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Burning Point

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329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 12, 2026

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Frankie James

13 books17 followers

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5 stars
217 (58%)
4 stars
88 (23%)
3 stars
48 (12%)
2 stars
11 (2%)
1 star
9 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for Rose.
897 reviews55 followers
September 16, 2026
This reads like a rough draft. The story was all over the place and there were way too many tropes—zombie, MC, illegal fighting rings, student/teacher, brothers best friend, step brother, etc etc plus possibly even some PNR-y stuff?!? All of that mixed with the weird timelines and so many POVS—past scenes and the current timeline also jumping around depending on the POV—made this read feel super chaotic.

The zombies were cool I guess, but as a zombie lover it’s hard to mess that up for me. I’ll take any type of zombie.

The romance. Oh boy. That was rough too. This isn’t a short book but we never even see her interact with one of the Hs (Adrian) and we don’t see her interact with the other one (Lucas) past like 30%. All of the “romance” in this one happens with only one of the guys (Beck) but this is supposed to be a RH. I wanted more balance and I was bored. Even the one dude she is around we get too little romantic interaction with. Idk even know to explain that because it shouldn’t make sense but it does.

I struggled with what the author was telling us verses what we were shown. Unreliable narrators? Bad execution? Idk. I’m assuming some stuff will get cleared up in book two but I’m not going to continue on. The things that felt like inconsistencies in character and story did take me out of the story though. I struggled with my suspension of disbelief here. The author didn’t set the stage well so everything felt erroneous. We have one of the H who is a HS senior who is in a MC and an illegal fighter so, it’s totally in his wheelhouse to be able to beat people up and be aggressive. But it feels too outrageous here. We go from 0-60 too fast without building anything up. He breaks a chair and stabs a guy in his eye for looking at the h that he’s been interested in for like two days. It’s just all so over the top without the right world building.

I was creeped out by the history between the stepbrother H and the teacher H with the h. We get past scenes of her when she is 8 interacting with the 14 year old Hs. The one thinks of her as “cute”. I think it’s meant to be innocent but we already have sexual tension between them in the main timeline and it was hard to separate that, even though she’s now 18, from their interactions in the past. The stepbrother H admits to loving her forever but that it didn’t turn into romantic feelings until she was 16, which is icky too. Author/MC fully recognized this because H says “he doesn’t give a F***”. Just ick.

I rarely say this but I really do think the author needs to go back and rework this one.

Overall: 1.5
Profile Image for Holly's Bookshelf.
661 reviews26 followers
August 31, 2026
The action and world building was pretty good. A very slow burn so i'm waiting for it all to come together. I do feel like this being a duet isn't enough for the amount of story that's been going on. With the pace its going it should be at least 3 books. I do find it a little disturbing that her stepbrother was panting after her when she was 16 and he was 20 something. Can't wait for the next one.
Profile Image for Rayna jones.
14 reviews2 followers
May 15, 2026
All you apocalypse book lovers, highly recommend this book that just came out! Badass FMC ✅men obsessed with her ✅ giving me all the walking dead vibes, read in one sitting!!
Profile Image for gangstareads.
379 reviews4 followers
Read
June 21, 2026
MFMM - WTF. It could have been a good zombie rh IF the FMC was OLDER. But guys in their twenties panting after an underage girl since she was sixteen is horrendous.

Why could the author not have the FMC out of high school?!?! I actually cannot fathom the thought process behind this. Do you not understand the times? There sadly was a time this was tolerated but that time is not now thank god
Profile Image for Beeth.
410 reviews7 followers
June 12, 2026
One of those books I couldn't put down. The story was interesting, intense, and fast-paced. Romance took a back seat in this one, which I appreciated since survivalism was such a huge part of the backstory/their current needs that it needed to be the focus. But I did like the flirtation and banter between Taryn and Beck, even if it never went farther than a kiss. Can't wait for the next book!

