Official Review: Burn for Home by Ash Elko

BColeman · Post by **BColeman** » 05 Sep 2015, 10:16

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Burn for Home" by Ash Elko.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Ash Elko’s Burn For Home: Starlight, is part one of a three part science fiction novella series that centers around Theresa’s journey back to the arms of her beloved. Theresa and Andrew met and fell desperately in love during schooling on another planet. Now they both want to ultimately return to Earth in order to start their family. Because Andrew gets deployed first to the space station outside of Earth, Burn For Home: Starlight is the adventure of Theresa traveling through the cosmos in order to get back to Andrew.

What I liked about this novella is that it is an extremely quick read being both short and entertaining. Though this isn’t a typical science fiction adventure tale equipped with intergalactic space wars, the adventure in this novella suits the romance genre. The adventure in this novella keeps your attention not because it is over the top excitement, but rather because you are constantly rooting for Theresa and Andrew to once again be in each other’s arms.

I also enjoyed how Elko incorporated the erotic scenes in this novella. I felt that there was a good balance between her erotic scenes and the story. I never found myself overwhelmed, and they did not take over the story line. Though I personally thought some of the romance and Theresa’s and Andrew’s interactions in general were really sappy, I enjoyed their relationship.

My biggest issue with this novella is that is seemed like the reader was entering in the middle of a story. I think this is mainly because Elko doesn’t explain the world or the circumstances that her characters are living in. All the reader really knows is that it is somewhere in space. I also found that there were a lot of unexplained terms in this world. Granted I know that in science fiction novels you have to roll with the punches, but I would have liked a simple explanation of some of the things that are created in this world. Elko jumped right into the story as if the readers knew and understood the characters and the world as well as she does.

My other issue with this novella is that there were a lot of weird transitions. This is mainly because this book is written in the past, present, and future so it is harder to dictate where we are in the story. I often had to reread passages in the novella to tell if we were in the past or present. Elko tends to make huge unexplained jumps in time that aren’t queued in the book or signaled by a major break in text. There was also a very strange and confusing time jump into the future that seemed unnecessary and in some ways breaks the fourth wall. Personally this time jump was more of a hindrance than something that gave me valuable information.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this novella and definitely would read the next two in the series. I don’t find a lot of science fiction books in the romance section, so this novella was very refreshing in that sense. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I only gave this book three stars because while it is interesting and intriguing, it was also confusing at times. If you are into romance and science fiction this is definitely a novella series for you, but if you do not like either of those genres I would say that you wouldn’t like this novella.

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Burn for Home
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Tanaya · Post by **Tanaya** » 11 Sep 2015, 11:08

I really like the premise. Romance mixed with science fiction. That's an interesting combo. I think your criticisms of it would also bother me, so I appreciate you bringing them up. The jumping around in time and the unexplained terms, especially. Great, thorough review!