Review: Wildfire by Karsten Knight

Hardcover, 400 pages

Expected publication: July 26th 2011 by Simon & Schuster
(B&N † Borders † Book Depository)

Every flame begins with a spark.

Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

The very beginning of Wildfire is an immediate attention grabber. You’re quickly introduced to Ashline and Eve…two sisters, who have a serious bad attitude lol. I didn’t know what to think of this book at first, but based on the beginning I thought it was definitely going to be a five star. 

However, I am going to be completely honest and say that Wildfire just did not do it for me. There were moments where I was so into the book and then those where I felt like giving up and just putting the book down. 

First I am going to tell you what I did like about Wildfire, and what kept me wanting to finish the book. 

1.      1.  Karsten Knight did an excellent job with his characters. The characters in Knight’s book embodied the true essence of being a teenager. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I kept comparing Ashline to someone I know. His characters are very easy to relate to and I quickly fell in love with Ashline.  She was very sarcastic, blunt and daring. I laughed so many times at some of the things that came out of her mouth.

2.     2.  I was very curious to see what would happen to Ashline after everything she went through with her sister and all that she had experienced.  The curiosity was killing me. Another thing I wanted to know was what power she had, it was a very big mystery. 

3.     3.  I really liked Colt.  I think it was sweet and hilarious the way he kept finding ways to be around Ashline and ask her out. It really was one of those boy teases girl and runs, but secretly he is in love with her. 

Now what I did not like about Wildfire was that I felt it did not get into the actual story. It was supposed to be about the gods, her sister coming back and a steamy romance between her and a park ranger. None of that started happening until maybe the last six chapters. I kept reading and waiting for it to get into that story, into what the synopsis described, but none of that happens until near the end. I think the story focused a lot more on other things than what I was expecting. I was slowly losing hope and kept asking when, what the back of the book described was going to happen. If it wasn’t for what I listed above, I probably would have stopped reading somewhere in the middle. 

Even though Wildfire didn’t completely do it for me, it did get some really great reviews. After all, I am just sharing my honest opinion with you. Will I ever read another book by Karsten Knight? Yes, I would. His writing style was simple and easy, and again if his characters are anything like the ones in Wildfire, I am all for it. 

2 out of 5 Stars!