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Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

“Though the Katiniss/Gale/Peeta love triangle made me want to scream, the story itself was fast paced, action packed and exciting. Collins is great at laying on the pressure and keeping those pages turning.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pros: Collins is fantastic at pacing and pressure/Finnick Odair is right up on top when it comes to favorite characters. 

Cons: I abhor love triangles! Peeta/Gale/Katniss’ indecision about who to love but I have to remind myself they are only teenagers after all, everything IS the end of the world 🙌💯🙄

Full Review ***Disclaimer - If you have not read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, please do so and then feel free to read this post at your leisure. That way, you'll know what I'm talking about 🙌.***

Katniss and Peeta are safely back in District 12. They've tried, with varying degrees of success to adapt to life after the Games. It's not easy though. Plagued by nightmares of what they were forced to do in the Arena to survive, they now understand why Haymitch finds solace in the bottom of a bottle. They don't have long to dwell though as now they must go on the Victory Tour, where they travel from District to District making speeches about the sacrifices that the other Tributes made to keep the Country of Panem operating smoothly. 

Their first stop is District 11, Rue's home and though Peeta makes a beautiful speech and a generous offer to the families of Rue and Thresh, Katniss can't help herself. The words come pouring out about Rue and after she's made her speech, an old man in the crowd whistles the Mockingjay tune that Rue taught her in the Arena. And the entire District raises their hands in silent salute. It is an open act of defiance and it is dealt with brutally. 

Katniss is horrified but she and Peeta must finish up the tour. It's obvious that there is dissent and the rumblings of revolt in the other Districts, though, there's no denying it. Katniss and Peeta try to continue with their "star-crossed lovers" story on the Tour and for a time, Katniss thinks perhaps she's managed to convince Snow of her love for Peeta but in the end, she knows she's failed. When she returns to District 12, she starts making preparations to flee, to take her loved ones and get as far away as she can. 

That's all ruined when the announcement is made for the 75th Hunger Games. Every 25 years, it's the Quarter Quell, meaning some new, horrific torment is designed for the Tributes that will be fighting in the Games that year. And this Quarter Quell, Snow announces that in order to remind the Districts that they are only as strong as their strongest members, the pool of Tributes will be selected from past Victors of the Hunger Games. 

Katniss is back in the Arena.

Once the Games begins there are layers upon layers of deceptions, mistrust, uneasy alliances and Katniss has no idea where to turn to for help. Though, of course, Peeta is always there, comforting, strong, warm and gentle and she can't help but feel something for him. She's not sure what it is but she knows she can't deny it anymore. 

The end, of course, is quite literally, explosive and leaves off for the perfect opening for the third installment, Mockingjay.

Though the love triangle between Katniss/Gale and Peeta was absolutely maddening and ridiculously melodramatic at points, I managed to look past it, since Collins was great at pacing. There were introductions of memorable characters like Finnick and Johanna, past Tributes of the Games and of course, the ending was quite the cliffhanger. This wasn't my favorite of the series but it was still very entertaining.

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