Heard paints a mesmerizing portrait of love and betrayal amidst a slow-burn thriller… and once the murders begin, it’s impossible to look away.

Okay so I don't want to say to much about this book cause I think its best to go in blind but just know you are in for a wild ride! This reimagining of the classic "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is absolutely phenomenal both as a reimagining or as a great thriller in its own right! I loved that this was the first time I have seen a Dorian Gray story keep the LGBTQ+ vibe as well. This book really is a fast passed ride though an amazing thriller. This is deffinatly on the list of best books of the year!

There I was, just reading along, minding my own business and then it was 4am and I had finished this book. SHE'S TOO PRETTY TO BURN is a scorching YA thriller that dances on the edge of dangerous, and I loved every minute. Wendy Heard paints a dark picture of San Diego centered around Veronica, a photographer, and the girl of her dreams, the introverted Mick who just so happens to have a fear of having her photo taken. When they help out Veronica's best friend Nico with a rebellious experiential art performance that goes horribly wrong, they'll find out just how far they'll go for one another.

I really loved it all. The bad decisions, the dangerous political art, the shitty parent, and the awesome parent too. I found myself yelling at this book a lot because of terrible decisions the characters made which, for a psychological thriller, is exactly what I like. The pacing kept me reading through the night worrying for these kids, so for that alone I give this book 5 stars.

While I am continuing to post my regular content, the BLM movement is still going on. Please keep referring to my story and linktree to find ways to help out.✊🏻‼️
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BRB hiding from my netgalley dashboard. I promise that in the new year I will be better and reading and reviewing my titles, because it is such a wonderful opportunity that I shouldn’t be taking advantage of.🥲
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She’s Too Pretty To Burn follows three teenagers. First we have Veronica, a photographer, who is desperately trying to find inspiration for her art. Next is Nico, Veronica’s best friend, who is obsessed with chaotic art, leading danger to follow him closely. And finally, Mick. The outlier. When she begins hanging around the two, it’s clear her and Veronica are perfect for one another, both pulling one another out of their slumps. But soon into their blissful romance, things start to go into madness, beginning with two murders, slowly escalating into more. Will they be able to survive this crazy summer?😨
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The book description says ‘perfect for fans of E Lockhart,’ and I can’t disagree, since well, everything I hated about this, I also hated in Lockhart’s thrillers. I will give this book some credit, it did try, as well as it was awesome that there was LGBT rep, but that’s the thing. I think the author tried to do TOO much. So much that it made me disconnect from not only the characters, but also the plot as a whole. Maybe if the author decided to hone in on one particular aspect, either the mystery or the romance, I would’ve enjoyed it much more. I’m so sad this was a miss for me, as the cover is STUNNING.😔
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What’s the last book you read where the author tried to do too much? Let me know!💋
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Dm me to talk about all things book or writing related! I’ll be looking forward to it! —Em😌

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She’s Too Pretty to Burn is a thriller inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray. It follows two girls, Mick and Veronica, who fall in love. Veronica is a photographer and Mick is the shy girl who becomes Veronica’s muse.

At first I thought this story was going to be a cute and lighthearted romance story about Mick and Veronica falling in love and having some sort of misunderstanding. The story; however, pleasantly surprised me when there was a thriller/murder mystery aspect thrown in. The story is told from both Veronica and Mick’s perspectives with alternating chapters, and I loved how each character’s perspective was written in their own voice. The last third of the book had me at the edge of my seat and devouring every word to find out what was really happening.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

She's Too Pretty to Burn is a slow burn mystery. I thought I was reading a causal contemporary novel for the longest time. I was really loving all of the characters and expecting some amazing growth from all of them. Then, with a tiny strike of a match, this novel turned into a sinister mystery. Once I realized the nature of the novel, the ending was easy to predict.

Minor spoiler ahead! The reason why this book ended up being a 3 star read for me was that I was so disappointed by the fact this was another story about a man terrorizing and trying to murder women. I thought I was going to be reading about two young girls trying to figure out who they are and also navigating first love. Once the twist came and I realized this was now about the girls running away from a man intent on murdering and manipulating them, I just fell out of the story. I don't think there's anything wrong with telling this kind of mystery, we all know this kind of crime exists and makes for good storytelling. But with the first 40% of the book, I was set up to think this was a casual first love story. The story became less about the two girls falling in love and trying to navigate their tough choices and more about why the man wanted to torture and kill them. I think if the tension and mystery started earlier, I would have been a lot happier with the read.

That being said, I did love Mick and Veronica. I thought that their main issue, being a photographer and someone who hates their picture being taken, was so interesting. I thought that both were going to have an amazing resolution, but again this main issue mainly was overshadowed by the murderous man (which I find to be much less interesting).

Fun and straight up excellent YA thriller. Also I was thrilled that it isn't complicated in terms of homophobia! The main characters relationship is just normal young love and we focus instead on the main hurdles Mick's mental issues, the girls relationship, Nico, and the murder. Very good fast paced and thrilling.

Felt very authentic southern California vibes from this, and it was nice for once to have an author nail that instead of someone's impression of what its like to group in southern California. Its a perfect thriller, and I would read anything this author puts out next.

Talk about CREEPY! She’s Too Pretty to Burn really lives up to the psychothriller title!

I personally love to think about art ethics. So even without any death and whirlwind fame and romance, I would’ve been thrilled (wink) to read this. But art ethics with a healthy dosing of the things listed above? Phew! I read this so fast.