That said, the author really needs to go back and fix Lucas' last name - it kept switching from Rowen to Rowan throughout the book. Find and replace!
9 reviews1 follower
May 28, 2026
A better post apocalyptic novel than a romance

I overall enjoyed this book but it was honestly in spite of the RH romance instead of because of it. The survivalist and “zombie” aspect of the novel is way more better developed and interesting than the romance. I liked the outside perspectives showing the town falling apart quickly and she has an interesting twist on the “turning” aspect that I wasn’t expecting. However a lot of the romance just wasn’t doing anything for me. I really couldn’t stand Adrian, I only liked Lukas when he wasn’t interacting with Taryn (plus the student/teacher thing is 🤮). Honestly would have been way better as just a slow burn between Taryn and Beck. They seem to make sense together. Not sure I will read the next book just because I honestly can’t stand half the RH and was probably saved this time around since Taryn barely interacts with Adrian or Lukas.
Profile Image for Mar-Mar bookaholic.
1,213 reviews30 followers
May 14, 2026
* 4,5 stars *

When I saw this reverse harem zombie apocalypse book dropped? I dropped my whole damn life and got on with it.

I was hooked from the first page and I read it within a day! Hooked AF! It’s absolutely freakishly well written!

Taryn is a 18 year old girl in a high school and typically with those high school stories we get a shy, nerdy and bullied h, not here, my friends. She is awesome, calculating and terrifying to everyone. She moves in the shadows and has all the leverage over everyone and trades favours.

Now, usually when I read a character like this, she will be pretentious, damaged and promiscuous. We get kind of damaged here, but in a different way.

Her father is a doomsday prepper and he is brutal with her. Reminds me of “ Exquisite Danger” by Ann Mayburn where h was on spectrum , but her father trained her like insane. It came handy tho. Here, it is coming handy also.

We have three love interests. One stepbrother, school teacher and student who is in MC.

I don’t want to get too much into it, but it’s really well written ( I know, I keep repeating myself) and I could not put the book down as it was highly intense.

I will bring out my grievances, it’s why I didn’t give it 5 stars.

- It’s a duet and first book has zero sex in it. Like, she doesn’t even meet one of the main characters until book ends. I think she saw her stepbrother fewyears ago?

I would be totally fine if this is some 5 book series, because there is so much to develop in storyline , I feel such a missed opportunity. My fear is second book will be no substance and a huge fuckfest as it’s so short ( I am guessing second book will be as short as first one) . At the same time, I feel I am owed this whole second book fuckfest, because first book has only kissing in it.

Damn, I feel salty here over this! Zombie apocalypse books cannot be one book or duets ( only when each book is like 500+ pages). They must be longer! Period!

- She is trained , but when things go shit, she just exists and lets one of the H do all the protecting. Her father trained her with bullets, with a knife. Where the hell is that training! I wanted to see some good skills she learned.

I hope we will get more books in this series or at least we get longer series than duet of this world but with other characters. This is such an awesome opportunity to expand and explore.

Zombie apocalypse books are my kryptonite, sprinkle in not promiscuous but badass h and reverse harem! Omg! Dear author, PLEASE continue with this world , pretty please 🙏

🔸 virgin h
🔸 experienced H ( I am not sure about stepbrother, I don’t think he is virgin, but I think he has been waiting for her)
🔸 RH
🔸 no ow/om
🔸 no cheating
🔸 no sex (yet)
🔸 one kiss with one of the mmc
🔸 zombie apocalypse
🔸 triggers: violence, death and threat of a rape ( verbal)
🔸 duet
294 reviews2 followers
May 14, 2026
Frankie you crafty vixen! I literally watched years and years of TWD and had to stop because as I got older it was just too gory. When Frankie posted about the duet to follow Emberhart Academy, I was eager to read it, then realized it was about zombies. I steer away from this trope because I’m just not here for the gore… I did get a copy today because of course I love anything Frankie writes but was still kinda skeptical I was going to enjoy it. But consider me completely mistaken! I’m not sure if it’s because of the author, or that it’s not as gory as TWD was, but I ADORE this book! I know some people dont agree with the B-word Taryn is in the beginning, but honestly she’s a survivor. And while Adrian didn’t deserve to lose his job, she knew he was up to some BS that was going to affect her home life. I get it. Cut throat. But I can see why she’s the way she is. And I respect it. But now, adding Beck to the mix, so early and all encompassing 🥵😍 whoooooo that man!! To put the cherry on the s$!t sundae she finds a little sweet pupper too! 🥰 Gah, this book is not playing fair! All in, my opinion on this genre is changed and now I’m wondering if I’ve missed out being close minded for other books like this. Giving it 5 gazillion ⭐️ cannot wait for the second book to release! As always thank you Frankie for your dedication and sharing your gift with all of us! Happy Reading Friends!
1,255 reviews13 followers
June 8, 2026
LOVED! This is what I want in an RH book. To be so honed in and absorbed with the plot that I forget that it’s even meant to be RH.

