Ember Burning

Trinity Forest #1

by Jennifer Alsever

Senior year was supposed to be great—that’s what Ember’s friend Maddie promised at the beginning of the year. Instead, Ember Trouvé spends the year drifting in and out of life like a ghost, haunted by her parents’ recent, tragic death.

At home, she pores over her secret obsession: pictures of missing kids— from newspaper articles, from grocery store flyers— that she’s glued inside a spiral notebook. Like her, the people are lost. Like her, she discovers, they had been looking for a way to numb their pain when they disappeared.

When Ember finds herself in Trinity Forest one day, a place locals stay away from at all costs, she befriends a group of teenagers who are out camping. Hanging out with them in the forest tainted with urban legends of witchcraft and strange disappearances, she has more fun than she can remember having. But something isn’t right.

The candy-covered wickedness she finds in Trinity proves to be a great escape, until she discovers she can never go home. Will Ember confront the truth behind her parents’ death, or stay blissfully numb and lose herself to the forest forever?

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult, Fantasy, Witches, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense

348 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2020

About the author

Get a free copy of Ember Burning when you sign up for Jennifer's VIP Reader Group:
www.jenniferalsever.com/free-book

Jennifer Alsever is a Colorado-based young adult author and a national business journalist. In 2017, she published her first work of fiction, the Trinity Forest Series, (Ember Burning, Oshun Rising and Venus Shining). The young adult trilogy is set in nearby Leadville, Colorado and is about a girl who becomes entangled in a local forest teeming with urban legends of witchcraft and strange disappearances and must not only find herself but ultimately save the world.

The series won five YA book awards.

In 2020, Jennifer Alsever published her fourth novel, Extraordinary Lies about two girls from vastly different backgrounds who are thrust together for psychic testing at the Stanford Research Institute. As the scientists’ experiments begin to get creepier, the two girls must discover the truth about who they are and the secrets that keep them in the dark.
In 2022, she published her fifth YA novel, Burying Eva Flores, about a war between two teens that spins out control when one of them finds a new unique power.

For more than two decades, she also has contributed to such publications as Fortune Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Wired and Fast Company.

You’ll most likely find Jennifer at her keyboard or under a blanket with a great book, enjoying a handful of frozen chocolate chips. She reveres her mountain bike, and enjoys skiing and being on the lake with her family. Most people say she needs her yoga mat to stay sane.

AWARDS:
*Gold Medal Best YA Ebook Independent Publisher Book Awards 2018
*Gold Medal Best YA Horror/Mystery 2018
*Finalist Dante Rossetti Book Awards 2018
*Honorable Mention Best Indie Ebook: Writer's Digest 2019
*Finalist: Publishers Weekly Book Life Awards 2017

Reviews

[Tasha Mahoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ember is completely lost after the tragic death of her beloved parents, then Ember is just lost! Will Ember face her painful truths straight on or will Trinity Forest become her forever? 

I don't often listen to books in the Young Adult Genre but I am a huge fan of the Paranormal genre so I figured that I would give this trilogy a go. Jennifer Alsever has made me so happy that I decided to step out of my comfort zone.

I am so glad that I chose to listen to Ember Burning and I cannot wait to dive into book 2. The writing is intense and engaging, the story has fantastic flow and makes you want to binge listen! This is such a well written and fantastically envisioned plot and I do think that it could be enjoyed by people that wouldn't usually go for a book in the Young Adult genre.

Moira Todd has done a wonderful job of narrating an emotional, challenging, tense story. Her characterisation is spot on, the voices suit the characters so well and really draw you in. Her vocal talents are such that you feel the tension, fear, emotion while she still maintains the recognisable voices for the stories characters. I cannot wait to start listening to Trinity Forest Book two- Oshun Rising. 

 I received these audiobooks as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Jennifer Alsever. The gifting of these audiobooks did not affect my opinion of them.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

It was supposed to be the greatest year of her life, Senior Year, the supposed end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood, a chance to be a little crazy and free before the real world came calling. For Ember, this year would be anything but fun, it became her year of escape from the reality of the shards of the world she once took for granted. Her parents were killed in a horrendous crash and now she is haunted by the event, the people she never truly appreciated and feelings of guilt. Ember’s world became one of dark shadows, drugs, alcohol and a recklessness that took away her innocence.

Ember escaped into the Trinity Forest, where things aren’t what they seem and people are not who they claim to be, no matter how they act or how they treat you, but for her was a place of acceptance, until she knew it was time to go home and she couldn’t.

EMBER BURNING by Jennifer Alsever is a dark and raw tale of the burden of guilt, of running away from reality, much like the tale of Peter Pan. Unlike fantasy, reality has a way of catching up and one must either stand strong or hide behind a veil of lies, escape mechanisms. This is the story of Ember’s escape, Ember’s new reality and Ember’s memories finally colliding. It is a story of choices and Ember has choices to make.

Gripping, dark, intense and often painful, we witness a young woman run from herself, her life and her mistakes into a jungle of twisted emotions. Jennifer Alsever has done a remarkable job of guiding readers through the dark, through the Trinity Forest, yet not without scratches and bruises. She then leaves us on the edge between two realities and the choices that must be made.

Series: Trinity Forest - Book 1
Publisher: Sawatch Publishing (May 5, 2017)
Publication Date: May 5, 2017
Genre: YA Fantasy - Dark
Print Length: 322 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Betwixt the Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Senior year was supposed to be great—that’s what Ember’s friend Maddie promised at the beginning of the year. Instead, Ember Trouvé spends the year drifting in and out of life like a ghost, haunted by her parents’ recent, tragic death.

At home, she pores over her secret obsession: pictures of missing kids— from newspaper articles, from grocery store flyers— that she’s glued inside a spiral notebook. Like her, the people are lost. Like her, she discovers, they had been looking for a way to numb their pain when they disappeared.

