Monday, August 19, 2013

ARC Review: Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: August 13th, 2013
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 528 pgs
ISBN: 9781442440784
Source: Received from publisher for an honest review



Summary from Goodreads:
Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance.

Not even close.

For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. But it’s not easy, not when Reeve is still a total jerk and Rennie’s meaner than she ever was before.

And then there’s sweet little Mary…she knows there’s something seriously wrong with her. If she can’t control her anger, she’s sure that someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve was. Mary understands now that it’s not just that Reeve bullied her—it’s that he made her love him.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

It seems once a fire is lit, the only thing you can do is let it burn...

My Review: 

**As this book is a sequel, there may be some small spoilers in this review.**

When I read Burn for Burn last year I enjoyed it but I had a few issues with it.  I was still looking forward to continuing with the series because the writing is good and it is entertaining.  I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of this novel from Simon and Schuster Canada.  For some reason it took me a little while to really get into this book.  I have been on a TV kick lately and I think that may have been a good part of the reason.  I was spending more time watching TV rather than reading.  That being said, once I actually sat down to read this book I couldn't put it down.  I spent the beginning of the book trying to remember each of the characters and what their hang ups were.  I read so much that sometimes the plot lines begin to blue together.  That being said after a few pages I was brought right back into Lillia's, Mary's and Kat's world of revenge.  The three girls had been scorned but Mary most of all.  Most of the novel focuses on Reeve, a boy who was incredibly hurtful to Mary.  At the end of Burn for Burn Reeve is injured due to some shenanigans that the girls orchestrate.  As a result there is some residual guilt and this is taken to a new level when the girls decide that in order to continue with this revenge is to break Reeve's heart.  Lillia is asked to pretend to care for Reeve and then break up with him in a very public way. 
I enjoyed reading about the growing relationships between the girls and not only that but the growth of some of the minor characters.  Some of the behaviour that seemed so ridiculous in the first novel is soon explained and you start to feel a bit for the minor characters.  

I have to say that the ending of this book blew my mind.  I am usually good at picking up twists in movies and novels but this one took me by surprise.  I never would have suspected it in novel one and I didn't figure it out until the very end of novel two.  The ending made this book and for that reason I gave it a 4 out of 5.  At the beginning of the novel, I liked it and it was fun but for me it wasn't exception and it wasn't horrible.  I would have rated it somewhere in the middle. The end of this book makes me very excited for the third installment in this series. If you enjoyed Burn for Burn I would say that Fire with Fire is even better.  

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