Burn Before Reading By Sara Wolf [Review]

RELEASE DATE:  May 18th 2017
AUTHOR: Sara Wolf 
GENRE: Young-Adult, Contemporary,  Romance.
SUMMARY: A girl meets a wolf.

And a wolf meets his match.

Beatrix Cruz – Bee for short – has exactly one goal; kick her dad’s severe depression in the ass. She’s got a foolproof plan;

1. Get into the elite high school Lakecrest Preparatory on a scholarship

2. Study like crazy

3. Graduate into NYU and become a shrink

Nothing can stand in her way – not even Lakecrest’s rich, hot, and notorious Blackthorn brothers. Not Fitz Blackthorn, with his flirting and his elite computer hacking, not Burn Blackthorn, with his intimidating height and emotionless face, and certainly not sinfully handsome Wolf Blackthorn, who hands out ‘red cards’ to students who displease him, and expels the ones who keep doing it.

But when Bee stands up for a student, she pisses off Wolf, and he’s suddenly itching to pull her scholarship from underneath her. To keep it, Bee strikes a deal with the devil – father Blackthorn himself; spy on Mr. Blackthorn’s sons, become friends with them, and learn their secrets in exchange for staying at Lakecrest.

Betraying the Blackthorn brothers’ trust is supposed to be easy.

Becoming friends with the Blackthorn boys makes it hard.

And falling in love with Wolf makes it impossible.

This was quite an entertaining read. I always enjoy reading Sara Wolf’s books and when I saw the blurb of this book, I was over the moon. I loved the enemies to lovers trope in this book and it’s also one of  my top favorite tropes. I’m actually not a fan of the cover and this book really deserves a better cover. The plot is pretty much enjoyable. Some parts of the story kinda reminded me of my favorite taiwanese drama Meteor Garden aka Boys over Flowers in Korean version but they are totally different plots. The characters are so much fun to read especially the main female lead Beatrix Cruz and I enjoyed the Bromance between the three Blackthorn Brothers.

Beatrix Cruz joins the Elite Preparatory High School and she’s the only scholarship student in the entire school for the rich kids. Her main goal is to study hard and graduate from NYU to become a shrink so that she could help her dad who is fighting with depression. During her first week, her path crosses with the notorious Blackthorn Brothers. Wolf Blackthorn is the handsome leader of the group who gives red cards to whoever displeases him. When Beatrix sees him giving a red card to a sweet guy, she interferes by standing up for him and calls him a bully which instantly makes her a social pariah in the whole school. Later Wolf warns her to pull off her scholarship if she doesn’t stop interfering with his business which makes her worried. Luckily, she meets Mr. Blackthorn, the father of the blackthorn brothers who offers her a unresistable deal. In order to save her scholarship, she needs to work for Mr. Blackthorn by spying on his three sons. In desperation, Beatrix agrees to the deal. She knows Fitz Blackthorn and Burn Blackthorn are easy to approach but getting close to her nemesis Wolf Blackthorn is pretty much impossible. With each day, she’s getting closer to the brothers her guilt for betraying them is killing her inside. She finally understands the three brothers and realizes they aren’t as bad as they seem. She never thought that she would get attracted to her enemy. When Beatrix’s betrayal is finally revealed, it’s going to be a pretty much disaster.

All the characters in this book are flawed and complex. I loved Beatrix! Though her actions might seem stupid sometimes, I really enjoyed her character. She’s fiesty, stubborn, clever and so much fun. I felt very sympathetic towards her situation and I admired her love for her father. It’s one of the best things that I loved about her. She’s willing to sacrifice her own dreams in order to save her father. Wolf Blackthorn is a intriguing, swoon worthy and also a bisexual character. I really loved the diverse aspect of this book and I haven’t read any books with a bisexual male lead so this was very refreshing to read. Wolf is kinda jerk towards Beatrix at the beginning but after learning what he has gone through in his previous relationship, I felt sad for him. The hate to love relationship between Beatrix and Wolf reminded me of Isis and Jack from Lovely Vicious series. I enjoyed the chemistry between Bee and Wolf but I was little bit disappointed that there’s not even a single kiss in the entire book. Still, I enjoyed their slow burn romance, the banters and the sexual tension between them. If you’re fearing there’s going to be a love triangle in this plot then rest assured there isn’t any triangle in the story. As for the other characters, I also liked Fitz Blackthorn and Burn Blackthorn. Each Blackthorn brother has their own individual personalities. After losing their mother in a car accident, each of the blackthorn brothers are coping with the loss in their own way. Fitz Blackthorn is a genius hacker and also a fun character who likes to flirt, hack and doing drugs. Burn is the oldest of the three brothers who has a thing for adrenaline rush. He is bit strange though, he barely shows any emotion, doesn’t talk much and  always keeps to himself. Mr. Blackthorn is a pretty hateful guy and  one hell of a S.O.B.

I loved the plot! It was fun, emotional and very addictive. I was hooked to the story from the start and it was hard for me to put this down. The pacing is perfect and I enjoyed every aspect of this book. This book is not your typical YA contemporary romance. It also deals with so many things like family, friendship and love. All the characters in this book are well written and well developed. I enjoyed the friendship between Bee and the blackthorn brothers. The relationship between Bee and her mentally ill father really tug at my heart strings. I loved the witty and addictive writing style of the author. I’m fan of First Person POV and I’m so glad it was told in dual first person POV’s.

Overall, I loved it! It doesn’t have a perfect ending but I’m not complaining either. It’s a stand-alone book but I’m hoping there’s going to be another separate book with Burn and Kristin as the main leads.

Recommend it?

I highly recommend this book to everyone especially to the one’s who enjoy hate to love YA contemporary romances. Trust me, you won’t get disappointed!

MY RATING:  [4/5 Stars]

So, What do you think of this book? Have you read this yet? Do you like to read this book?
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