theresa_ac's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Police brutality, and Kidnapping
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
It's another great Kara Thomas thriller that kept me guessing and almost made me cry. This was my first of her adult thrillers and it was just as good as her YA ones. I think it was a bit darker and grittier but that's to be expected with the different age category I think.
The narrator did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life and giving the characters different voices without being over-the-top and comical. Which wouldn't be appropriate for this subject matter.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. I guessed part of the mystery but not all of it and not in quite the right direction either.
Extra Ratings:
Thrill: 4/5; Predictability: 1.5/5; Mystery: 4.5/5; Love: 0.5/5; Tear: 3.5/5; Heartfelt: 4/5; Spice: 0.5/5; Suspense: 4.5/5; Humor: 0.5/5; Horror: 0/5
Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Cursing, Alcohol, Sexual content, Drug use, and Police brutality
Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Child death and Cancer
maydaysc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
OUT OF THE ASHES - KARA THOMAS: A REVIEW
- Rating: ★★★★
- Read time: 2 Days
- Spicy: 🌶️
TWs: assisted suicide. Mentions of death, murder, sexual assault, and drug use.
Sam Newsom returns to her hometown 22 years after the unsolved murder of her family, due to the sudden death of her Uncle Gill. While in town, Sam is contacted by Travis Meacham, a detective with the NY State Police, who recently got a strange confession from a local man. Sam’s sister didn’t die that night, she made it out, and this man saw it happen.
This was an excellent read for me. I loved Sam as a character. While I couldn’t exactly relate to her as a person, I felt empathy for her. She felt natural to me, and book characters often lack that realism. I quickly felt the love she had for Gill and the pain she must have gone through to do what she did. The strained relationship with her family, the need to get out and never come back, all of it was something I felt deep in my soul. I loved how all of a sudden we went from knowing who did it to everyone and anyone could have done it. All of the little twists and turns that were so minor but gave a major impact on figuring out the ultimate whodunit were just incredibly done.
Ultimately there isn’t a lot to put in this category. There were a lot of characters throughout the book, and it felt like a new one was being introduced every few pages. This can get confusing for people that don’t do well with names or keeping up with large groups of people. It didn’t particularly bother me, but it can cause people to find a book difficult to follow. Another thing that probably brings about a lot of controversy here is the fact that Rhodes is a cop, and for half the book, we believe him to be an extremely murderous dirty cop. This is an idea that is just gonna be laced with politics no matter how you put it. The author doesn’t shy away from putting her beliefs in her book, fiction or not. I think it was done well and fairly accurately, but people from different backgrounds or belief systems may find the way some things were portrayed as incorrect or harmful.
There honestly isn’t much that I can complain about. I overall enjoyed the story. The first half of the book was kind of slow, but once it picked up, I stayed hooked. The ending, after we found out who the killer was, was kind of disappointing. I wanted the reconnection and the heart warmth that should have happened when Sam reunited with her sister. I understand the author leaving it the way she did, maybe setting up for a sequel or just wanting us to be left with questions as readers. I understand that Sam has just been through hell, and she didn’t feel like she was mentally in a good place to really meet her sister. This is one time that I wish realism didn’t apply. I wanted a happy ending, damn it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I will be reading the sequel if it ends up having one. I may even look into other books by Kara Thomas. The story kept me intrigued mostly, I found the characters to be ones I enjoyed. Out of the Ashes was a really good read, and I spent 45 minutes ranting to my boyfriend and his sister about it as soon as I was done. If that doesn’t tell you something, I don’t know what else will!
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual assault, Child death, and Murder
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
3.25
"Memories were a riptide. Innocent enough on the surface, but let your guard down and next thing you know, you're drowning in four feet of water."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I've read some of Kara Thomas YA titles in the past, and I remember really enjoying her writing. I was curious to see how her work would translate to adult fiction; combine that with the fact that I was intrigued by the blurb of Out Of The Ashes, and I've been more than curious to pick it up. Now that I've had the chance to finish the book, I'm not sure what to make of it though... I'm not saying it's a bad read, but it did lack that je ne sais quoi that would take this story to the next level for me.
The premise of Out Of The Ashes has without doubt a lot of potential, with the death of the main character's family never solved and her returning to her hometown after so long. Somehow, the execution of the plot didn't really work for me though. I'm having a hard time putting my finger on the why, but I think it has partly to do with the pace itself. The pace is considerably slow during most of the plot, and it took me a lot longer than expected to actually finish what is quite a short book. Somehow, the story never managed to grab me completely, and I kept hoping something would happen that would speed up the pace. Which is strange, because technically a LOT does happen during the story...
I also felt that there were way too many characters introduced, and as a result most of them felt rather one-dimensional and underdeveloped. I struggled to remember where everybody stood in the story, and this only slowed down the pace even more... I also felt that some of the side stories were unnecessary; they didn't add much to the plot nor were they given a satisfying closure to wrap things up. The mystery itself didn't really stand out for me either, and I had mixed thoughts about the way things ended with the mystery around that night so long ago.
The main character Samantha herself has potential, but there were things about her character that annoyed me. And this especially relates to her behavior and the way she keeps putting herself in dangerous situations... I'm not sure her irresponsable behavior fits what her character seems to stand for; either way, it really irritated me. There were also quite a few cliches involved in general, and most of the characters weren't exactly likeable in the first place.
All in all I ended up having mostly mixed thoughts about Out Of The Ashes. Like I said before, it's not a bad read, but it's also sadly not a story that stood out in any way for me. In fact, I much prefer her YA books so far...
Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Addiction, Death, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Child death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
rainbowbean's review
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Medical content, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Child death, and Cancer