There’s very little in the way of romance in this book. But that didn’t bother me at all. These characters are working hard to find their way to safety, so any spice would be inappropriate. Also found the FMC very unique. Queen Bee of her school, unlikeable and Macchiavellian, yet, you understand how she got that way. But even over the first book we see character growth and I’m dying for the next book to see what comes next.

The only thing about this book that bothered me a little is the age gap. The FMC is eighteen, so they're all adults, and the gap isn't even that wide. But it made me a little uncomfortable when the one MMC's inner monologue mentioned he'd discovered he was attracted to her when she was sixteen. He didn't act on it, but it still makes me judge him. And as the nerdy hacker MMC, he probably would've been my favorite otherwise.
54 reviews
September 12, 2026
I didn't enjoy the pacing of this book.

Nothing happened, the main characters are split up most of the book. Then it ends with the fmc being unconscious for the last part of the book on a cliffhanger. So much time was spent in the beginning going over her training and prep just for her to throw it all out when SHTF.

There was no urgency at all from the characters to be reunited and there are so many wasted pages of POV's that added little to the story in its current state and only served to take up more book time (Maybe if the book was longer or had more substance it would be nice but at that point it just felt like annoying word count filler).

It is well written but again nothing really happens and so much time was wasted on things that, in my opinion just don't add value to the story.

I would not be surprised if this series is extended beyond a duet into a trilogy or more, even though that wouldn't need to happen if there wasn't so much filler in the first place.
Profile Image for Noelle.
95 reviews3 followers
June 29, 2026
I went into this completely blind. I just knew that it was a dystopian book. I ended up finishing it in a day because it was soooooo good! It was so well written and I loved everything single character. The fmc was badass without being unrealistic because she did know her limits and when she needed help. I really liked how a few chapters were written about random characters pov and what was happening around them. This was a great way to give us a small look into what was happening at various times/locations which tied together with the fmc and mmc later on. This was such a fun take on zombies with the more supernatural aspect toward the end. I seriously loved this so much and it's going to live rent free in my head until I can read the next one.
15 reviews
September 9, 2026
An absolute must read

Burning Point delivers exactly what dark, paranormal romance fans crave: high-octane survival mixed with a fierce, independent heroine. Taryn Calder is a phenomenally resilient fmc, navigating a sudden zombie apocalypse alongside a chaotic, protective pack of dangerous men.The story thrives on pure adrenaline and a highly addictive "why choose" dynamic. It expertly weaves gritty action with heavy, slow-burn tension that hooks you from the start. If you love a wild, unputdownable ride filled with dark themes, complex character chemistry, and relentless apocalyptic stakes, this book is an absolute must-read.
6 reviews
May 18, 2026
Amazing

Burning Point is chefs kiss. I say that knowing this is a zombie apocalypse. (I don't like zombies. They scare the crap out of me.) I love the FMC so much. She's my favorite type of mean girl with a high school mob boss attitude. Tough as nail and soft of heart. The MMCs are the "do what ever it takes to keep her safe" kind of alphas. Exactly how we love them. I recommend Burning Point to everyone that enjoys romance, action, post apocalypse and/or The Walking Dead. So basically everyone.☺
526 reviews27 followers
May 23, 2026
So good!

This book was so good. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one day. The story follows an fmc (Taryn) and connected characters (several of them harem potentials) as they experience an apocalypse point in different locations and work to get back to each other. Every character is well defined and I was thoroughly engrossed in each of them along the way. I have really high hopes for this series and am a bit bummed to see it will be limited to two books but after this start I incredibly excited to see how it wraps up in book two!!!
Profile Image for Lis J.
150 reviews1 follower
June 12, 2026
4,5 ✨

Taryn has not had an easy life and grew up with a father who trained her to survive any desaster, she was cold and Manipulator. When she is Punished and left in the middle of the forest, she find out that one Of her classmate follow her. Later discover that there is something wrong with the World and everyone is a zombie. There is problems that Taryn and Beck finds, there is also lucas who is a family friend and ex teacher. Adrian her stepbrother and her father trying to find her. There is chagings and that cliff wow.
Profile Image for Tea Leaves and Tome Reviews.
53 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
April 21, 2026
Badass female? Check

Teacher? Check

Biker bad boy? Check

Stepbrother? Check

Zombies? Check

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.⭐️

I don’t think I’ve read a book that fast in a long time. It was go go go from the start. This is not usually my style but I’m so glad I read it. Do you love the walking dead but make it a reverse harem? This is your book.

