Friday, October 21, 2016

Rreview - Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivan

Burn for Burn (Burn for Burn, #1)

Series: Burn for Burn #1
Genre: Contemporary
Age Group: Young Adult
Source - Purchased
Published - September 2012
Hardcover - 356 pgs.

Rating: 3/5

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.


None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.


After hearing a multitude of good things about this series, I decided to check out what all the fuss was about. The story starts out interesting, but the plot is very slow. Throughout the book I thought the story would have benefited from more action in the present and fewer flashbacks. There is a lot of backstory for each character and it slowed down the plot a lot. It was very hard for me to go back to this book even when the revenge plot line really started to take shape. Overall I didn't feel connected to any of the girls and because their personalities were so stereotypical they were like cardboard cut outs. 

The revenge itself felt out of control and over the top. These girls actually started to freak me out towards the end. Their individual thoughts about it were relatively calm, but when the three of them joined forces it became an extreme version of John Tucker Must Die with high schoolers. Just like in The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, there was a strange paranormal element that popped up when it was convenient. Honestly, this seemed to make everything too easy for the girls and didn't fit with the rest of the story.

I'll pick up the next book in the series because I already own it, but I wasn't very impressed.

Happy Reading!

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