When Ember finds herself in Trinity Forest one day, a place locals stay away from at all costs, she befriends a group of teenagers who are out camping. Hanging out with them in the forest tainted with urban legends of witchcraft and strange disappearances, she has more fun than she can remember having. But something isn’t right.

The candy-covered wickedness she finds in Trinity proves to be a great escape, until she discovers she can never go home. Will Ember confront the truth behind her parents’ death, or stay blissfully numb and lose herself to the forest forever?

Rating: 4.5/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: WHAT EVEN DO I DO WITH THAT CLIFFHANGER?!; penguins, this book was gorgeously written--and SO unique!; I am glad the wait for book 2 isn't long, because I'm desperate; awesome, well-rounded, complex characters; this read was WILD, and I adored every moment!; mild trigger warning

So many huge thanks to Jennifer Alsever and Sawatch Publishing for sending a free egalley of this title my way in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.

Gram's shoulders hunch into a frown as she digs into the dirt with a garden shovel, clearing the muck. It's amazing how a woman made of stone can give birth to a bed of perfumed color each spring. Every fall, she dutifully plants these bulbs. Each spring, the flowers bloom, perking up her tired turquoise house. It sits among a string of gingerbread looking Victorian homes, most of them tattered and cramped together as if glued to each other.

Okay, penguins, I need someone else to read this book RIGHT NOW so I have someone to commiserate with over that cliffhanger, because OH MY BEAK! It's a good thing I don't have to wait long for book two; you can bet your talons I'll be picking it up ASAP, because I AM DESPERATE I NEED TO KNOW SOMEONE GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!

Seriously, though--all shouting penguins aside, this book is gorgeous. Jennifer Alsever's prose is flowery, descriptive, and so easy to visualize/fall into. The addition of synesthesia (in this instance, seeing sounds as colors) brought a fascinating and unique new layer to the main character. But honestly, this entire title is unique--from the plot to the setting, and everything in between. I felt, from page one, that this was bound to be unlike anything I've read before--and I was right. There is so much to adore about this book--the gorgeously rendered, easy to visualize prose is only the very tip of a steep iceberg!

He presses his lips together briefly, like he's thinking of what he wants to say--or do. "I haven't felt hope," he whispers. His voice is smiling and sincerity fills his eyes. "I haven't felt alive. I haven't felt anything like this since I got here. Until you."

"You just like my weird-ass notebook," I whisper with a grin.

The prose isn't the only "deep" thing about this read, though. These characters are well-rounded, complex, and beautifully balanced. By this, I mean there aren't any "special snowflakes"...but there are also, so far as I can tell, no one entirely nonredeemable either. There is a gorgeous tight rope these characters walk down, and they wibble-wobble with the rest of us. It is clear, early on, that Jennifer Alsever watches people on a daily basis--she writes her characters so realistically, so believably, that it's easy to imagine they truly exist as opposed to just being printed words on a page. These characters do, however, have their fair share of demons--and I feel I should note that there's a bit of triggering material touched upon. If you are a sensitive reader or are easily triggered, please keep this in mind when picking up this book--and keep yourself safe!

I am just SO glad I was given the chance to pick this book up, as I might not have discovered it on my own--and that would be SUCH a tragedy! This is a fast-paced read filled with muscle-clenching drama and unique, vibrant characters. The addition of synesthesia only helped to enhance the already gorgeous, flowery prose. I absolutely CANNOT wait to pick up book two this fall--that cliffhanger rocked my poor penguin brain, and I MUST know what happens next! I recommend this to lovers of uniquely crafted journeys, paranormal/fantasy settings, and realistically flawed characters. The cliffs are steep beyond the gate, penguins; watch your steps, and your souls.

[Carlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of Ember Burning is great and Jennifer Alsever is such a descriptive writer, but she fails to describe with enough detail just what is happening. It took AGES for me to catch onto what was happening, but the mixture of magic, fantasy, and Egyptian hieroglyphs just threw me off. There is a lot going on here and very little ties it all together. Sure, it's the first in a trilogy and normally it would be right up my alley, but this is one trilogy I won't be finishing. I think other readers will love this, but it's a miss for me. I want more depth to my characters and a whole lot more understanding if I'm investing my time into multiple books.

ARC provided.

[Hauntedbybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Ember Burning! I loved how beautiful and descriptive the writing was. It made you feel like you were there experiencing it with Ember. I loved all the twists and turns! It’s fast paced too, which fits well with the story. This book is dark and does contain a few triggers so you should be careful if you pick this book up. Pick this book up if you want a dark, suspenseful book with some fantasy aw well!

[Lindsey (Lindseysbookishreviews) Swindlehurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this a 4/5 stars.
This novel was beautifully written. Its dark, painful, yet beautiful. The main character struggles through so much you can't help but want to be there for her. When I first started this novel I didn't know what to expect from it, I didn't know if id love it or hate it. I try not to hype up a book before I dive in so I won't be let down and thats exactly what I did, I went in with a clear head and that I believe is the best way to get the best out of this novel. I really enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to picking up book two to continue the story. IF you can't decide weather to pick this one up or pass I recommend picking it up. You never know you may be just as surprised as I was and fall in love with the story.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ember Burning is about a girl, who during her senior year of high school, experiences the death of her parents. The guilt she feels from the circumstance of her parents death drives her toward actions that she once knew are wrong, in order to try and forget that guilt. Ultimately, her desire to forget leads her to Trinity forest. Where she encounters a group of people; whom seem to help keep her mind off everything. As she leaves her old life behind, the perfect house in the woods is not what it seems. There is a darkness that lurks there.
The story is fast paced, and a fun read. Ember Burning provides a great story, that is relatable about dealing with guilt, and loss. Story provides a great lesson, about dealing with guilt/grief. If you were to try, and forget get all the bad events in your life, you ultimately will lose apart of yourself as well. Those bad events influence who you are as a person, and whom you shall become. As Ember stays longer in Trinity forest, she comes to understand what really is happening to individuals who live in the cabin in the woods.
I really enjoyed this book, it gave off a 1980s horror vibe. Often I found myself yelling at the main character not to do something, such as don't go in the creepy woods. Don't do it... there she goes into the woods. Ember often frustrated me a little, she did everything that wasn't logical. She was too trusting and ran head first into problems, rather than think them through. However, Ember's flaws made her more relatable, and made me enjoy the story even more. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.
Ember burning is a overall fun, fast read with interesting and relatable characters. I would recommend this book to individuals who love YA paranormal books, and to fans of such books as The Raven boys.

