While We Were Burning is a gripping and intense debut that skillfully tackles significant themes such as racism, classism, and mental illness. The novel delves into the complexities of grief, portraying how individuals navigate their pain, whether through a quest for revenge or a descent into mental turmoil. The morally ambiguous characters are portrayed with depth; while their responses to grief are often deplorable, their motivations may resonate deeply with anyone who has experienced trauma or loss. Having personally battled with my mental health and endured such unshakable pain, I found this book emotionally challenging to read at times, which is a testament to how effectively Koffi addresses these sensitive, important subjects.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam for the digital ARC!

An interesting read but one i did not find myself fully investedn in. It was a little unbelievable at times.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was unable to connect with the characters, and I couldn't get into the book. There was a lack of emotion and appeal for me.
The affair took the book in a direction that strayed from what I felt was the premise of the story, and it just became unbelievable.
There just could have been a lot more to this- as the expose on racism and the fallout of one’s unthinking actions, is a topic that, sadly, we must still ensure is told. But it fell flat for me.

After losing her best friend under mysterious circumstances, Elizabeth is spiraling. No longer able to keep track of things, she hires a personal assistant to help out. Brianna fits into Elizabeth’s life perfectly, picking up the slack and doing everything necessary to keep Elizabeth’s world in balance. Soon she and Elizabeth are working together to solve her friend’s untimely death. Brianna has questions of her own and is there under false pretenses. She’s looking for answers and the only way to find them is to entwine herself deeper into Elizabeth’s life…but neither of them is what they first appear. Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This novel had the potential to be so much more than it is. The premise is intriguing, but the characters were all so over-the-top in their actions, dialogue, and personalities that it made them unlikable and disingenuous, which in turn, made the book awkward.
2.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for allowing me early access to the ARC ebook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Rating 2.5 Stars

While I was super intrigued, this book was not for me. But I definitely recommend it for someone else. I didn't like the characters and I just couldn't get into the story as much as I would have loved to. It fell flat for me. I will be giving this author a second chance though because I did like the writing style, just not the story.

The premise of this sounded really interesting. I love a good revenge story & Brianna definitely deserves to get her revenge. However, the story turned more into a Lifetime movie & it lost the suspense for me. The dialogue between the characters was also weird. They kept saying the person's name that they were talking to. It was a lot of "David... this." "That... David." I couldn't help but picture Alexis Rose saying David every single time. It really took me out of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Puttnam for the eARC.

A quick read doesn't always mean the best read. Some of the characters didn't fully come together for me and I felt at the end it was too far out there to believe or feel connected to. 3 stars rounded up.

Fast Paced Psychological Thriller, with Insane Characters you will not like. Still, it was a book I did want to stop reading. I liked the premise of the book, but the last quarter of the book, the book becomes completely unhinged. You do have to suspend belief, as it’s hard to really believe people would behave this way. It becomes a giant soap opera, with a strange ending. Too Over the Top, but still worth a read. Just don’t go into this thinking you are getting great social commentary or literature. It’s more towards the Lifetime Movie Genre.

Thank You NetGalley, Sara Koffi, and Penguin House Putnam for a copy of this book. I leave reviews for all books I read.

This had no flavor.

I wanted a lot more out of this book than what I got. It was predictable in all the worst ways and was also just not thrilling in the slightest...

The motivations of the characters were all over the place and everything felt lackluster and one-dimensional. Overall, this felt like a Lifetime movie, and TO ME that is not a good thing.

out now! thanks netgalley and putnam books for the eArc!

still figuring out how i feel about this. typically i’d be into a thriller with a revenge plot but lots of this book was easy to guess. i see were Koffi may have been going with making both narrators flawed and clouded by passion/emotions but it made it harder for me to be invested in the success of the revenge. the ending also caused some annoyance for me. good premise and mostly good execution!

3.5 rounded up! This was an exciting read that I read in one sitting, which definitely says something. Not quite a thriller, but it has the energy of a thriller. Gave me very similar vibes to Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (and not just because of the fire-related titles). I think this book has a lot to say and is digestible for a wide crowd.

