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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Burn for Burn was very reminiscent of Sara Shepard and her Pretty Little Liars or The Lying Game series. You know, the whole rich-teens-doing-recklessly-stupid-things-and-ending-up-in-a-heck-of-a-lot-of-trouble-in-the-end kind of deal. That whole shebang. Still, this novel was tons of fun and super addictive nonetheless.
2.5 STARS
I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.
Key problems for me:
1. the writing was too simplistic for the darkness of the plot - made it feel like the story didn't know what it was and where it was going
2. didn't get to actually connect/relate/like any of the main characters at the beginning - obviously you don't want a ton of fillers, but given the dark nature of the girls' actions, there has to be some time for us to actually like and feel sympathy for the girls - I felt like the stuff they were doing really weren't great and yet the authors just kept telling me that their victims deserved it BUT I didn't even feel a connection to the girls so they just seemed petty™ for most of it
3. unexplained supernatural elements??
4. unexplained reeve dickish-ness
5. why didn't Nadia cop any of the blame??
6. lots of telling and not showing
Don't know if I'll continue with the series... I might just stick to Jenny Han's lighter stuff.
I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.
Key problems for me:
1. the writing was too simplistic for the darkness of the plot - made it feel like the story didn't know what it was and where it was going
2. didn't get to actually connect/relate/like any of the main characters at the beginning - obviously you don't want a ton of fillers, but given the dark nature of the girls' actions, there has to be some time for us to actually like and feel sympathy for the girls - I felt like the stuff they were doing really weren't great and yet the authors just kept telling me that their victims deserved it BUT I didn't even feel a connection to the girls so they just seemed petty™ for most of it
3. unexplained supernatural elements??
4. unexplained reeve dickish-ness
5. why didn't Nadia cop any of the blame??
6. lots of telling and not showing
Don't know if I'll continue with the series... I might just stick to Jenny Han's lighter stuff.
This was entertaining enough but these people are all kind of terrible? None of them even considered asking what was up with each other just wanted revenge. Then it was really bad revenge? Not even crazy? The last three chapters were the most interesting but I don’t really care if I finish this series right now. Unless someone can confirm it gets way better.
Oh and does Mary actually have/think she has magic powers? Is this why they keep saying her aunt is witchy? Because if so, I can’t.
Oh and does Mary actually have/think she has magic powers? Is this why they keep saying her aunt is witchy? Because if so, I can’t.
I was pleasantly surprised. It was fun to read, nothing unpredictable happened, but it was still entertaining. And I'm definitely interested to read the next two books, so that's good. If you're looking for something fun and easy to read but not a typical contemporary book, this might be it.
That was a weird book. I know I'm not going to read the rest of this trilogy but I'd kind of like to read a summary of them?
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Fatphobia, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Racism
BLOG: http://secret-books.blogspot.com/2016/06/zemsta-jest-sodko-gorzka-bol-za-bol.html
VLOG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKtk-xbMarc
"Mówi Karma. Jestem suką. Jest w twoim życiu ktoś, komu należy się nauczka?"
Wyspa Jar to idealne miejsce dla turystów, ale także dla tamtejszych mieszkańców. To miejsce odcięte od świata, bez sieciówek i fast foodów, w którym wszyscy żyją w harmonii. A także się uczą w jedynym na wyspie liceum - Jar Island High. Spotykamy się tu z trójką dziewcząt, które właśnie zaczynają ostatnią klasę liceum, dziewcząt całkowicie od siebie różnych. To azjatyckiego pochodzenia Lillian, typowa piękna cheerledarka z pomadką na ustach i w drogich ciuchach, Kat przeklinająca, jeżdżąca na motorze i paląca zioła oraz Mary, której nikt nie zna, a która wraca na wyspę odmieniona po wydarzeniach z przeszłości. Dziewczyny odkrywają, że każda z nich została przez kogoś skrzywdzona, a zemsta jest jeszcze słodsza, gdy do jej wykonania ma się pomocnice...
