Review: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (February 2013, Simon & Schuster Childrens Books, ISBN: 1471116883)

Burn for Burn is the first book in a new trilogy from Jenny Han co-writing with Siobhan Vivian set on Jar Island. The chapters alternate between three girls: Lillia, rich who is BFF to Rennie; Kat, not so rich and ostracised by lies told by Rennie and Mary who returns to the island after a few years absence. All three girls have been hurt, Lillia by a boy, Kat by Rennie and Mary by the star quarterback. When they are accidentally thrown together an idea sparks and Kat decides to act on it. Lilia and Mary don't need much persuading and they meet in secret to plan the ultimate revenge on their three enemies...

As with the Summer I Turned Pretty

trilogy (by Jenny Han) I absolutely flew through Burn for Burn. I could appreciate that the girls wanted revenge but they do get more than they bargained for resulting in an ending which leaves the reader desperate to get Fire for Fire. I hoped that one assumption they'd made would turn out to be false and, really, how far should the girls go to right a wrong? Initially I found the chapters from Mary's point of view the least interesting of the three (and her experiences the most painful to read) but it looks like she's more than she seems...

The sequel Fire for Fire has recently been released in the UK.

NB. As the characters are around eighteen, there is some adult content.

[Burn for Burn can be read online at Pulseit until 6 October 2013.]

Read Burn for Burn online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian's Burn for Burn is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 6 October.

[My review of Burn for Burn is here and I thankfully have the sequel to hand.]

Blurb:
Payback is paradise in this start to a trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.

With an alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently...” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.

Read Burn for Burn online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Jenny Han's Burn for Burn is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 18 August.

Blurb:
Payback is paradise in this start to a trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.

With an alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently...” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.

Review: It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han (May 2011, Puffin, ISBN: 0141330554)

Notes: Review will contain some spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Review: This is the sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty and is set the following summer. Belly (short for Isobel) is spending her first summer at home rather than at the beach house in Cousins where she has spent every summer before with her mum and brother and family friend Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.

Things have changed and Susannah is dead and Belly and Conrad's sort-of relationship has broken-up. Everyone is grief-stricken and matters come to ahead when Conrad disappears from summer-school. Jeremiah asks Belly to help him find Conrad and their journey takes them to the beach house.

Over a weekend, Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah's relationships with each other will change. Family truths will be spoken and a new way forward decided upon.

For me I found this a sad book to read: pervaded with the loss of a loved one, the loss of love and the loss of childhood. I felt sorry for Belly and how she felt about Conrad and the unhappiness it was bringing her. The present day dilemma is threaded with flashbacks and sometimes these were from the point of view of Jeremiah and included Belly's arrival at the beach house last year. I wonder if Conrad will "speak" in the final part of the trilogy. As before, this was a fast read; I was entranced. The book ends with a tantalising teaser for Belly's future but I have no idea of the identity of the "him" mentioned in it. I don't know whether I can wait 196 days for the UK edition of We'll Always Have Summer, I may have to splash out on the already available US version.

Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (June 2010, Puffin, ISBN: 0141330532)

Review: I bought this ages ago and I've been wanting to read it for so long but I was slightly scared to in case it didn't live up to my high expectations but finally I have and it mostly did.

Isabel, with the unfortunate nickname of Belly, goes every summer with her mum and brother to stay at the beach house with her mum's best friend Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.

Belly is almost sixteen and is blossoming in a physical way now, and Conrad and Jeremiah seem to notice, though they have always treated her as a sister before. Belly has had a crush on Conrad since she was ten but seems no nearer getting him to like her back.

This is probably the last summer before everything changes - college, football school etc - as the boys are all a little bit older than Belly. She wants it to be a perfect summer. Over the course of the summer, Belly meets a boy and relations come to a head cordially with Jeremiah and dramatically with Conrad. However what Belly doesn't realise is that there are other things going on, until she finally gets it, that it's not all about her.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a quick read and not just because it's told in shortish chapters, but because you just want to find out what happens next. The story didn't go the way I was expecting ie with it all being set in the present summer, but rather was interspersed with flashback to earlier summers, such as one when Belly's best friend stayed for a week and how that unexpectedly upset their friendship. We get to see Belly at growing up over the summers and how what she thinks is true, such as how she believes her mum to be, is not the case at all. I did find Belly slightly annoying at times, due to her immaturity, and I could have done with a bit more Conrad as he's very much a moody character in the background unlike his easy-going brother who has a larger role. At the end of the 'perfect' summer, the book turns slightly more sombre, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next in the sequel, It's Not Summer Without You.

Waiting on Wednesday - The Summer I Turned Pretty

Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty will be out in the UK on 3 June from Puffin, and is the first in a series. I took the cover image from the Australian Penguin website where it looks like it's being published later this month:


Everything that happened this past summer, and every summer before it, has all led up to this. To now.


Every year Isabel spends a perfect summer at her family friends' house. There's the swimming pool at night, the private stretch of sandy beach . . . and the two boys. Unavailable, aloof Conrad – who she's been in love with forever – and friendly, relaxed Jeremiah, the only one who's ever really paid her any attention.


But this year something is different. They seem to have noticed her for the first time. It's going to be an amazing summer – and one she'll never forget . . .

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.