Fire With Fire (Early Book Review)

Fire With Fire

Authors: Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Number of Pages: 528
Release Date: August 13, 2013

*This is the second book in a series. Synopsis my contain spoilers for the first book*

Synopsis from Goodreads:

 Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance.

Not even close.

For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. But it’s not easy, not when Reeve is still a total jerk and Rennie’s meaner than she ever was before.

And then there’s sweet little Mary…she knows there’s something seriously wrong with her. If she can’t control her anger, she’s sure that someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve was. Mary understands now that it’s not just that Reeve bullied her—it’s that he made her love him.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

It seems once a fire is lit, the only thing you can do is let it burn...

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*This book is the sequel to Burn for Burn. This review contains spoilers for the first book.
You've been warned.*

MY THOUGHTS:

Holy crap. If I thought I was dying to get my hands on this book after reading the first one it is nothing compared to how I feel about the need to get my hands on the last book. I really enjoyed last year's Burn for Burn and squeed when I saw the sequel, Fire With Fire pop up on Edelweiss. Like the first book in the series, Fire With Fire is an addictive and immensely readable novel. It easily held my attention for all 500 pages and I could have easily continued reading. In fact, by the end, I was dying to keep reading, but I know it will be several months before I get to know what happens next.

Fire With Fire starts shortly after the disastrous Homecoming dance in which Lillia, Mary and Kat had drugged Reeve, the popular jock who had hurt and humiliated Mary when the two were younger, causing him to fall and break his leg which has effectively ruined any chance he had on getting off Jar Island with a football scholarship. Both Mary and Lillia are feeling slightly guilty about it until Mary gives Reeve the chance to apologize and instead of doing so he tells her to f-off. That's when the girls decide that they are not through with him yet. Since Reeve confessed feelings for Lillia at the dance when he kissed her in front of everybody, they decide the best way to hurt him is to have Lillia break his heart once in for all.

I loved Fire With Fire. Of the two books Burn for Burn was more fun, maybe, but I loved how Fire With Fire delved more deeply into the girls' psyche. We get to see Kat, who is dying to get in early admission to Oberlin, debate whether or not she should use the fact that her dead mother wanted to go to Oberlin as leverage in her essay. We get to see Mary and her relationship with her aunt, who seems to be going off the deep end. And we get to see Lillia finally deal with the aftermath of her rape in the first book.

I have to say my biggest complaint of the first book was the way Lillia's date rape at the beginning of the first book was just kind of swept under the rug. It seemed so irresponsible to me that the writers wouldn't focus on the effects of the incident or to even name it what it was. While not a huge focus in this book, I do feel like it got at least some of the attention it deserved in this book.

I also found the characterization of Lillia and Reenie's friendship to be very realistic. Reenie is beyond pissed at Lillia for not only snagging Homecoming Queen from under her nose, but for allowing Reeve to kiss her in front of everybody (but is fine with Reeve, of course). She is determined to freeze Lillia out of their group of friends and hasn't talked to her since Homecoming even though they are still on the cheerleading squad together and eat lunch at the same table every day. I can't even tell you how much this brought me back to my own high school days. There were some major fights (snub fights-not fist) that happened in my group of friends because a girl kissed another girl's crush. The back-stabbing and the cruelty just made me cringe. Reading this book made me so thankful that I'm no longer a teen.

My other issue (I wouldn't say complaint exactly) with the first book was the introduction of this paranormal element to Mary's character that seemed to come out of nowhere. In Fire With Fire, Mary's aunt has seemed to realize that Mary has developed unexplained powers and seems to be going off the deep end a little bit. She burns herbs wrapped in bundles and is just acting weird around her. I liked that the book explores this paranormal aspect of Mary's character more in this book.

Overall, if you enjoyed Burn for Burn, I'm sure you will love this book. I'm not even going to hint at the ending, but OMG, you guys (that's right. I used OMG and I'll do it again. OMG!) If you haven't read the first book...I wish you wouldn't have read this review and you should pick up the first book immediately because it is awesome. I cannot wait for the last installment of this series. Han and Vivian make an impressive writing team. The writing is flawless, fast-paced, and exciting. If you've been following my blog, you may know that I've been having trouble concentrating on any one book lately and I couldn't put this 500 + page book down. So good.

*I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.*