Burn The Past, Book eleven of the Fragile Line Series by Sarah Dawson Powell

Powerful, Gripping, Intriguing

Contemporary Fiction/ YA/Themes of Addiction

Burn The Past, book 11 of The Fragile Line Series by Sarah Dawson Powell- author .

‘No One Ever Plans To Get Hurt’.....

Whilst her lifelong constant, turned antagonist has unwittingly removed himself, at least physically from her life for now, the woman who brought him to his ultimate downfall as their story almost went full circle, is ironically, the one to feel remorse at the outcome. As she struggles to regain some semblance of control over her existence and an array of emotions, she realises that the control she felt, never actually existed in the first place. She is about to learn some harsh lessons when she discovers that there is an incident from her past that she never realised existed, and events within that gap that have now set her and others around her, on a new course when she maybe could have salvaged something from the old one…..had she given herself the chance. Will she be able to live with not disclosing what she now knows, therefore admitting to herself that her actions alone could have saved a great deal of heartbreak and change. Can she find a new way forward from the wreckage and make it work?

How will she execute the decision to make him pay for his wrong doings by pretending to feel something she doesn’t, and safeguard not only her, but the young ones in her charge? Complicating things further, a person from her past, very unexpectedly re-enters her world at a time when it has become so much more chaotic than the last time they were a part of it, a person whom she is so desperate to keep. When they present her with an ultimatum, having decided that her situation is one that they can’t afford to get mixed up in …...who will she choose and will she regret giving her blessing to two of the most important people in her life, to redefine their roles in theirs?

Now he has no direct control, a thing he hates to lose, over the lives of the people who have become such an integral part of his world over the last decade, not to mention forfeited the rights to even see his children, how many other new and interesting ways can he come up with to destroy those he feels are responsible for destroying him? How will they react when they find out that time is more on his side than theirs, and just how concerned should they be about his future plans?

Now that he is finally calling it quits with one female, albeit somewhat unconventionally….(although when has convention really been a consideration in any of their lives) his feelings for another resurface, not that they were ever truly hidden. When he finds himself unconsciously agreeing to a business deal, with the man who has been the central force that has stymied his contact with focus of his long held feelings, things threaten to become extremely complicated until his adversary behaves in a way that is out of character, and the very foundations of their relationship come crumbling down all too easily. However, has this opportunity come at the worst possible time in their fiercely opposing schedules, and are they strong enough to navigate this never before travelled journey together?

After a disturbing wake up call brings home the realisation that he has to get his life together, the life he has so valiantly fought to move on from comes knocking at his door asking him to recall that very moment, putting his recovery in jeopardy. How will he deal with being made the scapegoat by so many, for yet another ‘incident’ in the life of the woman who purposely put him front and centre in her life when it was falling apart, dragging him down with her and making him the primary candidate and suspect for something he now cannot prove?

Having finally broken away himself from a lifestyle that was putting his friendships, and his own mental well-being at risk, he has finally found a settled, stable place to be, making the occasional appearance at events to support those people that he had to distance himself from in order to keep them in his life. Will he manage to maintain the life he has been craving for so long, or will he be lured back to walking that fragile line that he occupied for too long?

It had been about three months since reading book ten when I started book eleven, so I had to go back over my review for ‘Nightmares’ to remind myself of the current situation with each character. The first chapter brings the reader up to date with Sadie’s life and for a while I felt like I’d missed something, but then realised that some of what I was reading, may have unfurled between books so to speak, and once again I settled back in to that familiar mix of annoyance and empathy with Sadie that has practically been brought about by every book. For the first couple of chapters the writing and what was taking place felt very chaotic, leaving me feeling that I had perhaps forgotten more of what had taken place in the last book than I had originally believed. However, as the novel progressed I began to regain the frame of mind that one has to be in to deal with the disorder and mayhem that Sarah’s characters seem to revel in. The thought that has gone into the connection between the illustration on the cover and those in the back of the book together with what is written feels so seamless, I was taken aback by the accuracy of the images when compared to the descriptions of the corresponding sequences. I recall Sarah including pictures on her social media page some time ago when she was planning this book, and to see it come to fruition now feels like a very satisfying revelation. I personally feel that the overall content in the writing and the presentation is so much better in this book, descriptive passages and dialogue were tangible and real. This book feels very different to the others, not having as much input from a couple of characters and them putting themselves in situations where being part of the main narrative throughout the book wasn’t an option. However, they are still used extremely effectively. The only thing I would say that was included in this book, was time jumping amongst chapters.

