Review: Fuel the Fire by Krista and Becca Ritchie

Title: Fuel the Fire (Calloway Sisters, #3; Addicted, #3.1)
Author: Krista and Becca Ritchie
Published: April 2nd 2015
Read: April 2nd to April 4th, 2015
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Protect your family. At all costs.It’d take the impossible to hurt Connor Cobalt, even for a moment.
Protect your family. At all costs.At twenty-six, his narcissistic tendencies have made room for the people he loves.
Protect your family. At all costs.And he loves Rose. But when his love is threatened, when his greatest dreams with her are compromised — what is the cost then?
Protect your family. At all costs.Love will guide his choices.

*does not contain any spoilers, but discusses the importance of the novel and a few characteristic aspects*

Fuel the Fire is a brilliant, important book and not only for the fact that Connor and Rose’s characters are explored in more depth or that it’s darker, a thousand times more emotional than Kiss the Sky (which was already really emotional for me regardless of its humorous tone). It’s for the fact that this book is so much more important than just these two characters that I have come to love and adore more than anything in any literary work to date.

“Tu m’entendras toujours, où que je sois.”

Beneath all the jokes, banter and comical situations, Fuel the Fire is, in its core, an issue book circling around the topic of who you are in the world and in the eyes of the society; fitting into these absurd norms in terms of sexuality, appearance, personality, intelligence and so much more; putting labels onto things that cannot and shouldn’t always be labeled. It also deals with depression in the most sincere ways that make you want to scream at the world, kick your fists at doors of sadness in order to see them crumble and finally see a character get through a day without feeling anything less than happy and free of this dark hole eating their insides day by day. All of the books in this series also cover feminism, sexism and misogyny and, Fuel the Fire, as its predecessors, is just as moving and inspirational as you’d hope and expect for it to be.

I’m not going to speak about the plot, because that is something everyone should experience themselves, but I want to applaud the twins for giving Rose and Connor more depth and layers than they already had. I thought I knew them very well, and I most definitely held them dear to the deepest parts of my soul, but it was nothing compared to how I feel about them now. They're absolutely remarkable! Thinking about this guy who thought he couldn't care about any other person but himself, but has been proven wrong time and time again, and a girl who's rough around the edges and often has a cold, tough exterior which hides one of the biggest, kindest hearts—that's something I can't ever stop getting emotional about. I'm so incredibly proud of how far they've come.

This book was effortlessly exquisite, as are the two narrators in their very nature, and the enjoyment of it all didn’t necessarily depend on the plot, which was equally entertaining and captivating, but more on how all of its six main characters dealt with the hardships thrown in their way and their continuous support and admiration towards one another during difficult times.

A few more notes:

• Fuel the Fire is hot, hot, hottttt and most of these hot scenes are packed with an emotional punch right in the feels
• The shipping game is on point as always
• ALL the bromances gain even more depth (which I thought was impossible)
• It also held a lot of fun, cute scenes as always and the group scenes are bound to make you smile time and time again
• The relationship between the Calloway sisters is one of the most amazing sibling relationships I have ever read about; these sisters are the true meaning of family and how empowering it is to know that you have someone in your corner always fighting for you and your dreams, cheering you on regardless of the circumstances and odds against you—without a doubt, the sisterhood in these books is my favorite thing above all!

Writing reviews is always hard on its own for me, but writing a review for a sequel to a book you thought was going to be your absolute favorite for the rest of your life? I tried my hardest, but I know that I only covered about 3% of the beauty and importance of this story. I’m at a loss of words and the empty tissue boxes all around remind me of the emotions I felt while reading this gorgeous, witty and extraordinary novel filled with passion, strength and inspiring words. Thank you, Krista and Becca, for an unforgettable journey!

Overall rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★★★

Meet the authors

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Pinterest | Instagram