Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: We Burn Beautiful

SERIES: Standalone

AUTHOR: Lance Lansdale

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 294 Pages

RELEASE DATE: December 15, 2023

BLURB:

We went into this knowing we’d get burned. And God, we burned so beautifully.

Kent Fox is not okay. Thanks to a botched selfie swap, thousands of his colleagues have borne witness to a photo of his sock-covered crotch. Branded a professional pariah, he’s had to move home with his mother, and the only job the 38-year-old former executive can land is stocking shelves at a grocery store. To make matters worse, his new boss is none other than his ex-gay ex-boyfriend.

To everyone else, Gray Collins is the perfect Christian. He manages the local Pick-n-Save, attends West Clark Apostolic Church four times a week, and he’s just bought a ring for the woman who has agreed to help him hide his homosexuality. To Kent, however, Gray is the same coward he was twenty years ago. The boy with a list of seventeen reasons why he deserved Kent’s heart. The man who did nothing as his brother ripped Kent from his arms and out of his life for two decades.

Forced together, Kent and Gray will have to confront the trauma that tore them apart, and all the old feelings that never truly died. Kent may not have a list of seventeen reasons for Gray, but he has three words that are just as true as they’ve ever been.

We Burn Beautiful is a single-POV, second chance slow burn romance about two childhood boyfriends who never had the chance to shine. There’s pining, there’s passion, and there’s a group of 80-year-old Apostolic debutantes ready to help Kent Fox find his forever.

REVIEW:

Mistakenly sending a drunken selfie to the whole company lost Kent his high-powered job. With no other option, he returned home to live with his mother. Unfortunately, it also meant facing the reason he had to leave in the first place – Grayson – the man who kept quiet while Kent’s world fell apart.

We Burn Beautiful was an emotional rollercoaster of a read, very much in the ilk of ‘I shouldn’t, I’m going to get hurt, but I can’t help myself.’

The story is told in the first person from Kent’s viewpoint. Technically, it is in pretty good order, too. Worldbuilding revolves around the down-to-earth setting between a supermarket and home, with a hefty dose of memories and what-ifs. Kent is out and proud, but Gray remains under the umbrella of a homophobic family who use religion to justify their actions. However, there is hope among the congregation.

What Kent went through was horrific, and this story is about Kent doing a lot of chasing over a man who is afraid to be caught. Occasionally, this made the tale a touch one-sided which had me mentally encouraging Kent to leave Grayson behind. As for Grayson, his life since Kent left town slowly emerges through the story, and he hasn’t had it all roses.

The extended cast offers some light relief to a situation that, left on its own, could send someone to the tissue box alongside a large tub of ice cream and the director’s cut of the Titanic. The 80-year-old Apostolic debutants were a beautiful mix of ladies whose crossed wires, alongside chastising actions, added the perfect emotional balance. Other characters, too, add light to what could have been a very dark place.

I found We Burn Beautiful to be a story made great by the ensemble cast. One element would not be the same without the other. It is a lovely mesh of characters who work well together, to make an emotional tale where, more than once, I shed a tear.

RATING:

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