I to co chciałabym zaznaczyć, co nieco mnie zaskoczyło, to główne bohaterki. Na pewno znacie schemat tych wszystkich filmów młodzieżowych typu Wredne Dziewczyny, z cheerledarkami i segregacją uczniów na stołówce. Te wredne damulki i królowe szkoły są zazwyczaj czarnymi charakterami i grają rolę wrogów naszej głównej bohaterki. Tu natomiast to właśnie te wredne dziewczyny są naszymi narratorkami, bo to one, bez skrupułów, odnajdą najgorsze sposoby na zemstę na osobach, które w czymś im zawiniły. Fabuła pozwala nam także na wyciągnięcie pewnych wniosków i zrozumienie, skąd u takich postaci ta ich wredota się bierze. To jak Sharpey z High School Musical, o której powstaje nowy film, dzięki któremu zaczynamy rozumieć jej motywacje i zachowanie.
Ciąg dalszy: http://secret-books.blogspot.com/2016/06/zemsta-jest-sodko-gorzka-bol-za-bol.html
Video recenzja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKtk-xbMarc
VLOG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKtk-xbMarc
"Mówi Karma. Jestem suką. Jest w twoim życiu ktoś, komu należy się nauczka?"
Wyspa Jar to idealne miejsce dla turystów, ale także dla tamtejszych mieszkańców. To miejsce odcięte od świata, bez sieciówek i fast foodów, w którym wszyscy żyją w harmonii. A także się uczą w jedynym na wyspie liceum - Jar Island High. Spotykamy się tu z trójką dziewcząt, które właśnie zaczynają ostatnią klasę liceum, dziewcząt całkowicie od siebie różnych. To azjatyckiego pochodzenia Lillian, typowa piękna cheerledarka z pomadką na ustach i w drogich ciuchach, Kat przeklinająca, jeżdżąca na motorze i paląca zioła oraz Mary, której nikt nie zna, a która wraca na wyspę odmieniona po wydarzeniach z przeszłości. Dziewczyny odkrywają, że każda z nich została przez kogoś skrzywdzona, a zemsta jest jeszcze słodsza, gdy do jej wykonania ma się pomocnice...
I to co chciałabym zaznaczyć, co nieco mnie zaskoczyło, to główne bohaterki. Na pewno znacie schemat tych wszystkich filmów młodzieżowych typu Wredne Dziewczyny, z cheerledarkami i segregacją uczniów na stołówce. Te wredne damulki i królowe szkoły są zazwyczaj czarnymi charakterami i grają rolę wrogów naszej głównej bohaterki. Tu natomiast to właśnie te wredne dziewczyny są naszymi narratorkami, bo to one, bez skrupułów, odnajdą najgorsze sposoby na zemstę na osobach, które w czymś im zawiniły. Fabuła pozwala nam także na wyciągnięcie pewnych wniosków i zrozumienie, skąd u takich postaci ta ich wredota się bierze. To jak Sharpey z High School Musical, o której powstaje nowy film, dzięki któremu zaczynamy rozumieć jej motywacje i zachowanie.
Ciąg dalszy: http://secret-books.blogspot.com/2016/06/zemsta-jest-sodko-gorzka-bol-za-bol.html
Video recenzja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKtk-xbMarc
Cross-posted on Kniznitsa
I have not read anything set in high school in a long time and to be honest, I have been kind of missing the plotting, the drama and all the tropes that come with it. In that sense “Burn for Burn” was perfect for me as it has three very creative, very determined to get their revenge teenage girls who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
In the tradition of literary small towns, Jar Island is not the safe haven of good girls and boys that it appears to be. Three girls - Kat, Lillia, and Mary have all been wronged by the inhabitants of the island in one way or another. Kat is the island’s pariah thanks to the nasty rumours spread by her ex-best friend and current high school queen, Rennie. Lillia’s traumatizing experience with boys has made her extra careful and protective of her little sister. Mary has left the island years ago due to the bullying of a boy and now is back, changed, in order to get back at the person who destroyed her life.
The girls come together in an unlikely trio with one common goal - to exact revenge on the people who have messed with their lives. With no one to stop them, who knows how far they could push the limits of their creativity.
The Plot
While I do have a few bones to pick with the plot, I actually quite liked it overall. It is well-paced and keep the reader engaged, wanting more and more (I actually finished the book at one reading). The story is surprisingly dark, even though the acts of revenge the girls plot and exact are relatively mild (compared to, let’s say, what is going on “Pretty Little Liars”, for example). However, this works in favour of the novel, as it makes their endeavours believable and more realistic - yes, a girl can throw a rock at the window of a car, and yes, a girl can change the voting ballots, and yes, a girl can find a way to spread a thousand sheets around the school.
