I'd Rather Burn than Bloom

By: Shannon C. F. Rogers

Narrated by: Jensen Olaya

Packed with voice, I’d Rather Burn than Bloom is a powerful young adult novel about a Filipina-American teen who tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother’s death.

Some girls call their mother their best friend. Marisol Martin? She could never relate. She and her mom were forever locked in an argument with no beginning and no end. Clothes, church, boys, no matter the topic, Marisol always felt like there was an unbridgeable gap between them that they were perpetually shouting across, one that she longed to close.

But when her mother dies suddenly, Marisol is left with no one to fight against, haunted by all the things that she both said and didn’t say.

Her dad seems completely lost and, worse, baffled by Marisol’s attempts to connect with her mother’s memory through her Filipino culture. Her brother Bernie is retreating further and further into himself. And when Marisol sleeps with her best friend’s boyfriend—and then punches said best friend in the face—she is left alone, with nothing but a burning anger and nowhere for it to go.

And Marisol is determined to stay angry. After all, there’s a lot to be angry about: her father, her mother, the world. But as a new friendship begins to develop with someone who just might understand, Marisol reluctantly starts to open up to her and to the possibility that there’s something else on the other side of that anger—something more to who she is and who she could be.

©2023 Shannon C. F. Rogers (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Bitterly Beautiful

This was a poignant story about a daughter coming to grips with the death of her mother.

In it she navigates her friendships, potential romances and relationships with her dad and her brother.

So much of this spoke to me because I can relate to the loss and the processing. Mine happened in adulthood, so reading about this experience from a younger point of view helped me to see what I had healed from already and what I'm still processing and healing from.

Shannon's writing is gorgeous. She knows how to capture feelings and emotions beautifully and she paints them brightly with her words.

I look forward to more of her work.

Such a powerful story and an amazing performance!

I typically don’t read YA with female main characters, but…I had to listen to this audiobook performed by Jensen Olaya. Shannon’s story of loss, coming of age, culture clashes and painful growth are brought to life by Jensen’s voicing of so many emotions through so many characters. Highly recommended if you’re looking to feel ALL the feels!