REVIEW TOUR: We Burned So Bright - TJ Klune

The world is ending in thirty days.

A wandering black hole is approaching Earth, and soon, everything will be gone. For husbands Don and Rodney, forty years of marriage suddenly feels like no time at all.

One last road trip. One final chance to say goodbye.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea comes a story about what we owe the people we love when time runs out. Don and Rodney are in a race against the clock, driving from Maine to Washington State to settle unfinished business before the sky breaks.

Is it enough to burn bright, even if nothing remains of the ashes?

Along the way, they encounter a world choosing how to spend its final moments―from impromptu weddings and bright bonfires to those simply sharing a final meal. Under a kaleidoscope sky and a cracked moon, Don and Rodney must look back on a lifetime of highs and lows and ask the ultimate question: was our best good enough?

A bittersweet, life-affirming masterpiece about love, legacy, and the beauty of a life well-lived.

 

What did I think?

We Burned So Bright is my first TJ Klune book and it is simply breathtaking.  I loved it so much I could've quite easily read it again immediately after turning the final page, if I hadn't been crying my eyes out of course!  Cry?  Me? No, I SOBBED.  This is one heck of a book hangover; I was still upset the next day!

The plot is incredibly thought-provoking and you can't help but wonder what you would do if the end of the world was imminent.  As the planets in our solar system start to break up and disappear into a black hole, it's only a matter of time before Earth is next.  Husbands Don and Rodney have a very important trip to make before the world ends and I felt completely privileged to witness their journey, although I suspected I would need my tissues handy and I was right.

The writing is so beautiful and profound that I noted down several quotes as I was reading, even though there are only 163 pages in the book.  Now this is what we mean by quality over quantity.  I also learned something that I didn't know about the acronym LGBT that actually started out as GLBT.  What an amazing tribute to these silent heroes.

Heartbreaking doesn't even come close to describing We Burned So Bright, although it most definitely broke my heart.  It is also strangely uplifting as it reminds us to hold those we love a little closer and that we'll finally have achieved equality when the world ends.  All the stars in the universe for this unforgettable book; five stars just aren't enough.  

I received a gifted hardback to read for the review tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour:

The Fireman - Joe Hill

Nobody knew where the virus came from. FOX News said it had been set loose by ISIS, using spores that had been invented by the Russians in the 1980s. MSNBC said sources indicated it might've been created by engineers at Halliburton and stolen by culty Christian types fixated on the Book of Revelation. CNN reported both sides. And while every TV station debated the cause, the world burnt.

Pregnant school nurse, HARPER GRAYSON, has seen lots of people burn on TV, but the first person she saw burn for real was in the playground behind her school. But when she realises she has become infected, she is determined to find a way to survive - at least long enough to see her child born. No matter what is left of the world for them to live in.

With the epic scope of THE PASSAGE and the emotional impact of THE ROAD, this is one woman's story of survival at the end of the world.

What did I think?

The Fireman is quite a weighty book at 762 pages, so this is one I would recommend reading on your kindle if, like me, you get tired arms from reading heavy books.  I thought the idea was good: a deadly spore spreading across the world setting people on fire but I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the end of the world fear coming through the pages.  That being said, it's still an interesting read but, in my opinion, the blurb doesn't really match the book as it's not quite the end of the world epic that I was expecting.

Harper is a school nurse with an obsession with Mary Poppins and she has to look on the bright side as she has a crazy husband, Jakob.  Jakob has a plan if they ever contract the deadly virus named dragonscale: they would put on their favourite music, drink their expensive bottle of wine, take some pills and die in each other's arms.  He doesn't really ask Harper's opinion of this but when she finds out that she is pregnant and infected with the 'scale her one aim is to survive long enough to give birth.  Now, I couldn't decide whether she was stupid or selfish at this stage.  Even though there was a chance that the baby would not be infected, why would you want to bring a life into a world that is burning around you?

When Jakob's craziness reaches new heights, Harper meets John Rookwood, aka The Fireman, and his two young companions: Allie and Nick.  They are all infected with the 'scale and have found a way to survive so they invite Harper to Camp Wyndham, where she meets other infected survivors.  This is where I lost interest a smidge as it was all a bit too much peace, love and harmony for me, sitting round the campfire singing kum ba yah.  Of course, put a crowd of people together and the harmony doesn't last long as they jostle for position to be the alpha male, or female.  My interest was piqued again as the camp started to implode and new allegiances were formed, and I tried to work out who Harper could trust.

The Fireman himself is a great character and I would have liked to have learned more about him, although I think that is part of his mystery that you never really find out who he really is. The Fireman is definitely a rollercoaster read as it has more than its fair share of ups and downs and it is good post-apocalyptic thriller but I think a shorter book would have been more intense.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest an unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon