I feel totally inadequate to write a review of this book. Burn That Bridge is a wonderful YA/New Adult story; I’ve never read one like it. I requested a review copy because I’ve loved other books I’ve read by J.R. Gray and I loved this one, too.

I’m well past 60 years-old so there is a lot of terminology in the story that I didn’t totally get (some of the gaming, meme, gif speak) but that didn’t really matter or impact my overall enjoyment of the book. The story really tugged at my heart. No one should have to endure the things that DJ and Sebastian did and for a while I wondered what kind of ending the author was going to give the story. I feel like it’s not really a romance, albeit there is definitely romance between DJ and Sebastian and there is a HFN. It felt so real to me when I read it and I wanted to wrap DJ and Sebastian up in protective cotton/bubble-wrap or armor to keep them safe.

While I loved this book, I had a few issues that kept me from giving it 5 stars. At times, I had trouble knowing who was speaking and it was enough that I had to back up and re-read more than I’m used to. There were also a few places where I think the dialogue got mixed up between characters and when I couldn’t totally figure it out I just had to move on. While I received a review copy of the book, I actually read the copy I borrowed from Kindle Unlimited so I was reading the published version. At least once, they were supposed to be in DJ’s bedroom but a trundle was mentioned and that was what Sebastian had, not DJ. So, while I normally wouldn’t knock off a star for spelling, grammar, or other minor things, collectively these things took me out of the story more than I could ignore.

I want to conclude on a positive note and say how glad I am that I read Burn That Bridge. It made me think about things I’ve never thought of before and, because it felt so real, I also feel like I learned a lot. Thank you, J.R. Gray for expanding my perspective.

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There was a light to this boy I’d never experienced before. His soul was brightness. I envied him. I wanted to comb my fingers through him and feel like he felt if only for an instant.

He drummed on his thigh, lost in his Fall Out Boy, which was such a strange band for him to be into. They were like thirty-five, but he owned it. He’d put all their albums on shuffle. Some stuff I knew, and others were made before I was old enough to care about music, and his dedication showed. He started to belt out every song in a slightly off-key tune that endeared him in my heart.

“How many people see this side of you?”

He looked over at me, his cheeks turning a little pink. “Just Emery, and now you.” He shrugged it off like it wasn’t that big a deal, but in the world I’d fallen from, it was. “My group of friends doesn’t care about cool.”

“Everyone cares in the group I was in.”

“It shows.”

I couldn’t make eye contact. “You mean since none of them will talk to me anymore?”

“Why do they care what you look like? You’re still the same person, right?”

“It’s more than that.”

“Is it?”

I turned back towards him, waiting for an explanation.

“You changed the outside and a name. And you didn’t really change it that much. You decided to go by your initials. If that’s all it takes to scare people off, they are the problem.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“I think it is. You were…” He trailed off.

“I was?” I prompted.

He shook his head. “Just rambling. It should be, and is, that simple.”

“I was lying to them. I deceived every single person for the last year.” This was so much heavier than I wanted the night to be. I didn’t want everything to be colored by my transition. I wanted to be as light as Sebastian felt.

“I think we all have parts of us we aren’t ready to share with the rest of the world. That doesn’t make you a liar.” He rolled to his side to face me.

“This isn’t a little thing.”

“I think you’re making excuses for shitty behavior.”

I couldn’t look at him again, but I could feel his eyes, unwavering. “They don’t know any better.”

“It’s time to learn.” He skimmed his fingers over my forearm, and there were real damn sparks in the wake of his touch.

I put my hand over the place he’d been like I could hold the feeling there, preserve it in some way.

He was my rainbow. A prism projecting color into this dreary existence. The little bit of light shining through the rain, and maybe that was all I needed to go on.