Consumed Triolgy by Brooklyn Cross
At the end of 2024 I asked 12 friends to each recommend me a book, as I wanted to partake in the 12 friends, 12 months, 12 books challenge that I saw on TikTok but I wanted to not just create a post, I wanted to add it to my book journal and read one of the books each month.
My beautiful friend Corina gave me the Consumed Trilogy as her recommendation. Now I technically only needed one book and was just going to read book one, but I ended up reading all three.
Book one is called Burn For Me. This book follows our MMC Derek, who is a patient in a mental asylum. Derek and his brother Asher had a terrible childhood with a father who was a drunk and would beat Derek, who always protected his younger brother Asher. Derek gets scarred for life, and that bit of sanity he had breaks down. Asher turns his brother into the police after he kills his parents, and from there, he ends up at the asylum, where he is tormented by the Doctors and staff. Derek has one bright light in a nurse called Adalyn. When she is attacked, Derek loses himself to his inner demons and burns the asylum to the ground before taking his revenge on those who hurt Adalyn.
Do you know what happens to a man like me when you destroy the only thing that was keeping him from killing?
I felt for Derek while reading this book, as a child, he went through torment no one should ever go through. His father deserves to rot, and his mother should be ashamed that she didn’t protect her children. I understand why Asher turned his brother in, but at the same time, I feel like Derek was never protected, and even his brother didn’t protect him after Derek had spent all his life protecting him. I gave this book 4 stars, it was a good read, easy to follow and made you feel for Derek. I didn’t fall for Derek in this book; he was a weirdo obsessed with fire to me, but I understood why he was so troubled. Like I said, I planned on reading just the first book, but when I went to bed that night, I couldn’t stop thinking about Derek and the book, and I needed him to find peace and happiness. So I woke up the next day and immediately started book two.
Book Two is called Burn With Me. This book focuses mainly on Derek’s brother Asher and Violet, who is searching for the monster who killed her parents in a house fire when she was 14. Asher is the captain of the Firehouse when he ends up meeting Violet and helping her find out who is behind the multiple fires that have taken the lives of hundreds of people. They are searching Derek, and Derek is stalking them.
The fire made a deep rumbling sound like a dragon getting ready to roar its fiery breath.
“That was either the bravest of the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen”
I enjoyed this book more than book one, as it had a romance between Asher and Violet, it had spice, and it had unhinged Derek. This book also had me laughing whenever Derek speaks with Chase. This book screamed dark romance to me, whereas book one didn’t, as there wasn’t really any romance, but book one set up the world and the back story for books two and three. Asher is sweet, he likes to be in control and to be honest, he is just drool-worthy. He loves his brother, and he feels bad for turning him in, but what was an 11-year-old kid to do when his brother just bbqed his parents? I gave this book 5 stars.
Book Three is called Burn Me Down. After Derek confronts Asher and Violet in book two, they are on edge that he will come after them again. Derek intends to by kidnapping Violet’s best friend, Beck, but he can’t kill her. Derek has fallen for her even though the voice in his head says she won’t ever want him back. Derek had never had anyone fight for him until he met Beck.
“You can’t go around kidnapping me, fuck with my head, and make me feel shit for you then dump me off at the side of the road like I’m a bag of garbage”
I loved this one! Beck is nuts, not gonna sugar coat that one! She should run from Derek, she has been kidnapped, she knows he has bbqed a lot of people, but she falls for him and demands that his best friend accept it, even though Derek killed Violet’s parents. This book shows Derek healing through the love that Beck has for him; he starts to ignore the voice and realise that he isn’t a monster, and he is capable of love and of being loved. The end was a big HEA for everyone, and I loved it! Derek deserved to be happy. I gave this one 5 stars as well. It’s a good trilogy, it’s dark and twisty, and a bit weird too.
Thank you Corina for a great trilogy recommendation.
Have you read these?