While We Were Burning follows two women. First is Elizabeth, a rich white woman, who loses a friend early on in the book to suicide, and then begins suffering from mental health issues. Her husband and boss are (overly) concerned for her well being, and she thus hires an assistant to help her along. Her assistant is our other POV, Brianna, a Black woman who has lost her son to a police encounter (details are sparse) and is trying to find answers.

I think While We Were Burning was a great debut that shows a lot of potential for Koffi as an author. The book was a bit short - only 300 pages - and I think a few things could have been fleshed out a bit more, story wise. There were aspects toward the end that I didn't quite enjoy, but that is personal taste and very spoiler-y. Regardless, Koffi used this novel as a harsh (but necessary) critique on white woman tears, and I (as a white woman myself) was HERE for it. Elizabeth was a character we all loved to hate, and she deserved every critique Koffi threw at her. I personally disliked her husband as well, and think he deserved more than he got. Brianna was not likeable, but her motivations and choices were understandable, all things considered.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

When Elizabeth’s life starts to spiral out of control after her “best-friend-out-of-convenience”’s death, she eagerly accepts the help of her new personal assistant. Her picture-perfect life as the ideal wife centred around her ideal husband soon starts to inevitably crumble to dust at the hands of someone else.

I picked this one up because of the premise and blurb, and I was not disappointed. The author explores the underlying themes of race, class, power, and morality beautifully. There is simply something about watching horrible characters burn. Something I sometimes felt was lacking was more depth to the characters and more in-depth exploration of motives. All in all, readers will find a well-crafted debut with much potential.

2.5 stars. I rounded up to reward the fast readability of the book.....I was able to breeze thru it quickly, it did keep my attention....even though it felt like it was 'way out there'/ implausible. It read quite fast despite a kind of confusing start, introducing several characters/names & using a 'now & earlier' time frame & different locales. I don't think I ever became overly invested in any of the characters....wouldn't describe any of them as overly likable! The best thing about it is how fast it reads, despite all of that description! There was some 'what?!/who dun it?!/who is that?!' at various points, kind of a 'lukewarm mess' kind of a thing.......but a rather fast read..... so there is that!
I received a e-ARC of this book from the publisher Penguin Group Putnam via NetGalley, with the understanding that I'd read it & post my own fair/honest review.

3.5 stars. A strong debut with an interesting premise. An unlikeable main character - which I always enjoy. What is the nature of female friendship?

"After her best friend's mysterious death, Elizabeth Smith’s picture-perfect life in the Memphis suburbs has spiraled out of control—so much so that she hires a personal assistant to keep her on track. Composed and elegant, Brianna is exactly who she needs—she slides so neatly into Elizabeth’s life it's almost like she belonged there from the start, and proves herself indispensable. Soon, the assistant Elizabeth hired to distract her from her obsession with her friend's death is the same person working with her to uncover the truth behind it.

Because Brianna has questions, too.

She wants to know why the police killed her young Black son. Why someone in Elizabeth’s neighborhood called the cops on him that day. Who took that first step that stole her child away from her. And the only way she’s ever going to be able to find out is to entwine herself deep into Elizabeth’s life, where the answers to her questions lie. As the two women hurtle towards an electrifying final showdown, and the lines between employer and friend blur, it becomes clear that neither of them is what they first appear."

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

This novel was a mixed bag for me. Likened to Such a Fun Age, and based on the synopsis I imagined a more literary tale, instead While We Were Burning reads like a fast-paced thriller with a few race and gentrification callouts throughout.

Protagonist Elizabeth Smith is such an annoying and flat character, that it’s hard to feel an empathy for her. She recently lost a friend, whom she claims more closeness than is really there, and subsequently falls apart. Popping pills left and right to keep her husband and therapist happy, she doesn’t seem to do much for herself. Clearly struggling, her husband suggests she gets a personal assistant to help get her life back on track, which seems elitist considering her living and working situation. Overall, Elizabeth comes across as self centered and vapid, trying too hard to connect with her new assistant.

Brianna is still reeling from the loss of her son, and she has moved to the grieving stage of anger, looking for someone to blame. Someone called 911 on her son, who was doing nothing but riding his bike, but because he is black, he ended up dead. After tracking down the phone transcripts, Brianna knows the call came from her new employer’s neighborhood. Getting close to Elizabeth will hopefully allow her to figure out who the guilty caller is that ruined her life.

