Review: Burn by Paula Weston

Burn by Paula Weston
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
Publication Date: 6th August 2015 
My rating: 4 stars  

Gaby thought her life couldn't get more complicated. She was wrong. She's not the teenage backpacker she thought she was. She is one of the Rephaim, descended from fallen angels. The brother she thought she'd lost is alive. And the heavenly war is escalating. Now Gaby's remembered everything. But as she struggles to come to terms with her new memories, will what she knows save the people she loves . . . or doom them?

I am the pickiest reader ever when it comes to reading YA paranormal reads, over the last few years there’s only been a handful that have totally blown me away and left me wanting more. I’m thrilled to say Paula Weston’s Rephaim series has continually shone for me. With each book in the series I’ve never been disappointed, as Weston’s known how to up the ante, in turn increasing my levels of anxiety every time I pick one of these books. But I wouldn’t have it any other way; I love getting lost in the fantastic world of rephaim that Weston has created, revelling in new discoveries that Weston throws our way and of course swooning away over my beloved Rafa.

The way Weston left us teetering on the brink with that killer ending in Shimmer I didn’t know how I was going to cope. What had gone down all those years ago? Could it ruin all the friendships and temporary truce that had been made? I was honestly preparing myself for the worst. I loved how Weston gave us the story in Shimmer, with us getting to know the entire back story, I was eager about staying in the present with Gaby and needing to know what would go down with all the repercussions. However learning the past and Gaby’s memories was central to making sense of everything. And although it broke my heart seeing everything unfold, it gave me a better understanding of why we’re given several warnings from certain characters time and time again. I was eager to know what went down between Rafa and Gaby, but was hoping against hope that what had taken place wasn’t too detrimental that things couldn’t be fixed between them again. The slow burn relationship between Rafa and Gaby was one of my highlights of this entire series, so I was praying that with Gaby’s memories returning this wouldn’t mean the end of their relationship so far. I’m not going to say what exactly goes down, but there were a lot of tense moments along the way that had my poor heart teetering along the brink.

Rafa and Gaby’s relationship was a top priority in this book for me, as it’s one of the best relationships and romance that I’ve seen in a while. However the sibling relationship between Jude and Gaby was also wonderfully done by Weston in the series so far, so I was eager to find out what had gone down between these two in the past too. I’m not the most patient reader in the world, so waiting to see how things would turn out could be a killer at times, but Weston managed to mix up the anticipation of what was about to go down and story building really well. Weston once again was able to weave a gorgeously written story, she has introduced such a great set of characters over four books, that I have got to know and care about that I have eagerly anticipated spending time with them once more when a new book is about to be released. These are characters that everyone should meet and I know for sure I will not forget in a long time because of the great impression they have left with me and of course this is one series that I will come back to and read time and time again. Weston truly gave it all with this final book. I’m glad that she didn’t wrap things up quickly like most series book endings I’ve read lately, but she kept my anxiety levels up until the very end. Weston gave me everything I could have wanted and so much more with Burn and with the entire series overall. I for one can’t wait to see where she will take us next with her future books.