Ashes to Ashes (Burn for Burn Trilogy, #3)

by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Think Mary, Kat, and Lillia have nothing left to lose? Think again. The fiery conclusion to the Burn for Burn trilogy from New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I've Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han, and New York Times bestselling author of The List, Siobhan Vivian.

They only meant to right the wrongs. It was about getting even. Burn for burn.

But the fire they lit kept raging...Reeve ended up hurt, then Rennie ended up dead.

Everything will turn to ash if they don't stop what they started. But now that Mary knows the truth about what happened to her, will she want to?

Secrets drew Lillia, Kat, and Mary together. The truth might tear them apart.

• ISBN10: 1442440821
• ISBN13: 9781442440821
• Publish Date: 15 September 2015 (first published 16 September 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Edition: Reprint ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

I love the title more after the ending. And I LOVE the ending. I do wish the epilogue was longer or more detailed though. But that hardly detracts at all since everything is so well done.

I can't help but think about the ending still, it's lingering. And wondering how things would've turned out without Mary, without their pact, and just how perfect everything fits and works out.

Even with all the terrible things that happened, I can't wish it to happen any other way because the good far out weights the bad. It feels like it had to happen this way.



I didn't see most things coming this time around.

Good character progression including our bad duo, Rennie and Reeve, and the shallow Ashlin and Nadia.

I am both sad and relieved nothing more happened with Kat and Adam.

Lillia and Reeve I found harder to buy. From the get, it was “WHAT?!?!” and then I made peace with their impulsive, unhealthy, passionate love-hate relationship. But I was glad it didn't last and I understand both of them better because of their hook-up.

[bestmessever]

I really enjoyed this trilogy until the last 50 pages of this book. The ending was terrible that is not was what supposed to happen and I'm just so frustrated about it.

[Bianca]

What we had was perfect, and it was finite in the way that all good things are. Nothing gold can stay.

I feel disappointed. I feel conned. I feel cheated! After reading Fire with Fire, I thought this book would be epic, fast-paced, a whirlwind of action, twists and emotions, but dang it...
I'm so upset right now!

In the previous books, I loved the main characters, Lillia, Kat and Mary. They each had their own personality and voice and they each had a chance for their story to shine through. Ashes to Ashes basically revolves around Lillia's story. It's her life, her romance, her everything. Don't get me wrong! Lillia's a great character, but I didn't get much of Kat, whose bad-assness I love. Kat didn't have a storyline of her own. She didn't get her chance to shine through and show what she's made of. I never really liked Mary, but in this book she annoys the living daylights out of me. Her transition from shy girl who wants to get even to scary, bloodthirsty paranormal creature is too quick and feels forced.

"I am avenging the lost, the downtrodden. I am punishing those who deserve it." (Mary Zane)

However, the paranormal aspects that felt out of place in the previous books starts to make sense in Ashes to Ashes. Questions that I started asking from the first book, Burn for Burn are answered and everything related to Mary and what and who she is starts to make absolute sense.

The amazingly awesome romance between Lillia and Reeve kept me reading. I seriously ship Lillia and Reeve extremely hard. Reeve is such a douchy character and I went from hating him, to loving him, to feeling empathy towards him and loving him all over again. The love that Lillia and Reeve have for each other feels so real!

The way Ashes to Ashes ends ruins the whole series. The climax of Ashes to Ashes probably takes up only 2-3 pages and is resolved in such a short amount of time. Mary turns from vengeful ghost to regretful ghost who redeems herself by saving Lillia, Reeve and Kat in under a minute.

I also have a feeling that the authors wanted Ashes to Ashes to end in a bittersweet, realistic manner, but the ending is just bitter and anti-climatic. The way this book ends and what annoys me about it is a huge spoiler. The epic romance between Reeve and Lillia ends which makes me so mad and is replaced by a romance between Alex and Lillia. Alex and Lillia are meant to be friends and only that. They didn't have the chemistry that Lillia and Reeve have. Also, why create such a shippable, epic, romance if it's going to be completely destroyed in the end. My heart broke into two!

