Review: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Review: Burn for Burn (Burn for Burn #1) by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is the kind of place where nobody locks their doors at night, where parents can sleep easy, knowing their daughters are tucked away safe and sound in their beds.
But bad things can happen, even to good girls . . . and sometimes, the only way to make things right is to do something wrong.
Lillia used to trust boys, but not anymore. Not after what happened this summer. And she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her little sister from the same fate.
Kat is over the rumors, the insults, the cruel jokes made at her expense. It all goes back to one person--her ex-best friend. Someone needs to teach her a lesson, and, with Lillia and Mary behind her, Kat feels up to the task.
Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. Now that she’s got friends who have her back, he's going to be in big trouble.
Three very different girls who come together to make things right. Will they go too far?

Publishes in US: September 18th 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: ya contemp
Source: library
Series? Yes Burn for Burn #1 Fire with Fire is already released and Ashes to Ashes releases Sept 16 2014

Buy it: Amazon Barnes & Noble IndieBound Book Depository

Author stalk away:  Siobhan~site ~twitter ~blog

Jenny ~site ~twitter ~facebook ~blog

 

    I wanted to read Burn for Burn from the first time that I saw the cover and the synopsis. Sometimes I am not drawn to the mean girls type of book, but something about this, how you can see the victim and how they've been hurt, almost made me cheer for their revenge plans. and definitely curious to see what happened to hurt each girl that hurt them and left them wanting to hurt or bring someone down. 

    Each character had things that I liked about them and others that I could see how they were so flawed or that their issues could have been avoided. Mary was called names by the boy who later only talked to her in secret and then things blew up from there. Lillian thinks that something happened to her little sister, and I can def see how the protectiveness and wanting Nadie to not be hurt how she was or in other ways. Kat is the rebel, music lover and I liked her the most I think, but everything that happened with her ex-best friend was hard to read. Being dropped or forced out of the social circle is so hard and this is something that has happened to me before. 

    Their ideas to get revenge were all over the place from minor pranks to something the girls could get in serious trouble for and leave one of their classmates forever changed. They for a while walked the line of what is okay and not, and they eventually went way over that line. But even when everything awfully came to a head, I was still almost hoping it was a dream or that they could somehow change where they crossed the line. And even though in their taking revenge also put them on the line of bullying others instead of just being the victim. 

   There was a hint of supernatural thrown in, I think. But I hope it was just a coincidence and that it doesn't go down that road in the next book. It was mentioned twice and I was like really? But maybe with the awesome writing and this ending leaving me in suspense, that the next book will make that thread clear. 

    Fire with Fire is a book that I for sure want to read, the sequel, because Burn for Burn left me pretty frustrated because one plot line was left wide open, and of course I didn't have the next book to keep reading and see what happened. 

Bottom Line: Captivating and great characterization. Eager for the next book.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Did you ever want to or take out revenge?