The writing style of the authors itself is OK - and that’s it, just OK. But at the same time, it allows for the plot to progress fast and without being too heavy or complicated, making the novel an easy and quick read.
On the other hand, as pleased as I am with the plot, I think there are a few places where the writing falls short of its mark. One of the things that I found particularly disturbing is Lillia’s plot line.Lillia gets raped. And I was very disappointed with how the plot kept avoiding to address it or name it as it is, especially as Lillia is a POV character. See, her rape does affect her - it is supposedly the reason why she is so protective of her little sister and is definitely something that she recalls when one of her friends tries to kiss her at a spin the bottle game. But at the same time, the issue is never really fully dealt with. Which, I repeat, is terrible given that Lillia is a POV character - we literally get to hear her thoughts and see the story through her eyes. I can only hope that this will really be addressed in the sequel.
On a similar note, I don’t think that Mary’s backstory is handled very well either. The first issue that really doesn’t sit well with me is why Mary was bullied - or to be more exact, how she overcame it or failed to do so and how this is reflected in her current state. As a younger teenager, Mary has been bullied for being fat but now she is back and she is thin (to the point even Kat notices that “her clavicle sticks out under her dress” and “It makes sense now, the fact that she never eats”). These things sounded alarms in my head as someone who used to be big and has been in constant fight with her weight for the past ten years or so. Those are things that never leave you, no matter how much you work on them, and I was disappointed not to see them reflected in Mary’s narrative.
The second issue we need to discuss isthe way the story deals with her suicide attempt. If we talk about the flashback scenes - yes, they were well written and you could really feel the self-loathing and depression that ensues from being bullied. But within Mary’s narrative we don’t get to see how this has actually affected her. We only hear about it - as in because of what happened, she had to move away, she was held back a year, etc. We never really see it even though the relationship between the reader and a first person POV character is supposed to be very intimate.
“Burn for Burn” is a YA novel and for the sake of its readership, I hope that it chooses to really deal with these topics properly in the future.
There is one thing that I cannot make my mind about, though. Towards the end of the novel, the authors decide to introduce a supernatural element to the plot which is surprising and most likely, unnecessary (kind of the way “Pretty Little Liars” introduced a supernatural element to their storyline after 5 seasons of sort of plausible bullying and murder and what not). However, I’d like to see how it is going to play out.
The Setting
Jar Island is a really beautiful place and the authors’ writing manages to built it to be very atmospheric and somehow creepy (an island with no connection to the mainland other than a ferry that runs every hour between the morning and later evening; almost no phone signal). This works well in favour of the novel.
The fact that we have three very different POV characters helps us get an even better idea of the island - each girl shows us her own part of it, her own world and it’s interesting to see how depending on what sort of life they live, they have entirely different views on it.
The Characters
All of our three main girls - Lillia, Mary, and Kat - are first person POV characters and this is handled very well by the authors - each one of the girls has a very distinctive voice. While this is most likely due to the fact that we have two authors working on the novel, I still think this aspect needs to be praised as nowadays it seems to be so hard to find a book with multiple distinct POVs.
The girls themselves make a very interesting and versatile trio. Lillia is a rich, popular girl, who’s smart, responsible, and level-headed. Mary is shy and introverted, unsure of herself and very sensitive. Kat is very pro-active and intense and fearless, an outcast with a strong voice and probably the most distinct personality out of the three. Their respective POVs emphasize the differences between them even further and believe me, they cannot be bigger. However, their personalities that might have crashed under other circumstances, in this case make for a very interesting, very alluring dynamic. These girls slowly learn to truly, genuinely like each other and to look out for each other beyond their shared goal and I think there is a very important message about female friendship in this.
The Verdict
“Burn for Burn” is a good book for a day off. It might be triggering for some of its readers and it might not hold its own within a deeper discussion about social issues but for what it’s worth, it is a refreshing read among YA novels.
