Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian are two of my favorite YA contemporary authors, so it was about time that I read their co-authored series, Burn for Burn. The Burn for Burn series includes, Burn for Burn, Fire with Fire, and Ashes to Ashes.
Burn for Burn Summary:
Jar Island is the type of place where people don’t have to lock their doors at night and parents can sleep easily, their daughters safe and sound in bed. But even bad things can happen to good girls, and sometimes the only way to make something right is to do something wrong. After this summer, Lillia can’t trust boys, and she’ll be damned if the same thing that happened to her happens to her little sister. Kat, Jar Island’s resident bad girl, is through with all of the cruel jokes and snide remarks thrown her way. And it’s all thanks to her ex-best friend. After four years of being away because of a boy, Mary is back to Jar Island a different person. But like Kat and Lillia, Mary wants one thing: sweet revenge.
Cover Lust: Covers with people on them are hit or miss for me, but I love how all 3 books feature the same models. I’m a little bummed that the third hardcover book took on a different style when it came to the lettering. But I am obsessed with the naked look of all 3 books.
My Ratings:
Burn for Burn: 5/5 Stars
Fire with Fire: 5/5 Stars
Ashes to Ashes: 4/5 Stars
My Thoughts:
I didn’t give Burn for Burn and Fire with Fire 5 stars each because they were the best books that I’ve ever read. These books are just so enjoyable to read, having read each in less than two days floating around my pool. They were such a throwback to some of my first YA books, i.e. cheesily delicious books. The perfect way to describe a series, am I right?
I’m all for reading books that place near the beach or water during the summer. Burn for Burn takes place on Jar Island, starting with the last week of summer through the end of Lilia and Kat’s senior year. While it’s not a summer contemporary, since it takes over the course of one school year, there are many beach feels. We also get the occasional trip off-island to Kat’s favorite music shop and Lillia’s apartment in Boston. While it’s never explicitly said, I’m assuming that Jar Island is has a similar location to Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. Fantasy books have made me too lenient on maps.
And speaking of cheesily delicious books, one of the many reasons I enjoyed this series is because it reminded a little bit like The Clique! Most of the privilege comes from Lillia and her core group of friends, but any description of her lifestyle, let alone closet, reminded me so much of Massie Block.
But I don’t want to overstretch The Clique comparison too much because our three main characters and perspectives, Lillia, Kat, and Mary, are not bratty. Lillia is the privileged, all-American girl, Kat the bad girl, and Mary the quiet one with a hidden past. While I liked Kat more and more with each installment, Lillia was my favorite because I liked to explore her relationship and friendship dynamics. All three books definitely play around with some high school tropes, like partying and dating, but it does take some more serious topics, like sexual assault and bullying.
I went into Burn for Burn knowing there were going to be supernatural elements , but I was honestly expecting all three girls to have some sort of powers from the get-go. In reality, the supernatural element comes into the end of Burn for Burn and Fire with Fire and takes up a large part of Ashes to Ashes. Which causes you have to have some ah-ha or ohhhhhhhhh moments when thinking about the first two books. While I didn’t mind the supernatural so much, I didn’t really like its direction in Ashes to Ashes because it controlled a lot of the plot and made me scared for everyone.
Overall, the Burn for Burn trilogy is the perfect binge-worthy read, especially if you want to kick back with a high school drama type read.
Have you read Burn for Burn? What are some of your favorite binge-worthy reads? Share in the comments!
When it comes to book-to-movie adaptions, us bookworms most like to discuss the differences between book and movie. There were minor changes made, but nothing that was significant enough to affect the plot, in my opion. For the most part, the changes usually involved the setting of certain events. I admit that I was a bit sad that Lara Jean lives in Oregon, not Virginia, in the movie, but I’m sure this had something to do with the movie being filmed in Canada and having to find a similar US setting. I don’t want to go into too many spoilers, so I’ll talk about the most obvious change that you can find in the trailers. Kitty was made to be older in the movie -she’s starting the sixth grade. Director Susan Johnson revealed that they wanted a bit more mature, older Kitty in the movie so she could act as a comic pinpoint. Which is fine by me, because I laughed out loud at almost everything she said.
Fangirl Fury 