[Teran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was nothing like I was expecting, it was so much more!

Jennifer Alsever writes a dark, yet beautifully descriptive novel. Readers are led through all of the pain, guilt, and regret that Ember feels.
"It's funny how I took for granted that she was just there."
As a reader, you understand her need, her desire to leave all the pain behind. The mistakes and pain Ember encounters is approached so thoughtfully without being graphic.

The world Alsever weaves is hauntingly beautiful. Trinity Forest is disturbing and mysterious, yet truly mesmerizing.
" Everything about that place is candy-covered wickedness. It's beautiful. Relaxing.
Indulgent. Evil."

Alsever was able to develop a fantastic coming of age story with a beautiful fantasy world.

That cliffhanger of an ending has me yearning to dive right back into the world that is Trinity Forest!

[Coco.V]

FREE on Amazon today (11/06/2017)!

[Isabel (The Reader & The Chef) · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can also find this review at The Reader and the Chef. Huge thanks to the author for providing a copy in exchange of my honest opinion.

Ember Burning is a fascinating Paranormal Young Adult book. It has a good beginning, an intriguing middle and a couldn't-stop-listening-until-I-finished-the-entire-book ending. I think that the cover is pretty and eye-catching. I listened to the audiobook format (which was my first audiobook that I've ever listened to) and I must say that it was a pleasant experience and I think that the narrator did a good job.

The book starts with Ember, the main lead character that lives in Leadville, a very small and secluded town in the mountains of Colorado. She was once a very cheerful and smart girl with a synesthesia condition (it represents to her by sounds, she sees colors with the sound of music), but she starts the story with a sadness and depression because of her parents sudden death. She feels claustrophobic in a town where everybody knows her story from which she can't escape. Ember surrenders to her pain and starts consuming harmful substances as a way out to her grief. One day, she wanders off to Trinity forest where she finds a fun crowd of people around her age and discovers that her pain is gone. However, the longer she stays, the more bizarre they seem...

The story plot is very engaging. Ember Burning had a series of difficult subjects such as loss, rape, guilt, drug addiction and depression, and yet, they were written in such a way that the author didn't need to be very descriptive to make impact. But be warned, if you are triggered by these themes.

I love the setting of this story. It was set in a small town close to the enigmatic Trinity forest. While listening to the story, I felt goosebumps just by imagining the place along with a combination of wonderment, magic and it was delightfully eerie.

Ember had a medical condition called synesthesia that I think it was a fascinating topic on its own. I have heard about it, but it is until now that I looked it up that I know more about it. Whenever she hears music, she sees a combination of colors depending on the type of music. She calls it her "color crayon brain". I think it is a very interesting topic that I rarely get to read on books and I found it quite interesting.

I really liked the characters in the story. At first, I must admit that I had some trouble understanding Ember and some other characters inside the book. However, as I kept listening to the audiobook, I began to realize why they acted that way. I specially liked Ember's grandma, even though she was a difficult person to live with, I think she was going through the same harsh sentiments as Ember, but didn't know how to deal with them. She was trying her best to take care of Ember, but clueless as to how.Also, I had a small problem with Jared (I believe it is spelled like this, but I'm not sure since I listened to the book). I felt like he showed little interest to Ember's well-being and that he left her to her own devices after the loss of their parents. He had to go to college, but I still believe that he shouldn't have left Ember alone.

Final Verdict:

Ember Burning is a great Paranormal YA book for me. It had so many interesting elements to the story and the ending left me wishing for the next book ASAP! I'll be honest and say that paranormal is something that I don't generally read, but I certainly enjoyed this book. To all Paranormal Witchcraft YA book lovers out there, this is for you!

[Mel Finefrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all started with escape. Whenever Ember listened to music, the colors that danced in her "crayon brain" were an escape from the room she shared with Jared, her admired (but disgusting) older brother. Playing guitar with her dad served as an escape from complicated feelings surrounding her mom's depression. And when a terrible accident killed her parents, she tried and failed to escape "the elephant on [her] chest," AKA grief and self-blame, with no thanks to drugs and alcohol.

Finally, when everything got to be too much, Ember escaped to Trinity Forest, the mysterious land where reality and illusion collide. The land where time stands still, for once not in a heartwrenching way. The land where she and her five new friends now feast and frolic with no responsibilities whatsoever.

But somehow, it all seems too good to be true. Is Trinity a safe haven or prison? Will Ember see the forest for the trees? And most importantly of all, will she escape?

Alsever relates Ember's story using a refreshing first-person present-tense point-of-view, all the better for the reader to step into the protagonist's world. Ember's voice is alternately spunky, wise, brutally honest, and beautifully flawed, bringing teen-diary realism to this riveting scifi-fantasy novel. The nods to synesthesia, colored hearing in Ember's case, are believable coming from this synesthete reader, so if you are (or love) a synesthete, I highly recommend this book, since synesthetic literature is a rare gem to come by.

Lastly, as a survivor of trauma, I would also like to alert readers of all ages, as well as teachers and guardians, to potential triggers concerning loss, grief, death and dying, rape, addiction, and abduction. I mention this not to criticize, only to promote awareness. Alsever approaches these topics in a sensitive way so that they are relatable without being completely overwhelming. Young people see much, endure much; and so I believe not in censorship but in guidance while reading the tougher stuff. Ember's story is something close to my heart and, I feel, a story many will relate to in one way or another.

