Review: Together We Burn

So I finally read the first book for the first month of June! YAY! We've officially entered our June tbr. Also the book club server I'm in is hosting a reading contest and I hope to read as much as I can in the two months it takes place so wish me luck!! 

Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is a talented flamenco dancer and daughter of the most famous Dragonador in Hispalia. People come for miles to see her father fight in their arena, which will one day be hers.

But disaster strikes during their five hundredth anniversary show, and in the carnage, Zarela’s father is horribly injured. Facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must keep the arena—her ancestral home and inheritance —safe from their greedy hands. She has no choice but to take her father’s place as the next Dragonador. When the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, withholds his help, she refuses to take no for an answer.

But even if he agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes in order to prevent the Dragon Guild from taking away her birthright.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 4.2/5, I WISH I ACTUALLY KNEW SOMETHING ABOUT BOLIVIAN MYTHOLOGY.

Possible Trigger Tags:

1. Death

2. Smut [16+, nothing too severe but kids read this blog]

3. Mentions of arson

WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE  BOOK'S: 

1. Writing Quality: To be honest, that first line is really enough to drag you in.

MY MOTHER DIED SCREAMING MY NAME.

I mean, I was, because first, fire, which kind of invokes the arson in me. And second, mysterious vibes. I was waiting to get my hands on this book for a good while because the cover looks rad, and fire, so again, arson tendencies. And I was kind of happy to see that the book I'm so excited about didn't actually end up disappointing me because when that happens, man that is the most depressing thing to ever happen to a reader. And it kind of puts you into a slump and develops trust issues. And it flows like really well and is fast paced, so it won't probably be a biggie to finish this quickly.

2. Image/ Illustration Quality: The book is said to be based on Bolivian mythology. And I am really sad to say that my knowledge on Bolivian mythology is so damn limited I couldn't even begin to describe my sadness since I couldn't actually develop a hype inside of myself. I had to do quite a bit of research after I had finished reading the book in order to actually feel that rush I usually feel when I read a mythological book. I'm so sad about it. *sigh*

3. Character Development: I do have some opinions about this.

Zarela and Arturo as individual characters, they're actually really awesome characters and similar in a lot of ways. They're headstrong, stubborn, hotheaded, and won't give up until they get something that they want. Both to varying degrees and varying reasons of course, but instead of following the trope of "opposites attract", their dynamic is more like "like calls to like". Even though their hotheadedness and impulsive nature could be attributed to the fact that Zarela is a teenager [18] and Arturo is also not much older than her [20]. And young adults and new adults are kind of really impulsive-ish.

I do have questions about their dynamic though. Their exchange of "I love you" is a bit quick for me because I like to believe that even though first love exists, you must know each other to a certain level to fall in love with one another. I just can't grasp my head around the concept of it. Their dynamic, even though it began very well and it definitely justifies the attraction between the two, it feels rushed. And I know studies say people fall in love with one another during tense situations but this really does not feel like one of them. I cannot exactly locate the spark that will be the full fledged flame.

Lola is probably my most favourite character because she gives off really fruity vibes and she's a seamstress. She's quirky and funny and yet caring and smart and determined all the same. She does kind remind me of Finian DeSeel a bit, except Finian flirted with everything that walked on two legs.

4. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 8/10, it's pretty fast paced so it finishes real quick.

5. Plot Twists: The main plot twist about Hector wasn't as surprising as the ones regarding Arturo were. Maybe because Arturo is a hunk and he has this morally grey MC vibes which kind of does make it feel like any new information about him is a plot twist. About Hector though, I had a good feeling that he was the one behind all of this because of how overly sweet he had been acting. Kind of acting like saccharine, 550 times as sweet as cane sugar, yet more than a few drops of it would end up making anything intensely bitter. See what I did there? I used my useless chemistry knowledge.

6. Plot: The plot, even though it is fast paced, doesn't cover a much span of time, and neither it is much eventful as I thought it would be. It certainly meets my expectations and yet it somehow falls short where I thought it shouldn't have. Even with my limited knowledge of Bolivian mythology, I kind of feel like a mythological reference thrown here and there would have done the book splendid. I do absolutely love the fact that dragons are involved because I absolutely love them, developed my love for them from "How To Train Your Dragon" series, and it was interesting to kind of see them in a new perspective. And the thought of dragon fighting as a dance, beautiful concept. I hoped that Zarela's final dance scene would be more dynamic lmfao.

OVERALL, A REALLY GOOD READ, maybe I could find more books like this on Goodreads.