"I like that. And it sounds like what we're already doing."
"I guess it does...it also means we don't leave each other, either. We can't, cause we're all we've got."
"I promise I'll never leave you, Liam." Quinn vows, our eyes burning into each other's. "I promise nothing... and no one... will ever come between us. I promise to live you forever. We're two halves of one whole."
Rereading the quote I chose from Allie Juiette Mousseau's Burn, the second book in her Brothers of Ink and Steel series, I forgot Liam and Quinn were only teenagers when they made this promise. Their love was honestly epic and the kind of love people dream about.
Their love may have been epic, but their lives were less than perfect. When Liam Knight meets Quinn Kelley she is living on the street and he is living with abusive foster parents. At a very young age, they were both tossed out of their homes by families that were physically and verbally abusive.
Dare goes back and forth between the year 2005 when Quinn and Liam first met and 2015 when Quinn who has been gone for ten years comes home for her mother's funeral. And yes in case you're wondering, Quinn and Liam have been apart for all of those ten years.
For ten long years Liam Knight has been broken. He has NEVER gotten over Quinn leaving him. She was his everything and she left him. His brothers try to make him understand why. But it's just not easy for Liam to understand. So when Quinn comes back, Liam's brothers do their best to make sure he sees this could be a second chance at happiness.
Now for the good stuff. Liam Knight had me swooning for this entire book. He literally could do no wrong. The way he loved Quinn from when they first met as teenagers was beautiful and overwhelming. From the first minute he saw Quinn he felt like he had to protect her and he did. What he didn't expect was that Quinn was just as willing to take care of him. For two kids who really never were loved before the love they had for each other was a force to be reckoned with.
Liam is absolutely gorgeous when Quinn meets him at fifteen and even more beautiful when she comes back ten years later. Liam has dark blue eyes and short dark hair. His body is on point because in addition to becoming a talented tattoo artist, he's also an MMA fighter. The complete and total love he has for Quinn makes him even more beautiful. All I kept thinking the whole time I was reading Burn was about how perfect Liam was. Once again, a fictional character has totally rocked my world.
When they are out on the streets, Quinn and Liam are faced with more adversity than any teenagers should have to deal with. Run ins with police, street criminals and abusive foster parents are just a few of the horrors they deal with. Incredibly, as difficult as their lives are, the never become hardened. Maybe because they have each other.
As teenagers, the best thing that happens to Liam and Quinn is finding Cade House. At Cade House, a halfway house for troubled teens, for the first time, Liam and Quinn are safe. They don't have to run anymore, they don't have to worry about being hungry. During their time at Cade house, their relationship becomes romantic. I don't care how young they were, Liam and Quinn were truly in love.
I love reading about Quinn and the boys when they were at Cade House. The boys were not always as close as brothers and they were not always perfect angels. Cade North and his wife did an amazing job of doing what their parents couldn't do. They raised the boys to be respectful and productive. Cade House gave them chances they may not have had otherwise.
I'm sure you're wondering why with all this love why Quinn left. I mean, she truly loved Liam so it's hard to imagine her walking away from him. When you read Burn and you find out the reason, it's just unbelievably heartbreaking. Quinn is such a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart you never want anything bad to happen to her. The part when Quinn gave Liam his first real birthday present is bringing tears to my eyes again as I remember it.
Liam blames himself for what happened to Quinn. It could never in a million years be his fault, but that's just who he is. He felt like he should have been able to prevent it. He especially felt like he should be able to fix it. As adults, when Liam finally decides to let Quinn in and shares his secret with her it's just soul crushing.
Burn is really a beautiful story about two people desperately in love that are dealt a really lousy hand in life. During her return home Liam and Quinn spend an incredible night together. They were together as teenagers, but now as adults the night they share is amazing. The love they feel for each other has never wavered and you feel it when they finally come together again. Then Liam wakes up and Quinn is gone.
Was it all a mistake? Has Quinn run away again? And who on earth is this James guy?
Have I peaked your curiosity? I hope so because you really need to one click Burn and if you haven't already done it, one click Dare too. This is fast becoming one of my favorite series and I can't wait to see what's next for my bad boys of Ink and Steel.
A five lip smack review for Burn. Liam Knight is perfect and Quinn Kelley is an incredibly strong female character.