As much as Jenny’s plan to get one over on Ryan felt empowering, I did wonder how much trouble it could lead to. When she decides it’s a bad idea, she then hands control of her life from Ryan over to Sadie and Corey, and whilst they may be the better option, I cannot fathom why this woman now with four children, all with different fathers cannot take control over her own life, and that of her offspring. Everything about her and her life is dysfunctional and she just keeps making it worse! Even down to something as simple as giving the father of one of her children permission to get their hair cut. I did feel a little sorry for her over that, but it just feels like she lets events happen around her without much thought for the consequences. She doesn’t seem to consider what messages she is sending to some very impressionable individuals or have a lot of interest in them much of the time, probably a reason why she harbours insecurities that they prefer Corey. When she suggests to Angel to ask Lindsey about the report cards as she is a teacher and Angel agrees, Jenny then proceeds to sulk. This suggests a lack of emotional intelligence, a trait that could end up sending mixed messages to her children making them feel responsible for her emotions. The thought she has that she always saw herself as the sensible one compared to her ‘best friend’ is frankly delusional. It is already apparent that Jenny’s disorderly lifestyle is impacting on Angel when she is questioned by Lisa, asking about her relationship to Corey. Also perhaps her struggle to fully accept her younger siblings at times could eventually become a problem. Her apparent fixation on her youngest daughter not yet having hair, is the least of her worries. Her constant accusatory comments towards Corey leave very little room to wonder why he may prefer not to be with her. Now that she seems to be in a situation where she may have to be without the permanent support of a man, I do wonder how she will cope…..I suspect she won’t!

Sadie’s constant taunting of Dave because he is unable to give her the one thing she really wants, is cruel and the fact that she doesn’t seem to appreciate all that she does have, is insufferable. Her constant need for attention, and catastrophising over everything did get very tiresome. It felt like her and Dave had almost morphed into her and Ryan, but as much as Ryan always accused her of driving him to act the way he did, Sadie really did push Dave to his limit, and then to dismiss their marriage because of actions he took that were entirely reminiscent of actions that Sadie had taken repeatedly so many times was so unbalanced, but then that is a perfect word to sum up Sadie. Even when she seems to have all that she wants she is still making it all about her. She has unreasonable expectations of other people and like Jenny, is emotionally immature, expecting everyone to fall into line with what she wants. She doesn’t seem to be happy unless there is a problem and when she starts to tell herself that her busy schedule will cause issues within her relationship, and mentally berates Evy for trying to throw some positivity on her negativity I found that profoundly annoying. To finally find out though that the way she has been conducting herself has cost her so dearly, would be agonising to anyone else, however I’m really not sure she will realise the magnitude of what she has brought about and will probably continue to blame others. Corey’s epiphany that he has been her addiction because of his inability to be there for her as she needed, was as enlightening for me as it was to Corey. Now, how will she react if her new circumstances do not run as smoothly as she’d like? The way in which the author used Sadie’s televised interview to recap everything that had happened to her was a clever way to assist the reader to recall what had gone before. It certainly reminded me of a few aspects of Sadie’s journey that had slipped my mind.

Jenny’s visits to Ryan came across extremely powerfully. His comment about her hair was outrageous and his delusion that he can still control things coupled with his moments of realisation that he can’t, provide the reader with some confrontations between the man who has an unstoppable temper and the woman who is expecting his child.

As always the author does in include light as well as shade in the narrative and there are amusing moments. Angel’s sassiness in regards to her new found ‘career’ was hilarious, as was Sadie, with her description of what Dave did to one of her colleagues within the industry. Sadie not realising that a ‘diaphragm’ is anything other than something used for birth control made me smile, as that is just typical Sadie.

Despite all the aggravation and the intensity within the group, it is heart warming that underneath all that takes place, (with the exception of Ryan) I think they do care for each other. The way that Corey and Jenny are immediately concerned for Sadie whilst watching the VMA’s on television and the group coming together for Sadie’s launch party really were touching moments for me.