Nothing Left to Burn

June 15, 2015
Two teenage volunteer firefighters seek to find their own meanings of love and family, all while battling a rogue arsonist. After ending up in the foster-care system, Amanda Jamison has finally found a good home with the Becketts. They're kind and feed her well, although they have a lot of rules-including a strict "no boys" mandate. Mr. Beckett insists she join the volunteer firefighters, and there she meets gawky, bookish Reece Logan. Reece is a legacy in the company; his father is a chief, and his brother was a revered cadet. When his brother died, though, relations all but froze between him and his father. When he joins the squad, the tension reaches a fever pitch, although all the other cadets-especially Amanda-help him acclimate. As the cadets forge their own bonds, the entire firehouse is threatened when an arsonist begins to set their town ablaze, putting Reece and Amanda in imminent danger. The drama runs high, with tenuous threads-from ill-fated romance to familial drama to a nearly transparent mystery-that never quite seem to weave together into a cohesive story. The characters' emotions often feel contrived and rushed; Reece and Amanda fall instantly in love, declaring their affections before they ever go on a proper date. The highly inflated action and syrupy characters together create a heavily stilted, mawkish, and often highly unbelievable read. A melodramatic potboiler. (Fiction. 13-17)

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August 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-This contemporary teen novel is told in the alternating voices of the main characters, Reece and Amanda. Both teens are on the Junior Squad of the local Volunteer Fire Department. Reece is the son of the lieutenant and the younger brother of the now-dead Matt, who had been the star of J squad until he was killed in a car accident when Reece was driving. Reece thinks his father has never forgiven him for causing his brother's death, and his parents are split up as a result. Amanda is nicknamed Man and is the squad captain and a foster child whose mother is in jail. Predictably, she and Reece fall in love while training for J squad. There is a lot of tension and fighting between Reece and his father as the J squad works through their training exercises. So much so that Reece is writing a suicide note to his father until Amanda discovers it and reports it to the administrators at the fire department, landing Reece in a mental ward as he and Amanda are trying to figure out if her foster brother is the local arsonist. The language and plot are overwrought and so dramatic that they often strained believability. There is a lot of details about fires, fire investigation, training to be a fireman and fire jargon for enthusiasts. VERDICT An additional purchase.-Sarah Wilsman, Bainbridge Library, Chagrin Falls, OH

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