Fire With Fire. Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

What can I say? This sequel…well there are no words for it. But the more I read it, there more creepier it sounds. The more I read it, the more I like the supernatural side to it. The more I read it, anything I thought about the first book is wiped from my mind and replaced with new thoughts. The first one was the baby, it was an introduction, getting to know the characters and laying the foundation. This book, well, this one was about what happens after the foundation is laid and the introduction is made. This is the build up to the climax (even though it’s filled with build ups and a climax of its own). And then there’s the cliffhanger. Boy oh boy, I did not want to see that cliffhanger. BECAUSE IT JUST MEANS I HAVE TO WAIT HOW MANY MONTHS UNTIL THE FINAL SEQUEL COMES OUT. And seriously, I absolutely cannot wait.

The Plot
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…

The Characters
Okay, so again the characters are great. They have their own personalities, head strong and their doing their thing the way they do their thing.
Lillia actually seems a whole lot more bitchier in this one compared to Burn for Burn. And while Kat has attitude problems as always, she’s the much kinder one in this. Then there’s Mary. Oh Mary, I totally accept all your feelings in this because (and I really didn’t expect this in the first one – it was totally not noticeable! Actually, it was much more obvious in this one, because there were clues here and there, yet in the first one she seemed much more normal and not as much the loner since I remember people commenting on the “new girl”)(view spoiler) it fits the character. Reeve on the other hand, well I liked that we get to know more about him. But still! I want to know about him and Mary! Alex – oh poor Alex. I wonder what will happen to him in the end! Rennie (view spoiler) gets more and more pitiful in this one. I wonder what will become of her.

The Setting
Jar Island. Some lonely island.

Writing
I always did like Han’s writing. So no complaints. It’s very contemporary and also very YA, with plenty of personality and voice.

Overall
I have my faves and my not so faves. Ultimately I want Mary to settle her issues, I want Lillia and Reeve to be together (now I do! Even though in Burn for Burn I was so for Lillia and Alex) and I want Kat to fulfil her dream of going to Oberlin. You know while I was reading this I had actually watched the original Carrie movie by chance. And I compared it a little. Mary is so like a Carrie. There’s even a scene, the scene where she tells her Aunt that she can do things that’s so like how Carrie told her mother that she could do things without touching them. Even Kat makes an allusion to Carrie. Soooo if this is anything like Carrie then, I wonder what will happen at the end. I freaking want to know now, seriously, there’s so much to keep one hanging onto every word written. There’s so much revenge and hate, and also there’s so much pain. There’s also so much mystery around Mary and Reeve, as characters, not necessarily them together.

View all my reviews