Girl on Fire

By: Danielle Bannister

Narrated by: Sarah Puckett, Oliver Highpoint

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Fire was my only companion. A burning light in a world otherwise filled with darkness. A life of pain and abuse I never thought I’d escape.

I’m still not convinced I have.

When friendly Santa-figure turned trucker, Al, finds me at a rest stop and offers me a job at his idyllic farm in small-town Nebraska, the picturesque family life is more than I could hope for.

And his youngest son, Kyle, is a dream romance that I don’t deserve.

But no dream lasts. As a new nightmare begins, I’m back where I started. Captive. Abandoned. Alone. And staring into the flames.

Except this time the embers are dying, and when the monster in the dark enslaves my soul, no one will stoke me back to life.

If you like a survivor story with a touch of romance, you will love this beautiful dark psychological thriller.

Please be sure to listen with care and check for tropes on the author's website.

©2021 City Owl Press (P)2023 Fireside Audio

This was such a great read!

It's been a while since I read the book itself and listening to it I was reminded at how good it was. There were several bits I hadn't remembered and several spots that had me feeling so many emotions I found myself being overwhelmed with emotions. There are some hard things that happen so if you are easily triggered, just know that.

A Different Kind of Listen

If you are looking for something different to listen to, then you have found it. I will warn you that this book is pretty intense to listen to and the narrator did an amazing job with it. The suspense in this on is high. Sarah is a girl who had a past that can only be described as brutal. The present doesn't look much better either. She is in a bad situation and no way for things to look any better or even get any better. The first half of this book will really almost rip your heart out and have you gasping a time or twenty. This book comes in sections. First you get Sarah's point of view and we get to meet Al and his family The second part of the book is told from Kyle's point of view. But I won't tell you who they are. I feel like you need to discover that yourself. This is a for sure a book you peel back a layer at a time.

Engaging!

This is the first book I've read/listened to by Danielle Bannister. It was well written with a engaging storyline and complicated characters. My heart dropped at the end. The twists and turns kept me glued to it! I didn't want to pause it.

Oliver Highpoint and Sarah Puckett are excellent narrators. They brought this book to life with emotional performances that had this audiobook rolling like a movie in my head. Perfection!

What a trip!

This one took me on a trip! I was unsure what was going to happen and kept waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. There are twists and turns that shook me! The characters are intense and I did not trust any of them. The main character has not had a nice life but she perseveres on with caution. She knows her issues and does her best to keep them under control.
I listened to this on audio. Sarah Puckett and Oliver Highpoint are the narrators. They both do an amazing job.

Excellent dark psychological thriller!

This was my first Danielle Bannister's book, and won't be my last. This is an excellent dark psychological thriller. The characters are complex, and intriguing. Sarah is a wonderful, strong character. Her story is heart wrenching, and my heart broke for her. The storyline is intense, and captivating, filled with drama, and twists and turns. The plot is well crafted, and enthralling. Some scenes aren't for the faint of heart. Sarah Puckett and Oliver Highpoint did an excellent job bringing these characters, and this story to life. This is a great team author/narrators.

Girl on Fire

Girl on Fire was my first read/listen by Danielle Bannister, and I enjoyed it. I'm super excited to read more by this author. This book is about Sarah.

Sarah has had a hard life. She's trying to move on and get a new start. Al is a truck driver who picks her up and offers her a place to stay until he can take her to California at the end of the summer. As she is there she meets Al's two sons Kyle and Brad.

Sarah falls for Kyle, but Brad does not make their relationship easy. There is so much that happens in this book. This book kept me wanting more. Sarah goes through so much in her life and will do anything to better it.

This book is dark, and I would recommend reading the trigger warnings. I loved the narrators that were picked for this book as well. It brought the story to life.

Dark and Intense Romantic Suspense

5/5 ⭐
0/5 🌶️
4/5 🎧

This was such a dark and intense read. I usually read spicy romance, and while this story had romantic elements with a happily ever after, it was definitely more of a suspense than anything else. Sarah's past was brutal and horrifying and unfortunately so was her present. She went through so much in the first half plus of this book and it seemed like their was no end in sight...

I think one of my favorite parts of this story was that it was dual POV, but written in parts. In the first part we get Sarah's POV as she's introduced to Al and his family and goes through her terrible ordeal and in the second part we get Kyle's POV as he works through what happened to her and he fights for her. It really had maximum impact on your emotions.

As dark as this story was, Danielle did not describe the horrifying bits in deep detail which kept the heartbreak to a reasonable amount. Had she really delved into them this could have been a rip your heart out story, but I think most people will be able to stomach this read despite the triggers it deals with.

Sarah Puckett is one of my favorite narrators and I was so excited to see she was narrating Sarah in this story. Oliver Highpoint is new to me and I really enjoyed his narrating as well, especially his male voices.

Sarah suffered so much 🔥

I had never read anything by this particular author before but the premise of the book sounded interesting. Sarah is a young runaway. Sarah is both scared and fascinated by fire. Sarah gets picked up by a trucker and he talks Sarah into going home with him and helping out on his farm. Sarah meets 2 brothers. Unfortunately at this farm, Sarah's life is forever changed. It was sad because Sarah never had a family she could count on and Sarah sacrificed herself at this farm to save the rest of the family. It really was heartbreaking. Beware this book is very triggering and is about abuse, murder, and sexual blackmail. Does Sarah deserve a second chance?

I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left this review.

Girl on Fire

well shoot, I was not expecting that kinda story. man I felt so bad for her. But I wounder if the brother did rape and killed his sister. that would be some crazy stuff. but part 2 of this book broke my little heart. I felt bad bad for Kyle. I knew he was in love with her from the beginning. I'm just glad the ended up together.

Truly gripping.

This started out interesting, promptly grew gripping, then turned pretty dark … and then it evolved more from there but I don’t want to spoil anything. I’ll just say that I couldn’t put it down and became an instant fan of this author.

Extortion.
SA.
Lies, betrayal.
Broken heroine.
Wrongfully convicted.
Epic love story.

Overall:
4 stars.


Audio:
Puckett is one of my favorite narrators, her voice is amazing, you can always tell who is talking, whose POV it’s in, etc. Overall production is perfect. 🦩