I have not read anything set in high school in a long time and to be honest, I have been kind of missing the plotting, the drama and all the tropes that come with it. In that sense “Burn for Burn” was perfect for me as it has three very creative, very determined to get their revenge teenage girls who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
In the tradition of literary small towns, Jar Island is not the safe haven of good girls and boys that it appears to be. Three girls - Kat, Lillia, and Mary have all been wronged by the inhabitants of the island in one way or another. Kat is the island’s pariah thanks to the nasty rumours spread by her ex-best friend and current high school queen, Rennie. Lillia’s traumatizing experience with boys has made her extra careful and protective of her little sister. Mary has left the island years ago due to the bullying of a boy and now is back, changed, in order to get back at the person who destroyed her life.
The girls come together in an unlikely trio with one common goal - to exact revenge on the people who have messed with their lives. With no one to stop them, who knows how far they could push the limits of their creativity.
The Plot
While I do have a few bones to pick with the plot, I actually quite liked it overall. It is well-paced and keep the reader engaged, wanting more and more (I actually finished the book at one reading). The story is surprisingly dark, even though the acts of revenge the girls plot and exact are relatively mild (compared to, let’s say, what is going on “Pretty Little Liars”, for example). However, this works in favour of the novel, as it makes their endeavours believable and more realistic - yes, a girl can throw a rock at the window of a car, and yes, a girl can change the voting ballots, and yes, a girl can find a way to spread a thousand sheets around the school.
The writing style of the authors itself is OK - and that’s it, just OK. But at the same time, it allows for the plot to progress fast and without being too heavy or complicated, making the novel an easy and quick read.
On the other hand, as pleased as I am with the plot, I think there are a few places where the writing falls short of its mark. One of the things that I found particularly disturbing is Lillia’s plot line.
On a similar note, I don’t think that Mary’s backstory is handled very well either. The first issue that really doesn’t sit well with me is why Mary was bullied - or to be more exact, how she overcame it or failed to do so and how this is reflected in her current state. As a younger teenager, Mary has been bullied for being fat but now she is back and she is thin (to the point even Kat notices that “her clavicle sticks out under her dress” and “It makes sense now, the fact that she never eats”). These things sounded alarms in my head as someone who used to be big and has been in constant fight with her weight for the past ten years or so. Those are things that never leave you, no matter how much you work on them, and I was disappointed not to see them reflected in Mary’s narrative.
The second issue we need to discuss is
“Burn for Burn” is a YA novel and for the sake of its readership, I hope that it chooses to really deal with these topics properly in the future.
There is one thing that I cannot make my mind about, though. Towards the end of the novel, the authors decide to introduce a supernatural element to the plot which is surprising and most likely, unnecessary (kind of the way “Pretty Little Liars” introduced a supernatural element to their storyline after 5 seasons of sort of plausible bullying and murder and what not). However, I’d like to see how it is going to play out.
The Setting
Jar Island is a really beautiful place and the authors’ writing manages to built it to be very atmospheric and somehow creepy (an island with no connection to the mainland other than a ferry that runs every hour between the morning and later evening; almost no phone signal). This works well in favour of the novel.
The fact that we have three very different POV characters helps us get an even better idea of the island - each girl shows us her own part of it, her own world and it’s interesting to see how depending on what sort of life they live, they have entirely different views on it.
The Characters
All of our three main girls - Lillia, Mary, and Kat - are first person POV characters and this is handled very well by the authors - each one of the girls has a very distinctive voice. While this is most likely due to the fact that we have two authors working on the novel, I still think this aspect needs to be praised as nowadays it seems to be so hard to find a book with multiple distinct POVs.
The girls themselves make a very interesting and versatile trio. Lillia is a rich, popular girl, who’s smart, responsible, and level-headed. Mary is shy and introverted, unsure of herself and very sensitive. Kat is very pro-active and intense and fearless, an outcast with a strong voice and probably the most distinct personality out of the three. Their respective POVs emphasize the differences between them even further and believe me, they cannot be bigger. However, their personalities that might have crashed under other circumstances, in this case make for a very interesting, very alluring dynamic. These girls slowly learn to truly, genuinely like each other and to look out for each other beyond their shared goal and I think there is a very important message about female friendship in this.
The Verdict
“Burn for Burn” is a good book for a day off. It might be triggering for some of its readers and it might not hold its own within a deeper discussion about social issues but for what it’s worth, it is a refreshing read among YA novels.