This review will take a look at Together We Caught Fire written by Eva V. Gibson. This novel is a contemporary YA romance that includes a blended family. I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It was released on February 4, 2020 and begins with a pretty lengthy content trigger warning. Normally, I’m not a fan of them because when I see these warnings it’s a page by page rundown of the plot that I want to get to as I get to it, but this warning was well done by giving general warnings of subject matter that occurs throughout the novel. In general, this includes suicide, drug use, and self-harm, among a few others that I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I think those were the most graphically described.
Together We Caught Fire focuses on four main teen characters, but it is told from Lane Jamison’s perspective. The other three main teens are her secret, longtime crush turned stepbrother Grey McIntyre, his girlfriend Sadie, and her wild older brother Connor Hall.
I was pretty confused for the first 15-20 pages learning who each of these four were to each other as the book opens with Grey driving, Sadie in the front passenger seat, and Connor and Lane in the back. Lane is known as the “bad girl” at school, while Sadie is the typical preacher’s daughter. Connor used to be evangelical as well, but now is the quintessential bad boy and is a metal worker. He lives in a shared workshop that houses many methods of art.
He and Lane bond over both being artists and I quickly saw Lane forgetting her interest in Grey. Connor, though he has his own problems and flaws, challenges Lane, while also always being there to support her when her traumas take the front seat.
This was an excellent debut from Gibson, that I thoroughly enjoyed. I bought the romances, and relationships between the characters. I liked that the book wasn’t a light fluffy romance, but a gritty real one that highlighted that relationships are work and there will be good and bad in any relationship, whether romantic, familial, or friendship.
I encourage you all to go find a copy and read it. It’ll give you all the feels.
Happy reading 🙂
Confessions of a Bibliophile 