Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

14 reviews

pattyblom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I was a little annoyed by the Spanish, because it's an English book (which is also not my native language). But very unique take on a world with dragons, heavely inspired by Spain. I do wish the story was a bit longer to really develop from an enemies to lovers, now it seemed to move a bit to quick. But maybe also because i read this book in one go.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Murder

kbowles24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Grief

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kaybee23's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Audio book format was great. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent

httponyo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny

londonbridget98's review against another edition

emotional tense

4.25

Avatar the Last Airbender season 3 episode 13 timestamp 23:38

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content

bookswithbrie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

“Together we burn” by Isabel Ibañez 

 

Quote: “I trudge after them, unable to stop thinking about that cloak made of grass and how the tamer had spent years making it. And how he’d given it to me.” 

― Isabel Ibañez, Together We Burn 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Review: 

Dragons, vibrant culture inspired by Latina/spanish culture, and a romantic story. 

The first pages where background which for me sometimes can get hard to get into but it didn’t slow my reading down which was great and I did love that introduction to Zarela and how her family was seen in the community. 

Through out the story I felt all the vibrance of the influence of hispanic culture and I just loved it and the determination of Zarela only made these vibrant colours that I imagined more vibrant. 

And dragon! Can we talk about dragons!? I love dragons. Dragones makes things like ten times better. 

Again, I loved Zarela. Her bravery and determination was admirable and even though it clear that she’s afraid she follows her heart and won’t take no for an answer. 

Now, there is also a love story in this book. Was enemies to lovers? Yes. Did I love it? It literally had me smilling at the freaking pages, so yeah I think I like it okay. Jk I loved it. So cute. 

 

So overall. A fast pace read. Had personally for me a good balance of dialogue and action and I would totally recommend if youre looking for a fantasy standalone with dragons, vibrance and a slowburn romance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

betweentheshelves's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This reminded me of How to Train Your Dragon but for older readers and I am here for it. I didn't even realize this was about dragons until I started readin git, but yay! We need more YA dragon books, honestly. They don't get nearly the amount of attention that they deserve.

I basically listened to this book in one sitting because it was so on the edge of your seat. I needed to know what happened next! Ibañez does such a great job with world building, and even if the plot was a little predictable, I found I didn't mind. I was engrossed in what was happening and the chemistry between Zarela and Arturo. So well done.

All in all, if you think you'd like an aged up version of How to Train Your Dragon with Spanish influences, you'll definitely love this book!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Self harm, and Vomit

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I'll have more to say later, but for now all I'll say is I enjoyed the heck out of this. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this.

Zarela Zalvidar is a character who kind of sneaks up on you. At first, I disliked her initial attitude towards the protestors who oppose dragon-fighting - a traditional sport in the fictional land of Hispalia, rather like bullfighting in Spain - but I understood her fear of dragons. But as the novel progresses, her determination, toughness, and stubbornness made me root for her. And it did seem that she

changed her attitude at the end

, which I appreciated. I also enjoyed her relationship with her father, it is obvious how much she cares about him.

Of note too, is that Isabel Ibañez takes care to show us that Zarela's opinion is not the only one to be valid, and she does that with the character of Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, Zarela's reluctant trainer and

eventual love interest

. Arturo, a brooding and rough-hewn ex-dragon fighter is now vehemently against dragon fighting, and both he and Zarela are stubborn to a fault. Their growing relationship was a beautifully written slow burn.

It is here that I need to warn you - do not read this book if you are hungry. Ibañez describes food - Spanish food, in this instance - in a way that truly makes your mouth water. I'd like a slice of toasted bread with Jamon, tomatoes, and a generous slathering of olive oil, please.

Having said all of the above, there were ways in which I think the novel fell ever so slightly short. The climax - although I loved the way in which the tension slowly built - felt ever-so-slightly rushed. And the eventual villain reveal was a bit unbelievable, which I thought could have been helped by  Ibañez showing us more of his character. The timeline also occasionally confused me (

how many years ago did Zarela's mother die?

).

But that ending? Where Zarela ended up

dancing with the dragon instead of fighting it

. Chef's kiss. 

A good YA read for anyone who is a fan of spicy slow-burn relationships and Spanish culture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Medical content

Scenes of immolation causing death via dragon fire,

including Zarela's mother

. Non-graphic descriptions of bodily mutilation. There are sexually-charged moments (including one

sex scene

) but these are tastefully done and not very graphic.

roget's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Self harm, Terminal illness, and Vomit

More info on the SA tags:

****There are scenes where the Zarela assumes Arturo is resisting out of trying to make a decision for her, rather than because he just doesn’t want to kiss her or be close to her. In these cases, she does push him for more after hearing a clear “no,” and while the specific “women are owned by their male relatives” context should be taken into account (because that impacts cues in romantic situations, even though it should not), I wish those scenes had practiced the same respect for consent that we see Zarela herself offered by Arturo. On paper, she does assault him, even if the tensions and plot and everything don’t make it out like she did. (Tldr: it’s the surprise kiss/I know you like me tropes). Even if he wanted more, she should have respected the “no.” I don’t think the writer intended the scenes to carry that sort of negative meaning, but it’s important to mention. This writer isn’t the first or thousandth author to use these tropes romantically, but I think it’s important to talk about when it comes up. I loved so much about this story—the setting, the characters, the world—but I wish those moments had been done differently.

averyconfusedhomosapiensbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Grief

Minor: Murder