Review of Burn for Burn

Burn for Burn
by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Expected publication date: September 18, 2012
by Simon & Schuster BFYR

Source: ARC received from the publisher at BEA.  



My summary: On exclusive Jar Island, three teenage girls from completely different social circles join forces and embark on a mission of revenge against fellow students who've wronged them.

My take:  This book was not at all what I expected. Based on the cover and the synopsis, I went in thinking I'd be reading a glossy, fast-paced, contemporary YA that would end in a dramatic blaze of fiery vengeance. Nope. Burn for Burn is a multi-faceted, contemporary-turns-something-else YA, a book that is just a slice of a larger story that is clearly To Be Continued...

Now that I think about it, the books I've read by Jenny Han or Siobhan Vivian feature complex characters and thought-provoking situations. Burn for Burn has plenty of both. Mary, who once lived on Jar Island, is returning to attend high school, and seems a little tightly wound. Lillia is a spoiled cheerleader in thrall to her queen bee best friend. Kat is a middle-class local on an island of rich wash-ashores, and is taunted by Lillia's clique. I liked the interconnectedness of all the relationships in the book.

Burn for Burn is a little slow-paced out of the gate -- the metaphorical fire depicted in the book starts as a tiny flame and takes some time to get crackling. But gradually, the anger and resentment these girls feel toward certain other characters builds and builds until the three of them meet up and form a revenge pact. The girls' fairly tame revenge plots are carried out, and then there is a rather unexpected plot twist, one which seems to spin this book out of the YA contemporary genre and in a different direction.  The book ends abruptly; clearly there's more to come. And one of the three girls definitely has some explaining to do!

Burn for Burn left me intrigued and a whole lot curious. I'm eager to see where these two authors take this story next.

Final note: back in the summer I posted about meeting Jenny Han and hearing about the process of co-writing this book with Siobhan Vivian. Read that by clicking the highlighted text!

Tell me what you think in comments!

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