[Leelynn (Sometimes Leelynn Reads) ❤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I saw the chance to review this audiobook thanks to Jess at Audiobookworm Promotions, and something about it sounded so interesting. I just had to jump at the opportunity, and I’m glad I did! I’m surprised – well not really surprised – that I never heard of it before, but I’m glad that I got to find a new book and a new author to read.

Also there is a section in the themes that I’m talking about regarding rape/sexual assault. If you will be triggered by this discussion, please feel free to skip that part. All themes that I talk about are placed in headers so they should be bigger and easier to find, but here is a heads up just in case.



I love the pun of the title, but I’m sooooo curious to know what is going to make Ember “burn” in this novel
Trinity Forest… it sounds appealing honestly
What would I do in Ember’s situation?
I’ve never seen a book character with synesthesia before, and it sounds so interesting



Dealing with grief and pain by running away
One of the reasons why I felt like Trinity Forest was so appealing for Ember and probably the other people that ended up going missing in the forest is because they don’t want to deal with whatever life is throwing at them at the moment. I know I would have felt the same way, and if there was an opportunity for me to just… disappear from the life I’m living right now without any sort of confrontation to my problems, I would take it. Doesn’t it sound appealing, especially when you feel like things could literally not go any worse than it feels at that very moment?

Ember was acting out of grief. Her parents died and she gave up on everything that she was passionate about because why would she want to keep on living when her parents weren’t able to? Well not “acting out”, but this was the reaction to the grief that she had been feeling ever since that day. The only thing that she really kept up after her parents’ death was keeping track of missing people that were last seen heading to Trinity Forest, or even others that disappeared in other parts of the world. The one I remember was someone disappearing in Hawaii, although I didn’t recognize the place that was mentioned. It was probably on the Big Island or maybe another island that I just haven’t been able to explore yet.

Sexual abuse and shame
Two girls in this novel experience sexual assault in this novel – while both were off screen, both were discussed throughout the book. One of the girls was raped by someone that took advantage of her when she was under the influence, and the other was over a longer period of time. Both girls ended up feeling ashamed of what happened even though THEY were the ones that got abused! That just made me so angry but I get it because that’s what society has taught us. The girls feel like it was their fault that these boys could take advantage of them sexually, because if they didn’t end up doing whatever it was they did – which was freaking nothing – they wouldn’t have been raped.

Depression =/= Crazy
I think one of the things that really irritated me with Ember was that her mom had a really bad depressive episode before she ended up dying, and Ember was so cruel to her and called her crazy. She would even call this notebook that her mother kept her “Crazy Lady Notebook” and like… this just pissed me off so much. This is the whole stigma around having any mental health issues and how people would automatically think that means someone is crazy. Which of course isn’t true at all but it just felt like she didn’t want to understand her mom at some times. Then of course when her mom ended up dying, she felt guilty about it, but not enough to stop referring to her mom or other characters that she encountered “crazy.” Maybe it’s just colloquial terminology that is still used in towns like Leadville, CO or anywhere honestly, but it bothers me when it’s used like this. I mean something that you can’t believe can be “crazy” but not someone because of their mental health.



This book ended in such a HUGE cliffhanger! But I also feel like this made it hard for me to fully see any major character development, but then again this is just the first book in a series so I know that there’s going to be some in the future. I think that maybe Ember showed some development… very little in my opinion. There were times where I thought she grew up a bit and then she would go and call her mom crazy. So yeah, I didn’t really count those at all.

Then, yeah I didn’t really see any other development from the other characters as much. So yeah.



Hmmm, well I was kind of sad for Ember’s parents and how they ended up dying. Other than that, I didn’t really feel much. I mean that’s not always a bad thing but I didn’t feel anything truly worth mentioning I guess.



The plot was one of my favorite parts honestly. I also liked how well Alsever was able to make Ember’s world so visual and describe what she was seeing with her synesthesia. It was almost like I could see it as well and I was in her shoes. I also really liked the appeal of Trinity Forest honestly. The prose worked out in my favor and so did the pacing. Nothing really in this section was an issue with me, and didn’t end up taking a way from my enjoyment.



Yeah I totally skipped a section but oh well. I thought that this was such an interesting first novel, and I’m kind of bummed at how it ended! Like… it really did just end so abruptly that I was thinking that some of the book was missing. But nope, it ended the way that it was supposed to, and I was like “wait where is the rest of the story?!” I just can’t help it! But I did end up liking it, and I was impressed with the narrator. I liked how she made Ember sound, and I felt like she totally made me feel like I was listening to a real life teenager dealing with grief. I also think she did a great job with the other characters as well. The production of the audiobook was just really well done, and self-published audiobook production should not be underestimated. Well done.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ember Burning is a twisty turny & deliciously dark read

Ember Burning is like a polaroid photo. A blank square shoots out instantaneously from the camera but it takes time for the details and colours to being to develop. While the voice in Ember Burning is fast-paced and the pages fly by, the narrative carefully teases out details with each chapter. Jennifer Alsever has a poised hand and head for sprinkling out little clues and details to keep us moving forward, but without spoiling everything and nary an info-dump of knowledge in sight!



Our protagonist Ember keeps her grief and shame clasped around her like a cape pinned tightly with a brooch. Her parents are dead, her older brother is miles away and her new residence with her stern Gram is anything but fuzzy blankets and warm chocolate chip cookies. She goes about her day to day life in her small town Leadville, Colorado, lackluster and uninspired. One of the only things that keeps Ember going everyday is the siren song of the forbidden Trinity Forest. Ember’s mom too, before her death, was obsessed with what she called the “Bermuda Triangle” of Colorado and was fixated on the numbers of people who’d gone missing in it over the years.


From the first passage to the last one of the most stunning things about Ember Burning is what a sensory experience it is. This is the kind of novel that brings each breath of wind, crunch of leaves, and shush of brush to life. There’s a vibrancy to these descriptions that make Ember’s ventures into Trinity Forest go beyond just black text on bound pages. The climate and mood of the Forest changes with the flick of a wrist. It’s at turns enchanting and foreboding.

