Burn For Burn. Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian.

I really enjoyed this, I really got sucked into this in the end, and like all the reviews that I’ve read, there is a bit of supernatural, but it’s such a small bit that you don’t notice it until the very end, and then it’s like bam! So I found it really hard to describe/allocate this book into a genre, is it contemporary? Is is supernatural? Is it what? So I’m just going to combine it and say it’s a contemporary supernatural. But really, it’s such a contemporary novel, such a YA fiction that I find it hard to see it as a supernatural story…and yet I’m curious about the supernatural element.

The Plot
BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY…
THEY GET EVEN.

Lillia has never had any problems dealing with boys who like her. Not until this summer, when one went too far. No way will she let the same thing happen to her little sister.

Kat is tired of the rumours, the insults, the cruel jokes. It all goes back to one person– her ex-best friend– and she’s ready to make her pay.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. And she’s ready to prove it to him.

Three very different girls who want the same thing: sweet, sweet revenge. And they won’t stop until they each had a taste.

The Characters
Lillia > the kind of character who’s part of the bitchy crowd, yet she’s not half as bitchy as the rest of them. Not only that, she has something to protect, and I don’t hate her. I find myself, instead liking her. Also, even though she acts against Alex, I think I really would like to see them get together.
Kat > The cool kind of ostracised girl, who kind of doesn’t care about what others think about what others say about her. I loved learning about her past with Rennie in pieces. That was cool. Plus she’s not so bad, she’s actually pretty nice.
Mary > Mary was so whimpy. But because of the changing perspectives of the three main girls, I didn’t get half as annoyed at Mary. In fact, I liked her more. In fact, I didn’t even feel as though she was just whimpy, rather she was whimpy with a very good, very valid reason – though I have to say, to begin with I thought her reason was more than cliched, that is, until I saw more of her past, understood more about her relationship with Reeve.

Others – The Targets of Revenge:
Alex > is the nice kind of guy, who is really good friends with Lillia, and who I suspect, is in love with her. Throughout the whole novel though, I felt as though there was too much revenge on Alex over the other two revenge targets. It’s weird since out of Alex, Rennie and Reeve, Alex perhaps has the least reason for any of the girls to be mad at. BUT. In saying so, while there was so much going on, so much development in character for every main character, development of relationships, of the past and the present, I still think there’s a long way to go to full understand and unravel the stories between these six characters.
Rennie > is the bitch and self-professed Queen of the School. She’s also Lillia’s best friend and Kat’s ex-best friend. And Kat”s after her. See this here is the dilemma, right now, right til the end of Burn for Burn, Rennie is still your 2D kind of mean girl, except you can tell she’s also not, and somehow I feel in subsequent novels to follow, I can’t wait to find out more about her.
Reeve > is probably my favourite out of all the revenge targets. Why? Because even though he’s your average jock asshole, through Mary’s memories, he becomes some one else entirely, and that’s when I realised, I might actually like this character more than any other character in the story. When he blurts out “Big-Easy” at the end of the novel, right before he passes out and is sent out to the hospital (an outcome that was not supposed to happen as a result of Kat’s, Lillia’s and Mary’s revenge), I was like *gasp* and then, flipping over the final pages, I see Mary in shock and grief, and then it ends. And I’m like OMG. What the hell did that mean? Does that mean Reeve recognise the now gorgeous and thin Mary? Or was he thinking about her? Or what??? I AM DYING TO KNOW> so Reeve, is officially the character I’m genuinely most interested in, second to Mary, Lillia, Kat, Alex and Rennie.

The Writing
Look when it comes to Jenny Han, you know you’re in for a rollercoaster of ups and downs, past and present. You’re never gonna be wanting, and you’re definitely not short on character development. That’s what I love about her work. But this is a combined work. Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. I’ve never read Ms Vivian’s work, but I have read Ms Han’s. SO as a combined work, for me I can only judge from one perspective, together, though, they’re brilliant. I loved the writing in the novel, I thought it was wonderful, delectable and page-flipping!

Overall
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Absolutely cannot wait to read Fire with Fire and no doubt the one after that Ashes to Ashes.

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