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Release-Day Review: The Sweetest Burn by Jeaniene Frost (Broken Destiny #2)

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The Sweetest Burn by Jeaniene Frost // VBCThe Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)
Jeaniene Frost
Published: June 27, 2017 (HQN)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review Source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Chelsea

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: This review assumes you have read book one, The Beautiful Ashes. If you haven’t read it, check out Chelsea’s review here

The Sweetest Burn brings a gotta-save-the-day-paced plot, a great dose of the supernatural, and chemistry that sparks. All of those elements are practically expected in a Jeaniene Frost book at this point. She’s the woman who brought us Cat and Bones, Vlad and Leila, after all.

What makes The Sweetest Burn’s Ivy and Adrian’s relationship so remarkable is the way each character’s internal conflict about their relationship fuels the delicious will they won’t they. Ivy is destined to fall in love with Adrian. Adrian is destined to betray her in the ultimate way—the kind that is supposed to leave Ivy dead. They both know these facts. It’s more than a Capulet/Montague thing. This isn’t families warring. It’s Heaven and Hell. Their free will may let them avoid fate, but how can they trust each other?

That’s the crux here. Adrian is doing everything he can to overcome who he was—a demon prince—and make things right. He’s also doing whatever he can think of to prove to Ivy that he won’t betray her. His disappearing act at the end of The Beautiful Ashes did not score him any points. However, with good reasons, he gets let back into Ivy’s life and they are back to fighting demons and hunting for hallowed objects.

Their relationship builds and builds, and every time they get close physically there’s a roadblock. As romance readers, we know this “interruption” thing is about making us wait for it, but Frost uses these delayed moments with purpose. Instead of a demon crashing in on them or an earthquake or screams from the other room interrupting these two, it’s their desire to protect the other from the impending big thing that cuts things short. Adrian is particularly good about this. He gets so close to getting everything he wants from Ivy, but will hit the pause button full force when it comes to doing right by her.

For Ivy it looks like there’s just another problem to solve, another fight to be had, but as readers we get a growing picture of Adrian’s love for her. He’s single-minded, which can be a double-edged sword, but we can feel his love for her grow and grow with each interaction the two have.

When the payoff hits, OH DOES IT HIT. The Sweetest Burn is aptly that: A delicious slow burn of a romance that leaves you craving more of everything in the book. More Adrian and Ivy. More travels. More battles. More love.

Expect to start counting down the days to book three as soon as you finish.

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