Trinity is a refuge from the harsh reality of Leadville. It’s a world away from the small town where Ember is known as the orphan and the aimlessly wandering broken girl. Her new friends don’t know about Ember’s past, secret vices or her murky future. It’s in this forested Neverland that Ember sheds the layer of sadness that settled upon her like a second skin. She learns how to be herself again.

Ember is a resilient character who grows tremendously over the span of this 362 page book. She starts off salty and insecure, often resenting herself and indulging in the occasional pity party. Yet her whiney ways soon give way to a more complex set of emotions. Beyond her grief she’s ashamed, and that leaves the deepest and most painful scars. Ember is so so so so very flawed. She’s a flesh and blood teenager in the throes of depression. She’s not a fifteen-going-twenty-five overinflated “chosen one”.

Each of Ember Burning's supporting characters, the Trinity dwelling teens has a distinctive voice, personality and appearance. Not only could they be real people, but they could be real people we know or maybe even who we were at some point in our life. There’s solid female friendships between Lilly and Zoe and Ember, but also with the guys: Pete and Trevor, or ‘Tre’. The depiction of the friendship is breezy and believable because there’s no forced “teen-speak” or excessive swearing/ slang here. And praise the powers that be, there are no love triangles!

The lost children and sinister supernatural forces vibes in Ember Burning are similar to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and the podcast The Black Tapes with its many storylines surrounding creepy cults and diabolical human and inhuman antagonists. If you’re a fan of either of those you’ve got to pick this book up.

This is no ordinary contemporary YA fiction. Ember Burning is an atmospheric twisty turny and deliciously dark read. It takes some daring risks, diverging from the direction it seems to be going in more than once. Cue the racing hearts, rashes of goosebumps and jello legs. Trinity Forest is a dense wood that defies the laws of reality. It’s eerie and more than a little chilling and with it’s history of disappearances and sinister fog it vaguely resembles the Aokigahara Forest in Japan: most infamously known as the “suicide forest”.



(Yup I couldn't resist another reference to the brilliant Natalie Dormer in The Forest movie.)

The cool pine scent in the air invigorates me. The full moon shines bright. I perch on rock the size of my old kitchen table and take in the view of the sky.

“My mom used to tell me something about the night-time sky.” Tre leans against a tree, his silhouette barely visible in the dark.

“She’d say the stars represented all the lost souls out there-- just fighting to be seen again,” he says.

Ember Burning doesn’t rely too often on typical tropes that some YA novels cling to. At first it seems like Tre is going to be yet another Tall, Dark, and Handsome, mysterious bad boy. I’m not a fan of guyliner wearing, leather clad, arrogantly handsome characters . Especially the ones that are frigid and ridiculously rude to not just their potential love interests but to their friends too. Not gonna lie, I cringed at his (cliche) debut and his initially one-dimensional character. I furiously hoped and wished it’d be a fluke thing because we don’t need anymore Fours, Edwards, or Gales. Thank goodness it dissipates: it turns out that there’s actually a deliberateness to his character.

That said Ember Burning is occasionally descriptive to a fault. Sometimes we’re ambushed with an excess of adjectives and it becomes challenging to wade through it all. These were the moments that I found myself starting to skim a bit through the words. Once I was done doggy paddling through the onslaught of details I found myself pulled out of the book and a needed a moment to get absorbed into the narrative again.

Ember’s escape from the confines of her ordinary life into a supernatural realm, one that’s surrounded by ominous mysteries and formidable inhabitants, is deeply disturbing and unputdownable. An abundance of mature themes such as sexual abuse and harassment, drug use and mental illness are peppered throughout Ember Burning. None of them are sensationalized or used as flimsy plot devices though, it’s tastefully done and ought not be activating or triggering to sensitive readers.

So are you ready to step off the Trinity’s trail and slink behind the dense rows of trees to discover an elegant but forsaken mansion and it’s cursed and sordid secrets?

Recommended: Yes! The ending strikes a delicate balance: it’s enticing enough to get us to pick up the second book Oshun Rising while it also gives Ember Burning roots sturdy enough that it can be a stand-alone novel.

I received a copy of Ember Burning from Jennifer Alsever for the purpose of reviewing. Thank you so much!!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Ember Burning. I didn't know quite what to expect, to be honest, but I was almost immediately drawn into its complex, original, thought-provoking plot. I think that Ember is a great heroine, as she's flawed, nuanced, is someone you find yourself pulling for. I've read some of the other YA series, such as Divergent, The Hunger Games, etc., and I think that Ember Burning is on equal footing with any of them. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Abantika(hiltonjenkin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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But the mystery of Trinity calls to me. If I disappear, so be it.

Jennifer Alsever’s debut novel, ‘Ember Burning' is a mystical, suspenseful, page turner with a hint of romance in it. It’s really a shame that it took me so long to start with this ah-so-amazing read.

*Plot/Development: The book tells you the story of a teenager, Ember Trouve who is haunted by her parents’ sudden and recent death. Who wants to disappear and numb her mind wallowing in guilt, self loathing, pain and depression until she finally finds an escape in the forest of Trinity.

This is Trinity. In a way, it seems peaceful. Not dangerous. Not evil, or inhabited by witches. I wonder, briefly, if all the rumors and stories are just a bunch of smoke.

She finds her peace. But it’s all an innocent blissful escapade until she finds out that she is can never go home. That she is trapped in a place where time stands still.

The plot of the story is complex, unique and fresh. It grips you from the very start and it nothing like any book I’ve ever read. The development of it is also very consistent. The mystery, the magic and the suspense is always there. It is a page turner and doesn’t let you doze off even for a second. It just keeps you curious and guessing and chasing an escape and guessing throughout.

*Characters: Now let’s talk about the characters. All of them had very different and unique personalities painted. This is very important thing to note in a story. It is what brings the essence. All the characters were human and relatable with their flaws and wants. I loved someone at a moment and hated and doubted them in the next. I loved Lily, Tre, Pete and then didn’t trust them the next moment not because they were portrayed as dubious but because they were human in all their frustration and doubt.

