Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Wildefire by Karsten Knight
"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."- summary from Amazon

I've been really excited to read this book for a while and it was really good. In the first half of the book, there is some excitement but some of it is also a bit slow. The second half though is AMAZINGLY good, thrilling, and a fast-paced adventure. The other thing I had a little bit of a problem with is that the chapters were really long and it was hard to find stopping points when I needed them, but that's not a huge deal.

Anyway, on to the good things- I absolutely loved the concept of this and thought Knight did a really good job working with the various mythologies and the backstories of the gods and goddesses. The dialogue is another major selling point- it flows so well, is realistic, and is usually very funny. I loved reading all the interactions between characters, particularly between Ash and Colt as well as Rolfe's jokes, because it was just so much fun.

Overall, this is a really solid, original debut and I can't wait to read the sequels. By the way, for those who worry about starting trilogies, this is a good book because there is a small cliffhanger but the main story in this book ends. It's like the Paranormalcy series in that it seems to be episodic, which I love, rather than one story told over three books. I hope that makes sense.

FTC: Received e-galley from S&S Galley Grab. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.