I am a big fan of Jenny Han’s books, and even though I’d only read only one of Siobhan Vivian’s books before this one, it was pretty good as well. So, I was naturally expecting great things to come out of this book, especially after reading so many rave reviews.
I tried with this book, I really did. As much as I wanted to adore and devour it, it ended up falling short for me. I think it’s the multiple POVs that annoyed me- I really shouldn’t be trusted with books that have more than two perspectives!
For a synopsis, Burn for Burn follows the POVs of three teenage girls named Mary, Lillia, and Kat. They all have very different personalities, and frankly, the only thing they have in common is that they call Jar Island home. Or so they think. The trio, despite being very different from one another, decides to come together and plot revenge on the people who have done them wrong in the past. Will they be successful?
The one character from this story that I liked was Mary. She was studious and hard-working, but at the same time, she was flawed and still traumatized from a past event. I could definitely see myself in her, not to mention that her character development was the most evident out of the three girls.
Kat and Lillia both developed throughout the novel for sure, but again, I couldn’t see that as much as I did in Mary. I did not feel as intimate with these girls while reading the story, and that says tons.
Plot-wise, I felt like the storyline was kind of bland. I enjoyed the idea of the girls getting revenge on others, but I wish the authors could have explored it just a little more. I know this is a trilogy, so I’m thinking (and hoping) that it will be looked at more in the next two books. In spite of my thinking that this book was only okay, I definitely want to continue on with the series– that cliffhanger ending though!
To sum it all up, I could easily see both the good and not-so-good sides of this novel. For the good, I liked one of the protagonists, the writing style, and the juicy revenge, but for the not-so-good, a couple of the characters could have been developed a bit more and the plot was a little dull. If you are a fan of juicy drama, revenge, and, well, slightly plotless but fun adventures, then I would recommend Burn for Burn.