BURNING ENEMIES by Mina Elwood
Blurb:
Jack
Control. I strive for it. In school, on the soccer field, and definitely with my unwanted crush. When things heat up between my team and the football players, it takes all I’ve got to stay out of it. Then Cal steps in, and my control snaps.
I’m drawn to him, but we ignite at every turn. And the more I push him away, the more he leaves me burning.
Cal
I’m already shaken, stretched thin. My parents’ divorce, violence at school, football, a girlfriend who’s no angel. And now Jack? He sees through my smile, sees the cracks in my armor. He keeps pushing until even the smallest spark sets us off. When the fires ebb, loathing becomes a building fascination I can’t explain.
I don’t want to hate him, but I’m not sure we can be anything other than enemies.
Burning Enemies, Book Two in the Burning Torments series, is a brooding and seductive return to the small town of Hickory Bend. When two jocks find out just how thin the line is between love and hate, which side will they choose to be on?
Buy Link:
Available in KU
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 3.5 Stars
(This is a high school romance, but both characters are 18.)
Jack and his twin brother, Ty, move to small-town Alabama from California just before their senior year. They are both talented soccer players, which immediately puts them at odds with the football team… including popular player Cal. Jack had been bullied at his previous school for being gay, and even though he’s wildly drawn to Cal, something about the popular jock triggers his anxiety. When prank wars and animosity between the soccer and football teams get out of hand, Jack and Cal are forced to work together by the school — and Jack discovers that Cal might have feelings for him, too.
I felt bad for Cal. His home life is a mess; there is a ton of unnecessary responsibility on him, and he always feels like he has to be “on.” In contrast, Jack has a solid support system in his brother and parents. Plus, Cal’s girlfriend is a major witch who is actually abusing him, but he’s hesitant to come forward about that. (They break up before anything happens between him and Jack, so no cheating there.) His feelings for Jack kind of sneak up on him, and there’s push and pull between these characters as he comes to terms with his confusion and Jack figures out whether Cal is someone he can actually trust.
While I enjoyed parts of this book, I felt like it took a while for me to get into the story. The lead-up to Jack and Cal eventually hooking up was a slow-burn, but I was skimming over pages to get to the bona fide relationship because I felt like there was too much back-and-forth. And even when Cal was clearly trying to reach out, Jack kept pulling away. And while his past trauma influenced that reaction, I felt like it just happened too many times, and I wondered why Cal was even bothering with him. BUT… once they finally came clean with one another and admitted how they were feeling, the story clicked for me and I enjoyed the latter part much more. (Admittedly, I am obsessed with a very popular enemies-to-lovers television series at the moment, so there was a high bar, here.)
This is the second book in the series, but it totally reads as a standalone. The characters from Book 1 show up towards the end as part of a larger friend circle, so I didn’t feel like I was missing any plot points by not having read that book first.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
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