Review of Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Title: Burned (House of the Night #7)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Length: 13 hrs
Source: Library
Format: Audiobook
Rating: ★★

Summary from Goodreads: Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her.  But how?  He will have to die to do so, the Vampire High Council stipulates.  And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left…

Can you put back together a broken heart?  What about a shattered soul?  Zoe is mentally destroyed after she witnessed Heath's death and now her soul floats in pieces in the Otherworld.  I wasn't a huge fan of Zoey in this novel.  She was always this strong and independent women who not only did what was right, but stood up for what she believed in.  Now she is decimated and doesn't know how or even want to get her soul back together.  She seems lost, almost child-like, and needs not one, but two men to come and save her.  I'm all for the knight in shining armor, but this series was all about female strength before and now this seemed to do a 180.   

The other major situation going on during this Zoey drama is Stevie Rae and her love life.  She is one messed up country bumpkin.  She constantly makes bad choices throughout the novel that not only get herself, but others in trouble.  She is keeping secrets that will destroy the people closest to her.  She was really bossy in this novel and I think she should have stepped back and evaluated her situation before she acted.  Again more drama.

The actual audio part of this novel was really nice.  I'm a little confused why they keep switching narrators for different books in the series.  I enjoyed listening to Caitlin Davies narrate, but it just seems to me it would make the most sense to have one person narrate the entire series. 

When I first started this series I really like it.  I loved Zoey's friends, but we don't get to see a lot of them in this novel.  I miss their witty commentary and the spice they added to the story.  I also really enjoyed that this was a matriarchal society.  They were all strong women with a nice balance between females and males in positions of power, and I thought it sent a good message to young girls.  In Burned though I thought most of the females made poor decisions and I missed their strength.

For the last two books I've been getting bored with the series and I feel like it's the same old drama.  Has anyone read the entire series?  Do the next couple of novels get better?  I'm wondering if I should stick it out until the end or just give up on it.