*Ending: It ends on such a cliff-hanger but it couldn’t have been better. I always say that the ending to a mystery determines if it is a hit or a miss. And Ember Burning completely hits it! I really do not want to speak more about my feelings on the ending as i do not want to give anything up but be sure that you won’t be disappointed. I am really excited to find out what happens next.

*Writing: So apparently Ember Burning is Jennifer Alsever’s debut novel. But trust me, one just cannot say it. I had to search her in Amazon to really be sure that she has not written any other novel before this. She is so very brilliant in the book. Her writing absolutely consumed me and I never knew how time passed by with the novel.

Okay so I guess it’s clear that Ember burning just blew my mind. It should be getting a lot more attention and is a definite recommendation from me. I give it a solid 5 star.

[Christine - LifeWithAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started reading Ember Burning I was a little unsure of what kind of place it was heading to. This feeling actually continued for a good chunk of the book, I wasn’t sure if it was going to go down a supernatural kind of route or head to a more of a science fiction area. I quite liked that there was no obvious and predictable plot, it gave the story a sort of mysterious feel to it which I enjoyed.

One of the strong points of Ember Burning is how well the book demonstrates the terrible crushing way that grief can affect someone. At the beginning of the book Ember has recently lost both her parents in a tragic accident and I thought that her descent into loneliness and pushing people away felt very realistic and dealt with well as a plot point. I also thought there was a really compelling sinister atmosphere to the story, there is quite a slow build up to the main events and the creepy feeling helps to keep the reader’s interest as the story evolves. I was invested in solving the mystery of Trinity forest and figuring out exactly what was going on in there.

There are a few things I wasn’t so keen on about Ember Burning. I didn’t always like Ember as a character and felt that she made some very strange decisions which I couldn’t figure out her motives for. I also think that sometimes the dialogue between characters felt, on occasion, a little strange and stilted. I also would have liked to see a little more of Ember’s relationships with her friends before her parents accident, I think that would have made me feel more of a connection to Ember as a character.

Overall I think that despite a few issues I had with the book, there are some really good things about Ember Burning, the story is intriguing and mysterious and the setting of Trinity forest is atmospheric and sinister. I do think if you are a fan of young adult novels with a slightly magical element and lots of folklore then you will probably enjoy Ember Burning. 

[Kayla Krantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this was one of those books that I found myself thinking about during the times when I wasn’t able to listen to it. If life hadn’t gotten in the way, I would’ve easily binged this in one setting, it was that addicting.

Ember’s life hasn’t been the same since she lost her parents. Living with her grandmother, her life is lackluster, and she searches for anything that can make her feel alive again. She’s desperate for a place to belong. So when she finds a seemingly perfect group of friends in the forbidden Trinity Forest, she ignores her gut instinct to run away and follows them. As the saying goes, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. There’s something wrong in the forest, and only too late does Ember realize it.

Ember was so real, I felt as if the author had merely written down her observations of someone. From the slow withdrawal of the world around her to her desperate need to find a place where she belonged, Ember was probably one of the most vividly created characters I’ve ever seen in a piece of fiction. From the very beginning of the story I found myself connecting to her and rooting for her. She’s not the only well-fleshed out character. Every person in the story has a unique personality.

The worldbuilding and plot were the icing on the already phenomenal cake. There was a lot of supernatural elements in the story, and at first, I was a little confused because there was a lot to it. At the end though, things got much clearer, and I loved the fresh angle the author took on the occult.

Narration was refreshing and beautifully done, giving the perfect amount of drama to the story. Words were easy to understand, and the cadence was smooth.

I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very difficult review to write without giving away any spoilers. I’ll do my best but it will likely sound rather cryptic. I have so many questions and things I want to talk about but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. To be honest even though I've finished the book, I'm not clear on exactly what was going on so my spoilers would be more speculation than fact anyway. So here's my spoiler free, annoyingly vague review:

After the accidental death of her parents, Ember unravels and masks her pain with alcohol and drugs. Some pretty dark things happen to her while intoxicated and I’m hoping we will delve deeper into the effects of this in later books in the series. I feel like it was such a major life event and yet wasn’t explored nearly enough. Ember escapes her depression and pain by escaping into Trinity Forest which has a spooky and dangerous reputation. She has more than a smidgen of a death wish. What she finds in Trinity is strange and unexpected, and seems like the perfect solution to her problems. The old adage “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” is especially apt in this case. Trinity is much darker and more terrible than anything she, or I, imagined. Its tainted pleasures can’t cover up the underlying danger for long. The story was a lot darker than I was expecting and parts were pretty creepy.

Ember is a very interesting character with a lot of depth. Her seemingly charmed life was taken away in the blink of an eye with the death of her family. Her resulting addictions and recklessness reveal a total disregard for her own safety or well-being. She just wants to be numb and not hurt anymore. It’s a very relatable feeling although I’ve never felt anything quite so hopeless. Faced with the horrors of Trinity she’s actually quite brave and resilient. I think the situation brings out her inner strength. She isn’t a perfect heroine but she’s a real heroine, flaws and all.

The cliff-hanger ending was especially cruel and I immediately bought the second book in the series. It ended at the worst possible point and it was a bit disappointing and a lot frustrating. It did make me buy book two so I guess it did its intended job!

Thank you to Sawatch Publishing and Xpresso Book Tours for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

[Tiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. It was much weirder and at times even a bit confusing. In fact the characters themselves kept saying how weird each situation was and if that word wasn’t used so often I might not have thought of this book as being as strange as it was.


I really wanted to enjoy this book more, but I just ended up being put off by it. I think it focused on too many random things for me to be able to truly connect with the parts that I did like. This book is like a tangled web that you have to sift through carefully until it becomes clear, but in the end it just gets more tangled up. One of the biggest examples of this for me was that I could never understand Ember’s guilt which is a huge part of the story, she says she is the cause of her parents death, but when it is explained it still doesn’t seem like it was ever her fault. Ember’s subconscious is extremely affected by this so much so that it even is a factor with the ending of this book (which I didn’t really enjoy).


