a horrifying childhood trauma that irreparable damaged her, and she suffers from undiagnosed PTSD. She also suffers from debilitating endometriosis, also undiagnosed because her doctors are stupid. She believes that she cannot love and doesn't deserve love because it is too fleeting and she's too damaged. ALL the feels here for this girl.
<b>GREY</b> - is Lane's new stepbrother and longtime crush. On the outside he has it all together, but on the inside, he's absolutely lost. He is also from a broken home - his father left Grey and his mother years ago - but his mother is also very loving and they have a healthy relationship. He and his mother are practicing Wiccans. His emotional state is deceptively stable, but when he reaches his breaking point, his explosions are quick, sudden, and take the shape of horrible, hurtful words he may or may not actually mean.
<b>SADIE</b> - is Grey's girlfriend and Lane's best friend. She is all sunshine and cotton candy, and was raised in a severely legalistic fundamentalist Christian home. Her religion (notice I say <i>religion</i> not her <i>faith</i>) informs a lot of her decisions, actions, and conversations. She has some less-than-stellar moments, but it comes from her conscience battling with her upbringing, and I think it makes her a very real and sympathetic character.
<b>CONNOR</B> - is Sadie's brother, and the boy who insinuates himself into Lane's life as someone she can depend on. He knows her secrets and her struggles, and he accepts her anyway, even attempting to help her power through some of her trauma. He is also broken. He is estranged from his parents because he turned away from his father's religion and chose to leave home, making him an outcast with no support and no resources.

This cast of characters is a collective hot mess. It's interesting to see the difference between Lane and Grey's parents compared to Sadie and Connor's parents, and the reality of what having a support system can do to help a person. Additionally, one of the focuses in this book is honesty, and I think that Gibson demonstrates masterfully the difference between what honesty can do to a relationship compared to dishonesty.

This book is full of controversy and contradiction, but it's very raw and very real.

My one complaint about it is the overuse of the word "much" by Lane. I.e. Wow, mind your own business much? It gets really annoying after a while.

Side note: I've seen a lot of reviews bashing various characters for slut-shaming. Here are my thoughts on that: This is a book about teenagers. Teenagers can be dicks. The characters saying snide things with regards to Lane's attitude toward relationships are distasteful, but real. Especially given all of the emotions swirling around. So while Slut-shaming isn't something that should be condoned <B>EVER</b>, it is something that will always exist. The best we can do is educate our kids to be better people.

Posted to Goodreads: Lane Jamison has been in love with Grey McIntyre ever since he helped her get through a bio class Freshman year. Lane always knew that Grey who has a perfect girlfriend, Sadie, was never really an option. However, everything changes when Lane's father marries Grey's mother and knows they are both living under the same roof. Lane knows that Grey is never going to leave Sadie but she can't give up hope. Lane's feelings get even more complicated when she begins to connect with Sadie's black sheep brother, Connor, an artist with a complicated past. Lane must learn who she really wants and what she can live without out.

I got sucked in by this book. Gibson hooked me at the beginning and I just couldn't stop reading. Lane was a realistic, well-written character who was going through issues that are not always addressed in YA books. The story of her and her family while slightly familiar had a refreshing angle that is not always seen. Gibson addressed many issues (homelessness, cutting, abuse) without ever letting the book become an "issue book" which makes the novel more accessible. This is the author's first book and I look forward to reading more from her.

How do you put into words how much a book impacted you, how beautifully it is written and how days later you are still thinking about it, all with out sounding stupid because there are still tears in your eyes from all the feelings this book gave you? This has been my struggle since I finished Together We Caught Fire. Sexy, raw, beautiful and thought provoking Eva V. Gibson did not let readers down in her debut novel about love, loss, obsession, healing and finding yourself when you think you are too far gone to be found.

Lane has been in love with Grey since the moment they had to dissect a frog together when they were children. But the attraction is about to grow more complicated when Grey moves in and becomes Lane’s new step bother. Their attraction which is already forbidden is even more so do to Grey’s long time Girlfriend, Sadie, who also happens to be Lane’s friend. Needing a distraction from Grey on the the impending explosion at home Lane befriends Connor, Sadie’s older brother, who is the black sheep of the family. Connor who is a metal artist pushes Lane like no one has ever before, forcing her to face her past traumas head on. But as their attraction grows, Lane is just convinced that a Connor is a distraction to the real issue: Grey. The explosion that Lane is waiting for doesn’t happen at home, but rather at a party that her, Sadie, Grey and Connor are all at, now forcing her to confront her painful past and untangle her feelings for these two boys.

There is so much so talk about, but so much I can spoil and I honestly don’t know where to begin. Together We Caught Fire is not an easy book to read, not because of the writing but because it faces such raw and triggering things. (I attached trigger warnings to the top of my review for those who would like to check them out or needs them.)

You don’t see reproductive disorders mentioned in YA nor do you ever see a character suffering from it. Lane suffers from endometriosis, a painful and often times debilitating disorder that is effects hundred of thousands of woman. There were several instances in Together We Caught Fire that Lane would be doubled over in pain, sick to her stomach or vomiting because of this. I was diagnosed with endometriosis my first year out of high school and I have never seen this part of myself represented in a book before, so getting to see a character suffering from something I do as well made me feel seen and not so alone.

Eva created a cast of characters that were far from perfect and all needed work. The story is set in Lane's POV, but we see the struggle of Grey's insomnia and the toll it takes on him, Sadie's controlling relationship with her father and Connor building a life for himself after being kicked out. This book is so much more then just a romance story. Its about hitting rock bottom, finding yourself, healing and accepting those around you.

Overall I adored every page and moment of this book. This cast of characters will forever hole a special place in my heart, especially because they are so real. I can't wait to read more from Eva in the future and to see what she is going to bring readers next!

Fantastic storytelling!

This book had a ton of angst, so much it was almost painful. Despite all the angst I still liked it. The characters are well thought out and the places are described beautifully. The book is about a girl named Lane Jamison, who just turned eighteen at the end of the summer before her senior year. Lane’s mother killed herself by slitting her wrists in the bathroom when Lane was five years old. Her Dad recently got married and his new wife has a son Lane’s age who just happens to be Greyson McIntyre, the boy Lane has been crushing on forever.

Not only does Lane have to see the guy she has loved for years and not be able touch him, but she is now his stepsister. To make things worse, Sadie, Grey’s girlfriend is religious and nice and happy all the time and they plan to get married right after high school. Sadie and Lane have become friends so they all hang out together sometimes along with Sadie’s brother Connor who is gay and has a boyfriend named Paul.

Connor is very interesting and cool. According to gossip at school, he was kicked out of his home by his straight laced father who is a preacher. He was kicked out at sixteen for being Gay and he lived on the streets. He learned how to fight and nearly starved. Now Connor is living with Paul in a huge warehouse that they turned into a workshop where different types of artisans go to work on their art.

The main room is full of easels for painters to work and the rest is a maze of rooms dedicated to different types of art. There is a room for pottery and ceramics, beading and engraving, metal works, woodworking, and fiber arts including a loom for weaving. At home, Lane helps her Dad’s organic soap and lotion business and they sell their goods at a farmers market. She also helps by knitting and crocheting, so she likes what she sees at the warehouse. Connor and Paul have a huge room in the back as an apartment of sorts.

Connor works with metal, making jewelry and other things. He is designing and making wedding rings for Grey and Sadie. Lane starts to spend time at the warehouse as a way to escape from Grey. I won’t give away anything else but there is angst everywhere. Lane and Connor become friends and they each have terrible stories from their past.

The story and the girl are tortured in parts. It is hard to see her yearning for Grey. Lane has other issues as well and isn’t in the best state of mind. She has to balance wanting Grey, being in close contact with him, being friends with him, a sister and also she likes Sadie, who is a bit superficial but genuinely a good person.

Towards the end, Lane was waxing poetic about everything in her life and filling it all with imagery, symbolism an metaphors that were dark and a bit hard to grasp at times. Also, a few places throughout the book the author used huge words for things that would better be explained in plain english. I actually had to use the word lookup a few times. It is one thing if the protagonist is supposed to be a genius, but really no need for it when she is barely making it through high school. For example, lapidary, which is engraving and pranayama which means yoga breathing techniques. Overall, it was good and held my interest throughout.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I think teens will definitely be drawn to this over the top, dramatic love story. It wasn't the story for me, and I found the writing to be a bit confusing at times. Lane has had a crush on Grey for a long time, and the situation becomes much more complicated once Grey becomes her stepbrother. Grey's girlfriend Sadie is also one of Lane's best friends. There's a lot of angst, and Lane's definitely got a very tragic backstory. I can see the appeal, and I'll certainly use this book for readers' advisory, but as an adult, I couldn't get into the teen angst.

I'm so bummed. Because this had the potential to be so dang good. But I just couldn't get into the story. It didn't flow well and it left me a bit confused. I did appreciate the trigger warnings. But overall I just couldn't connect with the characters or the story.

Together we Caught Fire had a real weird dynamic going on. Meet our cast of characters:

-Lane: our heroine; in love with Grey; new stepsister to Grey; hangs out with Sadie but doesn’t seem to like her? flirts with Conner
-Grey: new stepbrother to Lane; dating (engaged??) to Sadie
-Sadie: Grey’s girlfriend; weirdly religious; claims Lane is her best friend (although they never hung out before Grey became Lane’s stepbrother)
-Conner: Sadie’s brother; kicked out by his parents when he came out as atheist; flirts with Lane but is a dick about it??

So take that in, if you can. And all these characters? None of them are good human beings. Grey, Conner, and Sadie are all mean spirited in some of their dealings with Lane, with some good old-fashioned slut shaming. Lane isn’t much better, although I can forgive her more since she’s needed some therapy for a long while (thanks for not paying attention to your child’s cry for help, Lane’s dad!).

Overly dramatic prose with a uncomfortably choppy plot, Together We Caught Fire had potential but didn’t work for me.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this because of the warning that was given. A little too heavy for me, but I do appreciate the information given before ai started.

This book was a wild ride with an ending I did not see coming. The author did a beautiful job of weaving descriptive narrative throughout the novel. This book touches on suicide (both personal and loss of another), drugs and alcohol use, homelessness, different spiritual beliefs, and mental health related topics. I'd recommend this novel to older teens/new adults - depending on maturity and reading level.

*Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ok. This one is a no for me. I was so completely lost in the beginning. I still can’t figure out exactly what was going on because the writing confuses me so. This author loves her metaphors and incomplete sentences. One of my least favorite was:

“Smashed her son alongside her, staining my world in Grey.”

Also, “Beautiful and gentle, wild-eyed and mad.”

Those are actual “sentences” in this book. It’s filled to the brim with sentences that have implied (you) or implied (I) as the subject. The writing totally shattered with my Grammar-loving heart and that distracted me from the story. I’m sure it’s cool or hip and that many people will love it, but it just makes me want to bring out my red pen.

It gets 2 stars for what I actually gleaned of the story. I like forbidden love stories and love triangles and I was able to make out bits and pieces of them here. The tension was delicious, but the weirdly choppy writing and purple prose kept me from getting into the right zone.

Yes, I realize I am reviewing an ARC, and no, I don’t think it’s going to change all that much in the final edits before publication.