Review: The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean

Jane lives a simple life as a farmer's wife. Each day blends into the next as she follows a mundane routine of cooking and cleaning. Her husband, Leonard, works all day in the fields and rules his home with an iron fist. He punishes Jane for any act of disobedience by burning her prized possessions, one by one. What makes this punishment all the more harsh is that Jane is a victim of human trafficking and hardly has anything to call her own other than some letters from her sister and an old copy of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Leonard keeps her captive in the isolated farmhouse where she is monitored by security cameras that record her every move. After exhausting all attempts to escape in the first few years of her captivity and suffering a terrible injury to one of her ankles, Jane has more or less become resigned to her twisted role as Leonard's wife. That changes when Jane becomes pregnant.

Determined that her daughter will not grow up to be preyed upon by such a monster as Leonard, Jane again begins dreaming about escaping one day. Things get even more interesting when her husband kidnaps a local woman and keeps her in the cellar below the farmhouse where is forced to endure unspeakable horrors. Kidnapping and holding Jane against her will was easy enough since she was a Vietnamese woman who had been smuggled into the country illegally. There was no one looking for her when she went missing. It's an entirely different ball game with Cynthia, Leonard's latest victim, who is on the nightly news and has become the focus of local law enforcement. He's starting to feel the pressure and it's not long before Jane realizes that this situation might provide her with her one and only chance for freedom, if she's brave enough to risk everything and try.

When I first heard about this novel, it was being compared a lot to Room, which I read several years ago. I have to say that I enjoyed both novels, but The Last Thing to Burn was so much more engrossing to me. I practically devoured it in one sitting. Kudos to Will Dean for being able to write about such a mundane existence without actually boring the reader. There was always something going on to keep me turning the pages. While there were instances of abuse mentioned in the novel, I appreciated that they were more alluded to rather than described. I was already unsettled by Jane's situation and I think gratuitous descriptions of rape would have made this too much for me to stomach. If you are looking for a thrilling page-turner, look no further!

My Rating: ★★★★1/2

*Thanks to the author, Atria Books, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Plus-Size Heroines You'll Want to Meet

 My interests primarily stray towards the mystery and thriller genres, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy getting down and dirty with some quality chick lit every now and again. In fact, I used to read quite a bit of authors like Jane Green and Jennifer Weiner back in the day. After being frustrated that I couldn't easily find titles that featured plus-sized heroines above a size 14 (pfft!) with whom I could relate, I took a break from the genre.

I was intrigued by the premise of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London when it appeared as an option for my Book of the Month Club selection this summer. The novel follows Bea, a plus-size fashion blogger, as she navigates the world of reality TV in an effort to get over a recent heartbreak and find her true love. I'll admit that I have watched a few seasons of 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' in my college days, and I thought it might be a lot of fun to see how a show like that could serve as a setting for a novel. As soon as I learned that Bea was plus-size and dealing with a lot of the same issues modern plus-size women face, I just knew I had to take a break from my lengthy TBR list and give it a try. 

As an overweight woman myself, I appreciate how relatable Bea and her experiences are. I know all too well what it feels like to deal with the crap that comes along with being fat: low self-esteem, unsolicited weight-loss advice, feelings of unworthiness, stores not carrying your size, negative self-talk, body shaming, internet trolls, etc., etc., etc.  That all sounds pretty depressing, but Stayman-London does an amazing job of balancing Bea's strengths and weaknesses. From the first chapter, the reader gets a sense that Bea will overcome all the sh*t life plans to throw at her, all while wearing an amazing outfit! With that being said, her weight is a constant source of vulnerability for her and that is a recurring theme in the novel. Any woman who has been forced to deal with weight issues will certainly she herself in Bea at some point in this novel. And the best part about this book? Bea doesn't have to lose weight to get her happily ever after, sending the message that bigger women are just as worthy of being loved as slimmer ones.

My Rating: ★★★★★ out of 5

If you've read One to Watch and are looking for other novels with plus-size heroines, you might want to check out Jemima J. by Jane Green and The Next Big Thing by Johanna Edwards. They both has female protagonists you'll remember for a long time and one also includes a reality TV show! 

Like I said, it's been awhile since I read any chick lit, so my recommendations are probably a little outdated. But, I still remember these novels and their stories after all this time, so I think there's something to be said for that.