Torched by Andrea Lynn Colt

Title: Torched
Author: Andrea Lynn Colt
Format: Paperback, 370 pages
Pub. Date: September 8th 2012
Source: Rainy Day Ramblings

★★★★★

Five incendiary stars.

Rose Whitfield is the girl we all knew in high school. A cheerleader, at the top of the food chain with smoking good looks and the hot designer labels to match. You either wanted her, wanted to be her, or loved to hate her. And oh, how people hate her. This comes to light once Rose finds herself in a jail cell framed for arson. She didn't do it, but the social hierarchy doesn't believe her. She uses this doubt as motivation to get her arch nemesis Paxton Callaway to confess to doing it. Help comes in an unlikely form in this explosive whodunnit that leaves you wanting more.

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I positively adored this book. At first I was a little put off, since the main character Rose is a preppy cheerleader. Personally, I hated that type of girl in high school, and I thought it would disconnect me from the novel. I'm so glad that I was wrong, and that I gave this book a chance.

+Starting with the cover, this book has it going on. I love the design and the teal coloring, since it's my favorite color. It's what drew my attention in.

+Paxton. I. Love. Paxton. He has officially been added to the fictional boyfriend list on my blog. He may pretend to be cool with his quarterback status, but he's a little nerd at heart. I love my boys muscular, funny, and able to quote Spock. I know Rose is the lead, but Paxton was my favorite character within this book.

+The intensity in this book is through the roof. There are so many emotions happening at once that it's like an awful roller coaster ride of feels. I was furious when no one would believe her, heartbroken when her best friend shunned her, giddy and sexually frustrated on her behalf when she feels kisses get a little bit heated. Emotions are hard to perfect, but Torched accomplishes it.

+Honestly, I wasn't sure who did it. Normally, my problem with mysteries is that I catch on rather quickly and then find myself twiddling my thumb for the next 200 pages. Pleasantly enough, that wasn't the case for Torched. I changed my guess about half a dozen times in uncertainty, only to find out that it was one of my first guesses. It drove me crazy, not knowing, and that was my reason for flipping the pages of this novel so quickly.

This book is a sizzling, arson-y five stars. This book is perfectly balanced parts of mystery, romance, and humor. Andrea Lynn Colt tells a great, clean story with vivid imagery and strong, relatable characters (even though they are rich and on the coast and I am poor and in the midwest). I recommend this to YA fans, clean romance fans, mystery fans, and chick lit fans. There is mild language in this book, but it was so light that I don't think anyone would take offense to it. I can't believe that it's Andrea Lynn Colt's book, but I genuinely hope that it isn't the last.