I had such high expectations for this book, but I am completely disappointed. I'm just going to pretend that the epilogue in Ashes to Ashes did not happen and I'm going to create my own perfect ending in my head.

[Amber]

After a fantastic start book and an absolutely epic follow up, I was sure that Ashes to Ashes was going to go out with a bang and cement this series as one of my favourites. I waited (very impatiently) after the cliffhanger in Fire With Fire and I am so fucking mad that THIS is what I got. There will be spoilers in this review but I will hide them under a spoiler tag because everyone needs to know HOW FUCKING ANNOYED I AM.

First of all, most of the story was okay. We had Lillia being a QUEEN and we learnt more about Mary, but it was all very brushed over. Lillia was flawless as usual RIGHT UP UNTIL THAT DAMN EPILOGUE. I enjoyed the Mary stuff and there was, of course, some Reeve and Lillia drama.

I say “some” drama but what I really mean is that Han and Vivian threw it at us readers in spades. I spent most of the book sobbing because MY OTP. I just love Lillia and Reeve so much, you guys. It was a Veronica and Logan situation and it was so fucking good.

UNTIL THE EPILOGUE OF DOOM BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON THEY HAD LILLIA AND REEVE FORGET ALL ABOUT THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER AND LILLIA FUCKING MARRIED THAT REICH GUY BECAUSE APPARENTLY MONEY SEEKS OUT MONEY AND REEVE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH AND THEN WENT TO WORK FOR HIS ABUSIVE FATHER FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE

WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF MESSAGE ARE YOU TRYING TO SEND HERE, HAN AND VIVIAN?? THAT IF YOU PINE OVER A GIRL LONG ENOUGH AND KEEP SENDING HER GIFTS AND TELLING HER THAT YOU DESERVE HER MORE THAN OTHER MEN THEN SHE WILL EVENTUALLY FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU? BECAUSE THAT’S THE KIND OF MESSAGE THAT I GOT AND IT’S FUCKING DISGUSTING AND I FEEL MILDLY DISTURBED BUT MOSTLY JUST FURIOUS.

I really, really, really hated that epilogue. And not just because I didn’t like what happened in it, but because the story was in NO FUCKING WAY resolved as it should have been. There was no wrap up. No ending. The chapters just ended and then we got a three page epilogue that brushed shit aside and undid everything that I ever loved.

I even created a special shelf JUST for this book (and I have since added others that are a load of fucking pointless shit) because I HATED THAT ENDING SO MUCH. JUSTICE FOR LILLIA. JUSTICE FOR REEVE. JUSTICE FOR KAT.

I never want to think about this series again because I am so disappointed by Ashes to Ashes and that epilogue that I think I might cry forever. I’m DISGUSTED. You don’t wrap up a trilogy in a three page epilogue. You don’t have a beloved character go back to their abusive parents. You don’t let one character go swanning off into the sunset with a nice rich kid while everyone else barely gets a mention. BUT HEY, AT LEAST LILLIA IS RICH FOREVER AND IN LOVE WITH HER PERFECT CREEPY HUSBAND HUH.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

Having loved the first two books in the trilogy, I was so eager to read Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian - especially with how Fire With Fire ended! And I am so pleased to say Ashes to Ashes was absolutely gripping!

Lillia, Kat and Mary are reeling from Rennie's death. Lillia and Kat are buckling under their grief, and Mary has gone MIA. What they don't realise is that Mary is a ghost, and she finally discovered it when she drove Rennie's car off the cliff, and it didn't end her torment. Feeling guilty over what happened with Rennie, Lillia tries to stay away from Reeve, but they can't fight their feelings for each other, and Lillia and Kate become closer friends over their shared grief and the loss of Mary. But Mary sees everything. Now she knows what she is, now she understands her power - now she realises she did die when she attempted to kill herself over Reeve's bullying - she's determined to get the revenge she feels she deserves. Her life is over because of Reeve, it's now time that his was, too.

