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A review by ravencrantz
The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen
4.0
This is why I continue to impulse read books without knowing anything about them. Most of the time, those books are let down after let down, but this one? This is what I'm looking for. A book that I otherwise wouldn't have read, but picked up because I have nearly no impulse control, and being blown away by what I read.
The writing is a bit simplistic, even for YA. I think had the topics not been so graphic, it could easily pass for middle grade. And while I could have done without the constant running around pining over boys, I understand it's point in the story and it was integrated well. Overall, this book is decently diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, and there is a queer character (who lives! and who has a happy ending!!) though he's pretty minor. No one seemed to be there as the Token Diverse Character, and there were hardships for everyone. One of our main characters even has ADHD like I do! I saw a lot of myself in her and it's the first time that's happened and it felt great.
There should be a content warning for homophobia, sexual assault/attempted date rape, and antisemitism. I think had I known beforehand how heavy those topics presented in the story, I would have been better prepared to deal with it. They did handle the topics really well, it was the backbone of the plot, really. It was clear that these things were wrong and our main characters did everything to make people pay for what they'd done. I didn't know that would be their motivation, I thought it was going to be something smaller like a break up and while that was what got them motivated in the first place, everything became more than that. Their reasons started small and personal, and grew larger as they learned how corrupt the school really was.
I really loved watching the girls work together and help each other grow and heal. I got to watch them learn to stand up for themselves and each other and it was great! More books like that please! So often in media we see girls pitted against each other and I love it when we see them working together instead. Especially for something like this.
I went into this book expected something light and fluffy, something funny and cheesy. While it certainly was cheesy, and had some funny scenes, what I got was important and real challenges girls have and them overcoming everything in their path. These girls forgave people who deserved it, and cut out people who were toxic without looking back. This is an important book and I'm glad it exists. I hope it empowers someone somewhere.
The writing is a bit simplistic, even for YA. I think had the topics not been so graphic, it could easily pass for middle grade. And while I could have done without the constant running around pining over boys, I understand it's point in the story and it was integrated well. Overall, this book is decently diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, and there is a queer character (who lives! and who has a happy ending!!) though he's pretty minor. No one seemed to be there as the Token Diverse Character, and there were hardships for everyone. One of our main characters even has ADHD like I do! I saw a lot of myself in her and it's the first time that's happened and it felt great.
There should be a content warning for homophobia, sexual assault/attempted date rape, and antisemitism. I think had I known beforehand how heavy those topics presented in the story, I would have been better prepared to deal with it. They did handle the topics really well, it was the backbone of the plot, really. It was clear that these things were wrong and our main characters did everything to make people pay for what they'd done. I didn't know that would be their motivation, I thought it was going to be something smaller like a break up and while that was what got them motivated in the first place, everything became more than that. Their reasons started small and personal, and grew larger as they learned how corrupt the school really was.
I really loved watching the girls work together and help each other grow and heal. I got to watch them learn to stand up for themselves and each other and it was great! More books like that please! So often in media we see girls pitted against each other and I love it when we see them working together instead. Especially for something like this.
I went into this book expected something light and fluffy, something funny and cheesy. While it certainly was cheesy, and had some funny scenes, what I got was important and real challenges girls have and them overcoming everything in their path. These girls forgave people who deserved it, and cut out people who were toxic without looking back. This is an important book and I'm glad it exists. I hope it empowers someone somewhere.