Book Review | Burnout by Coralee June

Burnout by [CoraLee June]

Genre: New Adult Romance
Trope: Brother’s Best Friend, Student/teacher
Publisher: Indie
Publication Date: August 14th, 2019

Blurb:

Maybe if we met at another time—another life—he could’ve been mine.

Maybe if I were older. Maybe if he wasn’t my brother’s best friend. Maybe if he wasn’t my teacher.

Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe.

Having my dirty little secret living down the hall had me obsessing over alternate endings and happily ever afters. I’d never wanted someone so badly, but his hot and cold behavior was giving me emotional whiplash. In the classroom, he practically ignored me. But here? In my brother’s loft? It felt like we were a thick rubber band, pulled so tight we’d snap.

Falling for Decker Harris made me realize that life wasn’t as serendipitous as everyone liked to think. We weren’t just a collection of maybes thrust into the world with hope and good intentions. Everything started with a choice, and somewhere between grief and redemption, I chose to make him mine.

honey-script.light

Burnout is a standalone forbidden romance based around the brother’s best friend/age gap/He’s my teacher trope. If you love one or three of these tropes, you are in for a real treat.

All Blakely wants is a fresh start and someone to take care of her for a change. Going through life, she’s always been the adult. While her mother lived the ‘single let’s mingle’ lifestyle, Blakely was busy making sure there was food on the table and a roof over her head. Right before her mother loses her battle with cancer, Blakely is told some news that sends a jagged knife through her core. She’s told she has an older brother.

My Thoughts:

When I first started Burnout I honestly had no idea what was in store for me. And given the fact that Coralee June is a new to me author, I also had no idea what to expect. I think I just found a new author to add to my watch list!!

Student/teacher romance is a trope that I tend to stay far away from. I love the age gap aspect but something about a student falling for a teacher sends a shiver down my spine and I don’t mean the good kind. But then I saw another trope that I find it hard to stay away from and that’s the brother’s best friend trope. I decided to give this book a fair shot. There’s something about all three of these tropes meshed together that gives the story a forbidden and unpredictable flair. I loved turning the pages with the inability to know what was going to happen next. Sure I had my predictions but more times they were wrong than right.

Now onto the reason why I dropped a star and gave this a 4 star rating.

I loved the storyline, but I felt at times the characters, mainly the older males, seemed to be lacking in the maturity department. Their age felt younger than what was intended. I needed more gruffness from Decker and more of a parental role from Lance. In saying this, I found it a bit hard to connect with their characters during a few key moments.

With all that aside though, I adored Blakely’s character. I don’t normally say this to many times but given Blakely’s background and the way she was raised I loved the fact that her character was wishy washy and a tad bit all over the place. She’s finally able to be the person she wants to be, but having to grow up at an extremely young age, she doesn’t know who she wants to be. So in some moments she’s feisty and sassy while in others she’s bashful and unsure. I loved this approach and the overall vibes from her character.

Overall, I wasn’t expecting to love this story but I went into Burnout with a clear mind and found myself flipping pages faster than you can say sexy as sin. I loved all the twists and turns, the ups and downs, the highs and lows. But that ending!!! Holy shit, I didn’t see that one coming. I usually spot twists and turns from a mile away, but this one legit had my jaw dropping to the floor. Pulled the rug right out from underneath me. I can’t wait to read more from Coralee June in the upcoming future!

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