Oh my god, Ashes to Ashes is so, so good! I absolutely loved it! It was brilliant, but I expected the epicness to start right from the get go, considering Mary now knows what she is, but she hardly shows up for the first half of the book. There's a lot of time where she just blacks out, so there's no narration from her for a big part of the book, just the odd chapter here and there. But I think this works really well; it gives things to kind of settle for Kat and Lillia, they miss their friend, and they're both suffering with their guilt and grief, but life isn't about revenge any more, it's about friends, graduating high school, and getting into their chosen colleges. And it also works for Mary because when she does have chapters, we see how her anger increases and increases as she sees Reeve's happiness with Lillia, and this evil person she becomes as she learns more about what she can do. She is so twisted and cruel, and it's pretty horrifying, the extent to which she's willing to go. If it wasn't for the fact we've had two books previously to get to know the real Mary, Ashes to Ashes would be close to being a horror novel, because she is just so bloody terrifying in this book.

The climax to this book was epic! Oh my god, it was just mind blowing! Seriously something straight out of a nightmare, it was so horrific! I could not change the pages fast enough! However, I do think the ending was too abrupt. I would have preferred there to be at least one extra chapter at the end that dealt with the immediate aftermath of what happened, rather than jump straight to the Epilogue. I also wanted more from the Epilogue. It was too short, and some things were too convenient, I felt, a little too nicely wrapped up. And some things didn't go the way I wanted them to for certain characters, but that's a personal preference.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

The Burn for Burn trilogy is my second favorite series written by Jenny Han, it's been a pretty amazing experience with lots of things that I honestly didn't see coming. The characters are colorful and definitely enjoyable and the realism is such a breath of fresh air. She's definitely high up on the list of favorite YA author's for sure. Going into this final chapter of the trilogy, I was a little bit worried and a lot excited because I wasn't sure if what I thought previously was going to happen or not. I can't say that I was disappointed in it, it was the exact opposite actually. I pretty much loved it enough, that I didn't mind giving it the five stars that I felt like it deserved, because I was for sure entertained throughout the whole trilogy.

So many things happened in this book, some were expected but a lot of them weren't, which made me equal parts happy and a left feeling a little bittersweet. I do feel like it was a pretty fantastic ending to a trilogy that has definitely captivated from book one, so I wasn't disappointed at all as far as that goes. Ashes To Ashes is full of wonderfully written suspense, a good bit of mischief, and a lot of mystery that will definitely keep readers entranced and fully involved in the story. The characters are definitely unique and all come with their own sets of flaws and are pretty much likable for the most part. The only one that seems to be the most annoying of all is Mary with her psychotic tendencies, but even she somewhat redeems herself a little bit towards the end of the book. But, I won't tell you what she does and how, because spoilers!

I was hoping for a Lillia and Reeve romance to come out of all of this tragedy, mischievous chaos, and broken friendships. The chemistry between these two just leaped off at the pages and it was definitely a high point of my reading experience, to watch them try at working through their feelings for one another. It seemed like they were the couple that a lot of people really didn't want to see together, but for me they just worked so well on so many different levels. Another one that I had been looking forward to was Kat and Alex, but he's still pretty much hung up on Lillia and it was kind of sad to see him pass up what could be an amazing relationship for him and Kat. If I had to say that there were any minor complaints, those two would be just about it and I realize that you can't always have the couples or ships you want in books or movies, but these were the two that I was hoping for a little bit more resolve to as they just had that chemistry there working for them.

Mary was just crazy atrocious in this final book and I found her just as annoying as I did in the previous book, but I did like that the book touched on the fact that in order for her to truly be at peace with herself, she had to come to the understanding that her suicide was her fault and and learn to let go of those negative feelings that she had. She ended up creating all sorts of mischief throughout the novel that pretty much kept everybody on their toes, caused issues, and nearly got her friends killed. The paranormal element that was woven throughout this story and binded together with spells and whatnot, was written in such a wonderful way that it didn't take away from the contemporary aspect of it all either. In fact, it only heightened and intensified it that much more, making it an even more enjoyable read.

I would definitely recommend reading this trilogy, if you're looking for a page turner that's filled with fantastic suspense, revenge, plot twists, and romance mixed with the right amount of paranormal. It'd definitely worth it!