Together We Caught Fire by Eva V. Gibson

Cover Art from GoodReads

*I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own* 

Okay, so, this book topic was certainly a choice. Looking at the reviews I can see that I'm one of the few who was NOT impressed with it. Here's the gist: Lane has had a crush on Grey forever. But Grey is in a relationship with Sadie. He's also her STEPBROTHER thanks to her dad marrying his mom. Weirdness ensues of course. 

So I'm no stranger to the incest trope. I grew up reading V C Andrews books for crying out loud. But this... just fell flat. For one thing, she barely knew the kid, but was in love with him because they dissected a frog together in middle school? Nah bruh. Then there was the fact that Sadie and Grey are in love and going to get married, but they're like sixteen. *eye. roll.* Their relationship wasn't exactly forbidden. It bears repeating that, THEY WEREN'T RELATED. The description tried to play up the "incest" angle, but the book was more like, "I can't have this guy because he's actually in a relationship and in love with someone else that happens to be my friend". If he was single, I don't think this story would have been near as interesting. Bad pornography storyline at most.

 The slut shaming that Sadie did toward Lane was a hard pass for me as well. At one point she tells Lane that she needs to "wear more clothes" when she's in her yard gardening, because Grey is around. Okay, and? I get that Sadie was raised in an overly religious household, and her dad was a jerk, but she was kind of awful. Honestly everyone in this book was kind of awful. and not in the fun VC Andrews way.