The book starts strong and then you are hit with some back to back to back bad decision making that spirals all the way down to the climax. I read this right after another book full of bad decisions so I balked a little when the first one happened in here but these bad decisions happen for a reason! The reason is that sometimes people suck, but a reason nonetheless.

I had a bunch of guesses in my notes while I was reading, and while I got close on all of them, none were quite correct. I came in to this book with no expectations (except gorgeous cover, hello) so it was a really nice surprise to get such a twisted and kinda philosophical book.

I won’t say much about the killer but oh boy.

CW: discussion of death, dead bodies, assault (non-sexual), manipulation, threat of violence to queer characters (unrelated to queerness), injury in isolation and the wilderness

Also, this book has an open ending (think Sadie not in like, events that happen, but in having an open ending) if that bothers you, I wouldn’t recommend this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is another one where I wish on the educator option I could say maybe. Maybe I’ll use this in class. Either way, I’ll definitely recommend my students read it. One thing I like about this book is that it breaks down the phenomenon that happens to most teens (even if not on such a grand scale) where they feel like they are sucked into something against their own will or without realizing how it happened, but it’s also very clear that being sucked in doesn’t mean you’re a victim. I also liked the story and how fast it moved.

I didn’t really love the characters. Nico went bad too quickly, Veronica was kind of sacrifices to the gods of bad luck, and Mick.... like why was everyone obsessed with her? Because she was pretty? I don’t even feel like I got a sense of that beauty. So, on the one hand, I liked the pacing, otoh, I feel like there was a lack of development.

I'm pretty much never one to read YA thrillers because there's usually too much "girl hate" in it - but She's Too Pretty to Burn is like, the opposite and wasn't a bad read at all. There's romance, murder, and thrills, obviously, and it's done in a way that is easy to read while also being exciting at every turn. Though I had some glaring problems with the main couple - mostly about how they seemed to just use each other for their own purposes - the ending redeemed the two girls and it was kind of sweet... besides the circumstances surrounding the climax that makes the whole scene pretty depressing. Also, the antagonist was pretty unexpected and an interesting character - I say this while still hating them, mind you.

If you're not convinced, just know that neither girl dies in the end. It's so refreshing, especially when lesbians always needlessly die in books!

"What a waste that would have been. You're too pretty to burn."

I admired what this book was trying to do. It is loosely based on one of my favorite books, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and it is a thriller centered around a sapphic romance in the art scene. Sounds amazing! I'm all in!

The first 60% of this book was pretty boring for me which is why it took so long for me to read. It did reach a point where I got excited but then quickly became boring afterward and picked up a little at the very end.

The writing was not as beautiful as I expected. It wasn't bad, it was fine but if you compare a book to The Picture of Dorian Gray you can't blame me for expecting the writing to be almost as lush as the writing in that book.

As a queer human, it was nice seeing other queer humans in a YA book, especially queer women, that aren't being fetishized. I appreciated the commentary on sexism, homophobia, and just toxic men in general.

As I said earlier, the ending was something I enjoyed but did not make up for the lack of enjoyment I felt during the rest of the book. I overall liked what this book had to say but I felt that the summary made me have elevated expectations for what the story would be.

3/5

I had been seeing this book everywhere and for good reason! This book was everything I wanted it to be, and more! Heard did a fantastic job and I am so glad I was able to read this!

I want to preface this by saying I've never read The Picture of Dorian Gray so I can't say if this a good retelling or not. With that being said, I found She's Too Pretty too Burn to be just OK.

Wendy Heard has a way of writing that sucks you in even if the plot feels all over the place. I felt like there was a lot of major events that happened but never any time for the characters to sit and think about what they did it just went into another event. I didn't like any of the characters. I understand the author had put Mick and Veronica in this toxic relationship but it didn't feel believable. It all just felt forced and rushed.

2/5 stars for me on this one
Although this wasn't my favorite I would still check out books from Wendy Heard in the future

This was a fast-paced, twisty thriller-romance combo that I think will appeal to fans of Kit Frick or Courtney Summers. I really didn't see where things were going from beginning to end and was kept on the edge of my seat! Would definitely look forward to reading more from this author.

***received ARC from netgalley***

Once I got about a quarter of the way into this book the action really picked up and I stayed up to finish reading it. It's a fast and easy read split up into alternating POV each chapter. I was disappointed in the ending. After Nico tried to kill Veronica and Mick, there were no repercussions for him. He disappeared and got away with it and continued to cause destruction. Mick's relationship with her mom was left unresolved. I just came away wanting more.

Holy crap, I started this book about 4 hours ago and finished it without ever putting it down. The beginning of this book starts off kind of like a contemporary LGBT romance book but then quickly turns into a perfect murder mystery. This book had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish!

I received an advanced readers copy from the publisher via NetGalley

She’s Too Pretty to Burn is a young adult/new adult drama. It follows Veronica and Mick as they meet, begin dating, and go on adventures together. This was a very well written book, and I enjoyed it a lot. The characters were, in my opinion, almost wholly unlikable. I wanted to shake them and tell them to make better decisions- that’s how you know that the author is skilled at writing teenagers. It was a good read though, and I found myself wondering what happened to the characters after the last page.

I really enjoyed the engaging writing of this story but found the plot and characters to be a little out of my taste personally. I can see why so many people will love this book, I just don't think that I'm of the target demographic.

This book will have you hanging on the edge of a cliff.
WOW! Such a thrilling book. Probably the best book I've read in 2020.
Thank you NetGalley, Publisher and Author.

In her sapphic reimaging of 'A Picture of Dorian Gray', Wendy Heard crafts a passionate story of love, art, and life with her realistic characters and a plot that will thrill and chill you to the very end!