Burn For Burn by Jenny Han, Siobahn Vivian
Series: Burn For Burn #1
Published by Simon & Schuster on September 18, 2012
Pages: 358
Format: ARC
Source: BEA, Publisher
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Postcard-perfect Jar Island is the kind of place where nobody locks their doors at night, where parents can sleep easy, knowing their daughters are tucked away safe and sound in their beds. 

But bad things can happen, even to good girls . . . and sometimes, the only way to make things right is to do something wrong. 

Lillia used to trust boys, but not anymore. Not after what happened this summer. And she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her little sister from the same fate. 

Kat is over the rumors, the insults, the cruel jokes made at her expense. It all goes back to one person--her ex-best friend. Someone needs to teach her a lesson, and, with Lillia and Mary behind her, Kat feels up to the task.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. Now that she’s got friends who have her back, he's going to be in big trouble.

Three very different girls who come together to make things right. Will they go too far?

Burn For Burn is a big branch out for Jenny Han and Siobahn Vivian.  It’s a unique contemporary that will appeal to tons of YA readers.  It seems like a great start to this trilogy.

Burn For Burn is the story of three very different girls who all want the same thing; revenge.  Kat, Lillia, and Mary have all been wronged and they are not willing to let it go.  They want to get back at the people who hurt them and they are willing to go to great lengths.  But what happens when they go too far?

Kat is the mastermind of the three.  She has been treated horribly by the people at her school and she is not going to take anymore.  Lillia would put up with being treated badly but she won’t allow it to happen to her little sister.  Anything else she would handle but that one thing causes her to join Kat.  Mary came back to the island with revenge in mind.  She was never treated fairly by one person and she’s not okay with it anymore.  She will get back at him and it just so happens that Kat and Lillia are more than happy to help.

Kat is the loner of the three.  She is pissed off at most of the world, falling for the wrong guy, and called trash one too many times.  Her reasons for revenge are clear but at times seem a little petty.  Lillia is a total sweetheart with a backbone of steel when it comes to her little sister.  She gets wronged horribly in the book but instead of looking for revenge for herself, she wants it for her sister. Lillia was a good person at heart and probably the easiest to relate to.  Mary is the most seriously wronged of the three and it’s easy to see why she would want revenge.  However, she’s a very confused girl and her plans don’t always work out for her.  She seemed the least developed of the three but hopefully that will be remedied in the next book.

Now the revenge methods were pretty good.  Some were a little crazier than others but some were actually quite funny.  The interactions between the girls and the revenge methods are really where you see Jenny Han and Siobahn Vivian’s humor come out.

The one thing that was a little odd about the book is that it seems contemporary for about 3/4 of the book and then at the very end there seems to be a hint of something paranormal.  It kind of came out of nowhere and I’m not sure how I feel about it.  It’s really something that will have to be developed in the next book.

Overall, Burn For Burn is quite different from Jenny Han and Siobahn Vivian’s previous works but I definitely enjoyed it.  I’m excited to see where the story will go next.

Looking for more reviews of Burn For Burn?
A Good Addiction’s review
Pen To Paper’s review