Review: When Water Burns by Lani Wendt Young

Book: When Water Burns (Telesa #2)
By: Lani Wendt Young
Publication Date: June 13, 2012
Publisher: Self Published

Description: “Maybe you’re not meant to manipulate fire the way I do. Maybe sparks are all you’re ever going to make.”


He snarled, “Or maybe you just need to be a better teacher and give me more.”

Before I could reply, he grabbed my hand, twisted and pulled me into a restraining lock. Body pressed against my back, he held me in a chokehold. I struggled. Kicked. Fought. Pain knifed me as I tried to free myself. He spoke and his breath was hot in my ear. “Now, fire goddess let’s see if I can make more than sparks.” Rising panic choked me, with it came rage. And with rage, came fire. Keahi felt it. He laughed as I strained against him. As together we both burst into flame.

With Nafanua and the Covenant Sisterhood dead, Leila and Daniel are finally able to love without fear of retribution. Or are they? As a malicious telesa plots her revenge, a mysterious stranger arrives on the island. Fuelled by hate and running from a fiery past, he looks to Leila for answers and she must fight to contain the fury of fanua-afi while trying to protect all those she loves. It seems that this is a battle she must wage alone, for Daniel’s ocean birthright cannot be denied and he refuses to walk beside her. Are Leila and Daniel destined to be forever divided by the elements? When it comes to Water and Fire, daughter of earth and son of the ocean – who will endure?

When water burns?

My Thoughts: After the amazing creation that was Telesa, I was scared the second book wouldn't be able to compete, but let me just say that I'm happy that I was wrong. When water burns deepened my love for this series and makes me think that the author Lani Wendt Young must either be a genius, or have some mutated form of the Telesa gene that allows her to read the minds of her readers and give them exactly what they need.

I loved it I loved it, I loved it. It made me cry, and laugh, and all the other inappropriate things that people stare at you and wonder what on earth that girl's issue is. We see all our favorite characters in this story, of course there's Leila and her ever constant love Daniel. They enter into the normal relationship issues in this book as they balance each of their needs. It all plays out so real. I'm amazed that Lani was able to capture the pure stubbornness that women and men deal with in relationships. We see the surfer sexy god Jason again and what happens with him literally breaks my heart. Simone is here again and all his fa'afafine glory and I grow to love him even more. We even meet some other characters who I grow to love, and hate, and love again. The bad chick Sarona is here too, in all her hateful ways. It surprises me how far she's willing to go for power and makes me just shake my head. The new character, Keahi....is really something. He breaks my heart and gets on my nerves all at the same time. I'm never sure if I want to pull him into my arms and kiss him, or punch him in the face. He's just so frustrating!

There's so much I cant adequately tell you how I feel. I just loved it so much. I said it before and I'll say it again and again. This is one of my absolute favorite series'. It joins the ranks of the greats like Twilight, TMI, and THG. I could read it over and over again. Trust me, if you haven't given this series a shot, you are missing out. When Water Burns is the perfect sequel accompaniment to Telesa in that, where Telesa embraced the flames of passion, love and growth, this story focused on the destruction capabilities of fire. How, without balance, fire cannot be fully controlled and can consume everything. And without sounding too cheesy, It definitely consumed me too. This book will forever hold a place on my bookshelf (and not just because my review of the first book was included in the praise section of this book. Talk about excited? I almost died). Besides the super amazing cover (which you have to check out in person for the full effect) the story is out of this world. I cant imagine another book ever making me feel this way again......except perhaps the final book in the series, The Bone Bearer.It wouldn't be me if I didn't include that there were a few typos in this book, but honestly, it didnt matter, it didnt take anything away from it and I still loved it.

I'm sure you already know my review, but if it wasn't plain with all my excitement I'll just tell you. 5 Big Stars. I cant wait for the next book.