Ember Burning is just one of those books that wasn’t for me. There is were too many things that I wanted from it that just didn’t happen and then a lot of it was just plain weird. As a major fantasy lover I had some high hopes for this book, but sometimes some books just are not meant for you.

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

TRIGGER WARNING:
this book contains mentions of physical abuse, rape, drug addiction and a few other things.

3.5/5 stars

if you like Riverdale, Supernatural or anything Paranormal and mysterious, then this is definitely a read for you!

This book was so awesome! though there's a lack of diversity, I did enjoy the plot and the world that she (the author) has built. some parts I found were a little bit cheesy but other than that I enjoyed the writing style and the dialogue. The ending absolutely killed me, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, PEOPLE!! So in conclusion, this book is very fast paced and really good if you like mystery type reads.

[BookwormishMe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ember's life is filled with tragedy right now. Her parents were killed in a freak car accident that Ember survived. She's lost her best friend Maddie to the popular crowd. She's living with her grandmother, who isn't very warm & fuzzy. She falls in with the town druggie who takes her to Trinity Forest, a place her mom told her to never go.

But Trinity Forest wants Ember and continues to lure her in. Once she's found her way in, will she ever be able to get out again?

I enjoyed this YA novel, the first in a series. Kind of a wild concept and fantasy, but interesting. I am going to try to binge through the last two of the series before the end of the year.

3.75 stars

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book could not put it down. I finished this book in one sitting. I can't wait to see what embers future holds!

[USOM · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Disclaimer: I received this free book from Kate Tilton's Author Services. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

What I really liked about Ember Burning was the premise. The book definitely matches the cover - it's eerie and mysterious. The entire book is hiding secrets, about her past, about Trinity and the past. There's an almost Rip van Wrinkle feel to the book, like hidden doorways and parallel worlds. None of those things actually happen, but it's definitely the vibe you get. And the premise keeps delivering more and more twists throughout the whole book.

Writing: 3, Characters: 4, Plot: 3, World: 3
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...

[Davianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy, mysterious, and thrilling. Ember Burning kept me on the edge of my seat and all the twists were crazy! Although slow in the beginning it really picked up a quarter of the way through, My other issues are the profanity and romance ( it was too sappy for me) aside from that the plot was phenomenal and the writing was great. I really liked Ember and her strong personality and the characters were excellently written.
Overall this book was really thrilling and entertaining and after that ending I can't wait to read Oshun Rising!
Rating: 4 stars!
FTC DISCLAIMER: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

[Krisha||Bookathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ember burning had some great elements and the suspense keeps you reading till the end. Really liked it a lot!! Will post a full review on the blog soon :D

( Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy )

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This read does hit drug abuse, some violence, and a rape scene

Ember's world has shattered with the death of her parents, and while she's trying to keep things together, it's like swimming upstream against the world. She no longer fits in, but then, her hobby of collecting pictures of officially missing individuals from around the country has always made her a bit different. Suffocated by her grandmother, she takes a chance to turn things 'off' and finds herself in the not-so-great-crowd agreeing to visit the forbidden Trinity forest, an eerie place where people disappear more often than they should. Drawn by something she can't explain, she wanders too far in and discovers a paradise. With a group of people, who enjoy having her around, and finding her every heart's desire delivered to her door, she's tempted to forget the world beyond the forest and stay. But the place holds secrets, and when she does try to leave, she discovers there is no escape.

This is quite the complex read in the sense that it weaves teen problems, battling through the loss of loved ones, ancient myths, magic, mystery, hard topics, releasing of spirits, and a touch of Hansel and Gretel all together in under 300 pages. So, it packs a fast-paced punch and definitely lays down enough ground for the series. I did find the mystic/magic side very foggy through most of the read, which could have used a bit more clarity, but then, I'm pretty sure this is intentional, since the book ends with revelations in that direction and uses these to catapult into book two. So, everything is nicely flipped on its head, promising a completely new adventure and excitement for the next read, while leaving off in a cliff-hanger. While I'm not usually a fan of cliffhangers, the huge change the plot brings does seem to be best handled by entering an new novel.

When we meet Ember, she's in a bad place. And that's fully understandable. Her choices aren't always great, but they do make her more realistic. The other characters are mostly fleshed out with personalities to love, hate, and doubt. I did wish to get to know some better, though, like the grandmother. But they add a wide array, which feeds toward the plot well.

There are more than a few harsh themes in this read. First, Ember's dealing with the loss of both parents. Her attempts to cope hit failure, since there doesn't seem to be really any help, and that drives her need to escape. The drug abuse builds into the plot with purpose and even foreshadows at things to come. The rape is built in with care, hitting as a memory flashback, which is summed up quick and slightly graphic-ish without going overboard. I wasn't a huge fan, but then, it's really a personal thing on that one, since it was also well handled and did work into some character relationships later on (not only the romance, which was refreshing). All of this does form and shape Ember as she heads into the paranormal mystery and danger, and I'm sure, it will hold more meaning as the series continues.

This is a harsher, darker read and packs bite. I do recommend it to darker YA fans, who love to dive into characters and face inner struggles as much as outer ones. I received a complimentary copy and found this to be an original and well woven read.

[Kelly Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, this is a page turner folks! An excellent summer read! From one chapter to the next, Jennifer teases us with bits and pieces of Ember Trouve's back story. Ember is smart, creative and kind, but lost. As a reader I got attached to her very quickly. Ember is coming of age as she grapples with a tragic loss, for which she blames herself. Who knew she would encounter more frightening challenges in Trinity Forest? And I love the romance. Jen developed her characters colorfully and creates incredible visuals of both the beauty and horror of Trinity. Reading the ending is like ordering your favorite dessert and eating one bite when the waiter takes it away! More, more! ... Waiting for Oshun Rising this fall.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book! Jennifer did such a fabulous job of drawing you in to Trinity Forest and gave such detailed descriptions of each character and their backstories.

