The Quick Cut: A teen girl seeks revenge from a group of guys who raped her.
A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
How far would you go for revenge? It's a simple question with far reaching consequences. Depending on how deep the wound is and how impassioned we can be to get back what dignity may have been lost, some will cross any line to take back what is theirs. In this story, that girl willing to take any risk is Elle Jade.
Elle and her friends (who call themselves a coven) find their lives turned upside down when she is raped by a group of boys at a party. Rather than take the usual aftermath routes, Elle cuts her hair, dyes it black, starts going by her middle name Jade, and transfers to the boy's school St. Andrews in order to enact her revenge plot. She's not alone either. Her coven are there every step of the way helping her setup the boys while Jade entraps a boy into murdering the guys for her. Will revenge be sweet or end unexpectedly bitter?
There's dark tales and then there is THIS BOOK. In all seriousness, the story told here takes thing to such a from place that I found a bitter taste in my mouth and a need to read faster to get the uncomfortable experience done sooner. It may be my disposition or possibly the plot holes I found in how elements unraveled, but this one left me unsettled in the wrong kind of way.
Jade gets her revenge in the process of a week and considering how much is done, there would be so many red flags that its unfathomable in real life. I get that in book reading you have to check reality at the door but the level of effort requested here is expansive. It would be easier to do if there was a likable heroine, but even with everything Jade went through at the beginning? I can't say I ever felt sympathy for her due to her sizable ego and generally lacking moral compass.
A fascinating story idea with details that go way too far into dark territories for the YA genre.
My rating: 2 out of 5