Faster We Burn by Chelsea M. Cameron

Faster We Burn by Chelsea M. Cameron
Release Date: April 20, 2013
Publisher: DRC Publishing
Pages: my epub has 266 pages
Series: Fall and Rise #2
Review Source: eBook for review from author

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
Katie Hallman is done with douchebags. Done with guys who treat her like crap and leave her broken. But then Stryker Grant is there anyway. With his numerous piercings and bleached hair, he’s the polar opposite of all of her past relationships, which makes him the perfect candidate.

At first, Katie just sees him as a physical escape from her previous rocky relationship, and Stryker doesn’t seem to mind just being a distraction from Katie’s problems. But soon he’s getting under her skin, peeling back layers she’d rather keep covered. She tries to make it clear that she doesn’t want a relationship, but keeps breaking her own rules.

Then a tragedy sends Katie into the only arms who are there to catch her, and she’ll realize that she needs him more than she ever thought possible. But is she ready to let herself trust another guy with her already-battered heart? Or will she push him away to protect herself from getting hurt again?

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed ‘Faster We Burn’ even more than I did the first book, ‘Deeper We Fall’, which I liked quite a bit. There’s something magnetic about Stryker and Katie as main characters. These two are both quite damaged, but, unlike some damaged characters where you just feel like they should stay away from romance until they’re more healed, you can just sense that they belong together.

I really liked how there was a gradual shift in both the characters. You can actually see them changing throughout the book in small ways which makes it seem all the more real. I am pretty critical about the overuse of bad boy characters in New Adult books, but I like how Stryker is that ‘bad boy’ character without seeming cliche. He has a past and family issues, and he has the tattoos and an occasional overindulgence in alcohol (there’s also a past of overindulgence in women that’s hinted at). Yet with all that he doesn't seem like a stock character at all. Stryker is not interchangeable with that tattooed womanizer character from a lot of NA novels, and I think it takes a lot of talent to make that distinction.

What I loved most in ‘Deeper We Fall’ were the secondary characters, and I still enjoyed them a lot in this novel. Katie and Stryker are a lot more closed off in this book, so the friend group doesn’t make quite as much of an impression as in the first book, but they are definitely still there. I love the friend group dynamic that Chelsea has created; all the characters are so layered, and they’re a group that I’d love to be friends with and hang out with.

Chelsea M. Cameron has a breezy writing style that's easy to read, and that’s never more evident than in Faster We Burn. The book features lots of drama so you won't get bored, and I appreciated how the drama bordered the line of cliche, but never crossed over. I could never completely predict how the characters would react or how the situation would end up. I love how Chelsea’s books feature characters who you can really feel for and connect to. I feel like her books have something special that set them apart from other NA novels.

The Cover:
I really love that font.

Rating:
[4/5]

Add Faster We Burn by Chelsea M. Cameron on Goodreads & find purchase links on Chelsea's site.