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BURN
“BURN is filled with beautiful losers covered in scars of their own making. And yet it also finds hope in the dark places, both real and in the mind. A stunning, assured, and risky debut.”
-Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author
The Mountains. 1999. Shannon Story returns to college from winter break, happy because she has an escape plan for her mother who is trapped in an abusive marriage. Instead of salvation, Shannon finds herself facing extreme fire her car breaks down on the side of the road, her would-be boyfriend abandons her, and the unusually dry winter in the mountains shows no sign of letting up. When she meets the hotshot, a wildland firefighter, on the night of her 21st birthday, she thinks maybe this is the guy who will save her. To no one’s surprise (except maybe Shannon’s) he sends her into the mother of all downward spirals putting at risk her remaining Daniel, her best friend and emotional boyfriend; Rebecca, her sex-crazed roommate; Adrian, her struggling artist friend and Daniel’s roommate; and finally, her mother, whose refusal to recognize her own pathology will not just sink herself, but her daughter. After the last cigarette goes out and the party blows up, Shannon is forced to make a the life her mother (un/knowingly) conditioned her to accept or the life she can live on her own terms but only if she faces a reckoning of the painful codependent cycle she's been living inside.
“BURN is gritty, pretty and real, highly entertaining—like a ‘beach read,’ only if the beach were a good dive bar, BURN is a novel to sink into and enjoy every moment.”
–Monica Drake, author of Clown Girl
“Clear your once you pick up BURN, you won’t put it down until the final, aching word. In Shannon, Stephanie Austin has created an antiheroine for the ages, a young woman equally bent on self-destruction and surviving any way she can. I saw parts of myself in her I didn’t want to see, and I couldn’t look away.”
–Jennifer Wortman, author of This. This. This. Is.
Love. Love. Love.
“Stephanie Austin’s BURN is a raw, unforgettable debut novel that ignites from the first page and never lets go. Step into Shannon’s chaotic world—a gritty, heartbreaking journey that doubles as a love letter to the 90s. These characters will steal your heart, break it, and make you laugh through the tears. Austin’s writing is fearless and devastatingly beautiful, cementing her place among today’s most powerful voices. BURN doesn’t just tell a story—it consumes you, leaving you scorched and begging for more. This is a debut ready to set the literary world ablaze.”
–Danny Goodman, author of Amerikaland
“In BURN, Austin jolts the reader into the mind of Shannon, a lonely young woman whose every attempt at connection leaves her more isolated than before. Set in the grimy and hypnotic world of 90’s college-age partying, Burn asks how anyone raised amid sexualized violence can ever escape its patterns, even when they recognize them. A heartbreaking novel, BURN will leave a reader singed but ultimately hopeful for women who must navigate the world with a smashed compass.”
–Amanda Bales author of Pekolah Stories
“Stephanie Austin's BURN is a gripping and unforgettable journey of transformation.
-Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author
The Mountains. 1999. Shannon Story returns to college from winter break, happy because she has an escape plan for her mother who is trapped in an abusive marriage. Instead of salvation, Shannon finds herself facing extreme fire her car breaks down on the side of the road, her would-be boyfriend abandons her, and the unusually dry winter in the mountains shows no sign of letting up. When she meets the hotshot, a wildland firefighter, on the night of her 21st birthday, she thinks maybe this is the guy who will save her. To no one’s surprise (except maybe Shannon’s) he sends her into the mother of all downward spirals putting at risk her remaining Daniel, her best friend and emotional boyfriend; Rebecca, her sex-crazed roommate; Adrian, her struggling artist friend and Daniel’s roommate; and finally, her mother, whose refusal to recognize her own pathology will not just sink herself, but her daughter. After the last cigarette goes out and the party blows up, Shannon is forced to make a the life her mother (un/knowingly) conditioned her to accept or the life she can live on her own terms but only if she faces a reckoning of the painful codependent cycle she's been living inside.
“BURN is gritty, pretty and real, highly entertaining—like a ‘beach read,’ only if the beach were a good dive bar, BURN is a novel to sink into and enjoy every moment.”
–Monica Drake, author of Clown Girl
“Clear your once you pick up BURN, you won’t put it down until the final, aching word. In Shannon, Stephanie Austin has created an antiheroine for the ages, a young woman equally bent on self-destruction and surviving any way she can. I saw parts of myself in her I didn’t want to see, and I couldn’t look away.”
–Jennifer Wortman, author of This. This. This. Is.
Love. Love. Love.
“Stephanie Austin’s BURN is a raw, unforgettable debut novel that ignites from the first page and never lets go. Step into Shannon’s chaotic world—a gritty, heartbreaking journey that doubles as a love letter to the 90s. These characters will steal your heart, break it, and make you laugh through the tears. Austin’s writing is fearless and devastatingly beautiful, cementing her place among today’s most powerful voices. BURN doesn’t just tell a story—it consumes you, leaving you scorched and begging for more. This is a debut ready to set the literary world ablaze.”
–Danny Goodman, author of Amerikaland
“In BURN, Austin jolts the reader into the mind of Shannon, a lonely young woman whose every attempt at connection leaves her more isolated than before. Set in the grimy and hypnotic world of 90’s college-age partying, Burn asks how anyone raised amid sexualized violence can ever escape its patterns, even when they recognize them. A heartbreaking novel, BURN will leave a reader singed but ultimately hopeful for women who must navigate the world with a smashed compass.”
–Amanda Bales author of Pekolah Stories
“Stephanie Austin's BURN is a gripping and unforgettable journey of transformation.
215 pages, Paperback
Published February 3, 2026
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6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 10, 2026
BURN is a true coming-of-age novel, taking place in the late 90s, when college is almost ending for the main character, Shannon, and the pressure to figure out her life’s direction leads to an unraveling. We are cast headfirst into this heartbreaking journey of self-destruction, with a voice that is both fierce and vulnerable, tender and sharp, witty and insightful. It is a book I couldn’t put down, couldn’t look away from, rooting for Shannon to reconcile the abuse she endured from her stepfather, a man whom her mother can’t break free of, even with Shannon’s help. Growing up in a house of fear from his abuse, and concern for her mother’s safety, we start to see the consequences it has on Shannon and her relationships. We see the secret code she and her mother share in an act of self-preservation, and ultimately her mother’s inability to leave her abuser. These small and heartbreaking gestures seem to blur where her mother ends and Shannon begins. Shannon chases the blurred edges, perpetually in an alcoholic haze, lighting one cigarette after another, running from one bar to another, in a literal cloud of smoke, seeking validation in all the wrong places. Taking note of her surroundings with a sharpness that ceases to be dulled, her inner dialogue is filled with devastating lines, insightful commentary, and the heartbreaking reality that there are no saviors, there only choices we can make—and sometimes you have to burn it all down.
Displaying 1 of 1 review