I appreciate the multi pov including from her father’s perspective.

I cannot wait until book 2! You have to read this.
Profile Image for Cari.
105 reviews1 follower
May 12, 2026
Taryn, raised by a tough love, ex military survivalist father.

Those skills will come in handy when following a meteor shower, people start getting sick and society crashes.

Burning Point follows Taryn and three men, who will do anything to keep her safe.

Burning Point is
Multiple POV
RH in the making.
Fast paced
Suspenseful
Forbidden love, but who cares. It’s the end of the world.
Profile Image for Tedra.
585 reviews5 followers
May 13, 2026
Decent

Better than expected for sure. I wasn't sure if I was gonna end up liking the FMC at all, I typically do not like manipulative or bully fmcs. What she did to Lucas as pay back in the beginning was pretty vile, confused why he would feel guilt about calling her father, her accusation would've destroyed his teaching career.

Anyway the whole meteor shower, zombie stuff with everyone in the town was very well done. The Christopher Cross had me rolling. Well done.
Profile Image for Kari.
602 reviews6 followers
May 14, 2026
I really enjoyed this book

I have been in a book slump for months and this was a great quick read for me that I really liked. I do think some of the side chapters didn't really need to be there it didn't exactly contribute anything. But I do like where this story is going some people turn in to super humans and others turn in to zombies that's pretty cool.
356 reviews3 followers
May 19, 2026
Excellent!

Loved this so much!
Taryn was so much fun, I loved how tough, and take charge she was. Great seeing a mean girl come out on top for a change.
The guys need some work though, except for Beck, he is amazing..
The other 2 definitely need to win us over in the next book.
Highly recommend!
77 reviews8 followers
May 22, 2026
Great Zombie RH

Great series! I’ll be honest and say the first 8% I wasn’t sure if I like Taryn but she grew on me but like her men more. The book gives the walking dead vibes a lot and love it! Hope to see more spice in the series but plot is amazing and can’t wait for the next one.
4 reviews
June 3, 2026
Surprisingly good..can't wait for the next book!

I always live a book with a strong and capable FMC. I also liked that she east all goodness but rather had a bit of darkness to her. Multiple pov was excellent and I like the mmc's so that's always a plus. This was really good and I'm going to be impatiently awaiting the next book's release.
Profile Image for Ashley Harper.
158 reviews4 followers
July 16, 2026
amazing!!

This story was so good. It had me guessing what was coming next in each chapter! I love the multi POV and especially the fierce possessiveness coming off of each MMC. I hope Taryn and her dad come together more in the next book, I’d love to see their relationship grow.

Can’t wait for book 2!
Profile Image for E.
862 reviews4 followers
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
April 25, 2026
Well, this is gearing up to be an amazing duet! It gripped me from the very start, I think Taryn is a very complex character and I can't wait to see how her story turns out. Such a brilliant read, I'd encourage everyone to dive right in.
3 reviews
May 13, 2026
Looking forward to the next one.
I really enjoyed the first book, got plenty of action and suspension.
Love the characters and how its written.
I cant wait to see how the characters develop and change and how the romance will be.
Profile Image for Missy Cetnar.
140 reviews1 follower
May 18, 2026
Love this new book!

I found Frankie's Emberhold books by accident and absolutely loved the entire series. This new book is just as good! Fierce MFC who won't have to choose while trying to survive the apocalypse. Who wouldn't want that when facing the end?
Profile Image for Lunatic_13.
19 reviews
June 16, 2026
Read it! It's worth it!

Okay, at first I almost tossed this book away. I really did not like the main character, ...at all.
Then after the meteors fell, it was so worth hanging in there! Goodreads reviews kept me hanging in. I'm in love. I look forward to the next book!
233 reviews3 followers
June 29, 2026
A great start!

This book takes its time building a solid storyline with moving people and locations through POV. There are hints to supernatural powers which is definitely intriguing. Looking forward to book two.
Profile Image for Cara.
2 reviews
July 4, 2026
unexpectedly good

I love the world building and gravity of the plot made my heart beat faster. I also enjoyed the sci fi element of evolution from exposure to the virus. Excited for the next book and to see what Taryn becomes and how she handles her men
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews