'Charcoal Tears' by Jane Washington

FTC disclaimer: I was not sent this product. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 10

Overview written by me:

Seraph Black has never had it easy. With no mother, and an alcoholic father, she’s responsible for earning the money that saves her brother, her father, and herself from starvation. Oh, and her hands make lightning whenever she’s feels threatened, which is beginning to be all too often. So when a pair of abnormally good-looking and amicable brothers arrive at her high school, Seraph’s life seems to be taking a turn for the better. That is, until she starts receiving sinister threats from a stalker that just won’t give up. It’s all connected -can Seraph join up the dots?

OH MY LIFE THIS BOOK HAD SUCH *POTENTIAL*. I loved reading a lot of it, there were just too many issues!

So many things were great: Washington’s core paranormal concept of a “pair” and an “Atmà” was extremely creative, and the stalker parts reminded me of ‘Pretty Little Liars’. The setting of high school drew me in instantly, and then we have Silas: an impeccable character. Traumatised, possessive, domineering, protective, brutal. In summary, an exquisitely executed version of the classic “YA male love interest who hates everyone except her”. So we had great things going for this book.

Where things started to go down hill, however, was when Washington gave her protagonist all the personality of a rubber spatula. The last chapter was written from the stalker’s POV, and that felt like gold dust in comparison to Seph’s boringness! This weak characterisation was then compounded by Washington’s poor plot development. It was obvious that this novel was just setting the scene for its sequel…

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: A BOOK THAT IS PART OF A SERIES HAS TO BE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE READ AS A STANDALONE! And that’s the tea.

Apart from that, there were small niggling things like the Washington’s use of the ‘male gay best friend who adores clothes’ trope. It’s rare that the token diversity character is so poorly propped up. Clarin had no purpose in the plot other than to dress Seraph up for a party, and “to play into the stereotype” (direct quote). Some of the names were irritating too, I mean, ‘Poison’ and ‘Lucifer’ are just a lil too much for me.

Finally, I really hope that this series doesn’t head down the reverse harem road. Seraph already has sizzling chemistry with Silas -don’t mess up the dynamic!

Quotations

• “People this good-looking shouldn’t be walking around in daylight like they had nothing better to do than pretend to be normal like the rest of us.”

• “I hated every minute of the club when it was open. I hated that my fingers occasionally brushed against the fingers of strangers as I stamped the backs of their hands, I hated that I had to smile at them while they gave me money for shots. I hated that they thought I was there just for them. I wasn’t. I was there so that my father wouldn’t fly into a blind rage and kill me or my brother. I was there so that Tariq wouldn’t starve.”

• “No notes landed on my desk, but then again, I was being flanked, so I was pretty sure the postal system in this class was going to be rigged.”

Review written on 16/07/2021 Book discovery: I found it in the library on my kindle. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36271664-charcoal-tears Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/charcoal-tears/jane-washington/9781976536601 Author: https://janewashington.com