I can't wait for Oshun Rising!!

[Katherine Paschal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ember lost her parents and blames herself for their deaths, closing herself off from friends and school, living her life in a bubble of grief and despair. When a classmate offers her drugs to help take away her pain she leaps at the chance, now losing herself in a fog of apathy. When she sees a strange woman drop a coin she feels a spark of interest since the coin has strange images she doesn't understand. Following the pull of the mystery, she finds herself in Trinity Forest, the place her mother always forbid her from entering. After stumbling on a group of teens in the forest who seems to accept her, Ember feels herself pulled in many directions, but which is the right choice for her?

I thought this would be an interesting mystery where Ember follow clues to help overcome the problems in her life, and sure I thought it would be a little dark with the synopsis mentioning her parents were dead, but man I was in over my head with darkness and sorrow. The book started sad and really it just kept getting more depressing the further the story went. There were some cool elements with mystery and magic thrown in that I appreciated, but overall I did not enjoy reading this story. In full disclosure here, I do not read books with rape because that is too real life for me and there was a date rape scene in the story that she kept flashing back to and it just made me feel awful. I know it happens far too much in real life, but I am an escapist reader and hate reading about it so it was hard for me to keep going with the book (the fact that Ember kept hanging out and taking drugs from her rapist made me want to scream!). There was just too much darkness jammed in the pages for me to love the book, but the underlying plot of what was going on was interesting.


The parts I thought were really cool was the Egyptian mythology and the overall mystery of the story, the sense of confusion and hints of some magical components. I love finding stories that tie into Egypt, either time travel or mythology, so when small symbols started showing up that hinted at a connection to Egypt I was super excited. Also, the mystery was really interesting, with the forbidden woods and illusions to not growing up and Peter Pan. I was kept guessing as to what would happen next, as completely in the dark as Ember. Jennifer was great at creating emotions for Ember, I could feel her angst, depression, grief, cloudiness, disconnect, and then a small sliver of hope. She was a fully fleshed out character, one who was so broken at times it felt like there was no positive outcome for Ember. I really felt for her and wanted to take away her pain as well as shake her for her constant bad choices (seriously, the girl could not stop making terrible choices!).

This was a very interesting concept for a story, I just think it was a little too dark for me. I kept waiting for the tone to lighten or the awfulness to be fixed or redeemed, but instead it just kept coming. By the time I reached the end, I felt pretty down and that was not a feeling I wanted. This is the first in what is a series (of how many I am uncertain) with a big cliff-hangar ending. I won't be reading anymore regardless of my questions as to what happens next because I am afraid the next book may be even darker and I don't think I can handle it. I know other people will love this story and enjoy the challenges Ember faces.

I received this title for reviewing purposes. Come to https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/ for more book stuff

[Melanie McKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, in all honesty this book was a learning experience for me. I think my ambitious reading goals for 2018 has taught me quite a bit. I’ve been stuck in a world where I believe I’ll only like certain types of books, but I’ve been finding myself enjoying books I wouldn’t normally pick up and not liking books I think I’d love.

Ember Burning is one of those examples.
This book took me by surprise.

As soon as I opened it up, it was like I was in another world. The writing was quite descriptive but not in a purple-prose, overdone kind of way. It was easy to visualize every scene; which, to me, really sold the book because so much happened in a relatively short amount of time that I think I would have been confused if not for the descriptive writing and tone of the book.

Initially, I got a total Japanese-suicide-forest vibe and wasn’t really sure where it was going. I didn’t thoroughly read the synopsis because sometimes I just like going into books blind, but I was loving the eerie vibes off the bat. However, once we enter Trinity Forest for the first time, it was totally another world. I definitely saw signs that Ember didn’t, which kind of bugged me at first that she was being so blind and self-destructive, but I think it all came together by the end.

I think something that is successful about the book is that you don’t necessarily love or hate the main character. There were times I rooted for her and times I wanted to slap her, which made her quite real to me. There were flaws, she wasn’t some over the top hero, but she had plenty of redeeming qualities as well. It really got into her head, and though her choices (especially when she was home) drove me nuts at times, it was easy to remember that she was young and dealing with things most people don’t have to deal with. She was frustrating yet enjoyable.
The second time Ember winds up in Trinity Forest, I wanted to shake her for going back in there after all the warnings and signs not to- especially because she hadn’t thoroughly questioned why she’d been missing for four weeks when it felt like just a day to her. However, it was definitely cozy to be back in Trinity. I actually found time flowing weirdly while reading the book, which was trippy. I’d think I had just started and I would look up at the clock and twenty minutes blinked by in an instant- which is a great thing. It just means I was invested!

The weirder Trinity became and the more impossible it seemed that Ember would ever escape, the more interested I was. As mentioned, it’s definitely a world of its own. I’m glad I’m reading this while it’s still winter here because it gives such a cozy vibe to it. I was able to slip away and forget where I was because the world felt quite real.

I enjoyed all of the characters in their own way, even if I disliked them or their choices. Of course, I questioned some of their behaviors at first but I learned the reasons for their actions and saw their changes as I kept reading.
My one issue with the book was the frequent use of the phrase “Color Crayon Brain.” I thought the aspect of synesthesia was cool as I have studied about it during my undergrad as a psych major, but that particular phrase began to annoy me after being used so often.

I was also confused by the first chapter where Ember seems to be running through Trinity Forest. The following chapter says that it’s a week earlier and she’s home and it leads up to her time in Trinity, but that scene never came back and I couldn’t figure out whether the timing on it made sense or not given that even if it was when she escaped the first time, that would have been over five weeks later. I felt like I was missing something, but it didn’t really play a huge role in the story as a whole so I overlooked it and tried not to question it.

Anyway, I would certainly recommend this book!