Filled with several twists and sordid relationships, While We Were Burning, is a nonstop psychological thriller. Though it is a fast-paced read, I wish it was marketed as a thriller rather than a literary/social commentary novel, as it was not.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and the author Sara Koffi for the advanced copy of the book. While We Were Burning is out now. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to @NetGalley, Penguin books and @putnambooks for my #gifted arc. I voluntarily leave my review!

Woah! The author took me on a wild ride with all the highs and lows! So THRILLING! A definite fast read! While you are aware of the whole story as you're reading, there aren't many surprises, but this book is still very worth the read! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A story about loss, vengeance, justice, prejudice and grief with a twist! Secrets and betrayal. Murder and lies.

Fans of Emily Shiner and Jeneva Rose will love this book!

Ummm… okay? I had such high expectations for While We Were Burning. But from the thoroughly unlikeable characters to the range of distinct scenes that lacked any type of flow amongst them, I had a hard time getting invested in this tale of revenge. To be frank, I had a hard time even figuring out the genre. I anticipated a mystery/thriller, but when the big twist was laid out flat within the first 100 pages, very little suspense seemed to develop from there. Don’t get me wrong, this wrecking ball of destruction did quite the thorough job, but due to my lack of connection to any of the characters, I just didn’t care.

Unfortunately, those weren’t my only issues. With a promising premise and a plot that could have been reminiscent of B.A. Paris, I was unsurprisingly discouraged to find the beginnings of an illicit affair that took the storyline into the bizarre. Then there was the frank unbelievability of it all. Going beyond the need to suspend all disbelief, the direction in which this one went felt cringey for the sake of being uncomfortable. Or so it felt. But then, maybe that’s just me.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some definite pluses to this debut novel. A startling expose on racism and the disastrous repercussions of one’s unthinking actions, the plot made me think long and hard. As a white woman living in a society primed against those of color, the daily difficulties that others must endure often slips my mind—despite my earnest attempts to understand. I also absolutely adored the snarky banter and exploration of identity. Even if it still wasn’t quite enough to make this into a winner.

All in all, I just felt there could’ve been so much MORE to this one. More emotion. More poignancy. More grab-me-and-don’t-let-go connection to the characters. If all of that had been true, then maybe I would’ve loved the climax and finale. As it stands, there was a definite lack of appeal, especially with the conclusion. From one-dimensional personas to over-the-top behaviors, none of it quite rang true to this thriller lover. And let me spare you that as well—for 90% of this novel, it was a long, slow burn with no thrills in sight. Still, I did finish it in one sitting so I will give the author that. Rating of 2 stars.

Honestly this was kind of painful to read. The writing was generally awkward and the dialogue extremely so. Especially the use of the characters names when talking to each other. So unnatural. The overarching concept of the plot had potential but the writing and pacing and characters did not deliver.

Sara Koffi’s debut thriller WHILE WE WERE BURNING seems like a mystery wrapped in a mystery that kept me reading well past my bedtime. It delves into such topics as race, class and privilege.

When Elizabeth Smith’s best friend Patricia Hugh Fitzgerald is found hanging, the police and community believe it to be a suicide. But Elizabeth does not believe that as they had made plans for the following day, just hours before Elizabeth found Patricia. Wracked with uncertainty and doubt, Elizabeth’s life begins a downward spiral and she hires an assistant, Brianna Thompson, to help keep her on track. But Brianna has her own agenda in that she is trying to find out what happened in the death of her son, Jay, who is somehow connected to Patricia and her death. As a black woman, Brianna wonders if there were racial undertones to this connection.

As the two of them begin to investigate Patricia‘s final days, Elizabeth learns a few things about her friend that she might rather have not known. Was Patricia having an affair? What was going on at the learning Centre where she worked? And now that she’s gone, will she be made a martyr in her in the community?

This book was entertaining and an easy, smooth read. I found myself sifting through the clues as Brianna and Elizabeth uncovered more details of Patricia’s hidden life. This is a debut by this author and she will definitely be one I intend to watch.

Thank you too NetGalley and GP Putnam’s Sons for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.