Ellen Hopkins

Seventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter in a large Mormon family, is sent to her aunt's Nevada ranch for the summer, where she temporarily escapes her alcoholic, abusive father and finds love and acceptance, only to lose everything when she returns home.

Burned

chloe rae

This book just...wow. I can't put into words how amazing this book is. Firstly, don't write this book off if you don't like poetry. I wasn't sure about it because of that reason, and in the end it was one of the things I found so amazing about it. This book became my life for the 2 days it took me to read it. I'd pull it out in class, hide it behind my textbook, take it to lunch with me. I think I even got yelled at for taking it to dinner with me. I remember reading the ending in class and kind of just sitting there afterwards, so surprised and in awe. AH, IT'S JUST SO GOOD. I don't want to tell you too much about it, but the ending will surprise you, no doubt. This book is sad and dark, but so beautifully written. My favorite Ellen Hopkins book of all time.

Lara Engle

A compelling, quick read: I understand why the high schoolers love Hopkins' books. The ending is overly dramatic for my taste. The cliffhanger made me roll my eyes, which I'm sure wasn't the intended reaction. I won't hesitate to recommend these to students, though.

Izza

** spoiler alert **
           I don't understand how I could not like this book the first time I started it. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, I have no idea, but I'm so glad i finally decided to read it. I think this is by far my favorite Hopkins book so far. 

I can't say that i could relate to Pattyn; my family isn't mormon (or practicing any religion of the sort). But I could relate to her questionning of God. 

What I like the most about Hopkins' books is their honesty. The ending is rarely a happy one. Sad, but true, just like it mostly happens in life.

Alyssa 

wow. I loved this one! Soooo sad! though I was confused by the ending. Some of my friends said she killed herself at the end, but I interpreted it differently. idk. Still, great book! :)

kate humphreys 

another one day read! i haven’t read an ellen hopkins book in forEVER and her books always bring back a lot of memories for me. the ending of this one was CRAZY and i’m highly debating ordering the sequel on amazon so i can read it asap!

Loretta Dredger

cora rolfes 

this book is unique. it’s a quick read despite the size because of the writings format, and it’s a good story. i normally don’t read realistic fiction, but this was worth it.

Flavia Louise

2.25 stars
Because I ADORED the format but found the story very lackluster and it also (view spoiler)[escalated way to quickly in the end. (hide spoiler)]

Ruth Lykins 

My heart hurts. I read it in one sitting. The verse was beautiful. But it's definitely not for the faint of heart. I probably would not recommend it even though it was wonderful.

Clara Tolley

This book was great. Pattyn and Ethan’s love for each other will be cherished by me for the rest of time. Their love was so pure, and as Taylor Swift says, it was Sad, Beautiful and Tragic. Those last few chapters truly broke my heart. I am so excited to read the sequel, and it should be here by Thursday! Anyone who loves a heart breaking romance should read this!! But beware of the abuse mentioned (in detail) that was written in this book. Always look up TW before reading. Anyways I loved this!! 

liz mcclaran

I read this in just over a day. 
I sat alone in bed with a glass of wine at 2:45am, sobbing, finishing this book.

  It. crushed. my. heart.

And then made me angry.
I became so invested in Pattyn, her aunt and her boyfriend.
I smiled, mostly cried, and I just wanted to scream for someone to come rescue this girl & her siblings.

On to my re-read of Smoke and trying to pull myself together from being shattered by this one.

After being caught with a boy in a delicate situation by her father, Pattyn is sent to live with her aunt in Nevada to find redemption.

Mary Graham

As seen on Caity Reads.

I’m not sure you can go wrong with an Ellen Hopkins book. Granted, this is only the second one I’ve ever read and the first I read quite a few years ago. But her writing style is just so beautiful. All of her books (to my knowledge anyway) are written in prose and it works out perfectly. She writes about such intense and serious subjects, that it really helps to get her story across. Burned is about a teenage girl named Pattyn who is being raised in a very strict Mormon home, it’s also a very abusive home. She’s pretty sick of her home life and starts to do things that are frowned upon in her religion and her home. These events lead her to be sent to her aunts home for the summer.

I really liked this book. Once Pattyn is out of her home and into her aunts, it really shows her how life can be when you’re in a loving home and not one run by fear and hate. She gets to experience new things, meet new people, and learn a little more about her family in the process. I was absolutely not expecting the book to end the way it did and I cannot wait to find out what happens in the next book.

Overall, if you like contemporary novels that deal with tougher subjects I really think you should pick this up. If you love novels written in prose, then you should pick this up. Basically, you should just pick this up.

Amber Laha

I loved the unique way of telling the story through poetry and how it wasn't just words, but a visual through them. The story was interesting, until I started noticing how she seems to be stereotyping the LDS/Mormons. There is extremists and/or people who distort religious beliefs to whatever they want. We see this. We saw these so-called Muslims who attacked the U.S. in 9/11(Muslims are peaceful and don't go for violence). It only takes a few to destroy a good community. I will say, that I am not sure if she intended to say that all Mormons are like this, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt. But because there is that doubt and it came off more and more like she was saying that as I got deeper in the story I will have to lower the star rating much lower than I would otherwise have. 

I also didn't care for the fact that Pattyn jumped from one relationship to the next so quickly, in a manner of days. That didn't come off as realistic. I don't know, maybe that is because I know nothing of dating, but...yeah. Either way I really like Hopkins writing and I will be checking more of her work out.

Emily C Peterson

Elize van Heerden

Beautifully written, took me a couple of minutes to get into the writing style but after that the book was easy. 
The story is heart wrenching. Definitely a must read

Aly Valenz

Why !? This is the fastest I ever read any book, I loved it but that ending😭!

Mahasin S Ameen

Eh.

Really, that's my review.

Eh.

I'm a little tired of Hopkins only writing in freeverse, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Furthermore, What kind of a hokey name is Pattyn Von Stratten. It rhymes and everything.

Plus and I know this opening them up, that Hopkins is LDS, I know it, her characters are usually some type of Mormon and usually I can ignore it so that it doesn't annoy me... but yeah, it annoyed me.

emily learmont

Hannah Nugent

Azalya Gillies

Ashley shackelford

Pattyn Von Stratten searches for love and acceptance and discovers what it takes to rise from the ashes in this riveting duology told in verse from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins. In Burned, it all started with a dream, the kind of dream that most teen girls experience. But Pattyn Von Stratten is not like most teen girls. Raised in a religious—yet abusive—family, a simple dream may not be exactly a sin, but it could be the first step toward hell and eternal damnation. After Pattyn’s father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control. Pattyn is sent to live with an aunt in the wilds of Nevada to find salvation and redemption. What she finds instead is love and acceptance—until she realizes her old demons will not let her go. In Smoke, Pattyn Von Stratten is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after a tragic loss, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated. Is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?

Burned

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