Book Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Title: Get Even (Don't Get Mad #1)
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publishing Date: September 16th 2014
Length: 320 pages
Keywords: YA, contemporary, thriller, mystery, romance, friendship, bullying
Source: Edelweiss

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

Summary by Goodreads

Kitty, Margot, Bree and Olivia couldn't be more different. Olivia is the theater girl, Kitty the sporty type, Margot the tech pro and Bree is the daughter of a Senator. They are in the same high school and know how hard trying to be oneself can be. It is not friendship that connects them, but something bigger, something stronger. Revenge and justice.

   The four girls formed the group DGM in order to protect other students who have become victims to bullying and oppression. Together they have to withstand an accusation of murder themselves and find out who killed bully Ronny. This constellation kind of reminded me of Pretty Little Liars. But in comparison GET EVEN would make a much better Tv show since Gretchen McNeil's girls are  stronger, smarter and more independent than Aria and her friends.

While GET EVEN is about proving the girls' innocence, Gretchen McNeil throws in hints, clues and evidence that make you suspicious of all four girls in some way, too. Very sneaky!

   The story switches back and forth between all four girls and their perspectives. Bree was by far my favourite person to follow around with her best friend John and her growing feelings for him. Friendship becoming romance, yes, I really liked that and the way Bree started to realize her true feelings at some point. The other girls have interesting romances and friendship stories, too.

I am so glad that Gretchen McNeil decided to bring out the girls' story as a duology, with the first book releasing in September 2014 and the second in summer 2015. This way there was much writing space to form a believable story background, and especially with a murder investigation going on. Gretchen considered love stories for each girl and one big part of GET EVEN is about the possibility of them becoming friends in the end despite the big differences between the girls.

   It was hard to put the book aside when it ended and now wait a few months until I can pick up its sequel. Hope that it starts right where the first ended. There are still a few questions and problems to solve so I'm looking forward to the second book.

4/5 **** GET EVEN - Gretchen McNeil's best book so far!

The words "dying for the sequel" really fit in the case of GET EVEN. Bree and John's relationship is by far my favourite and the way things ended for them was so mean. It's been a long time since I read something so suspenseful and with so much teen drama. I can't wait for GET DIRTY!

"Bree rolled her eyes. Most days John's geeky instance that there was a Star Wars quote for every occasion was relatively entertaining, but today is was about as welcome as a raging case of the herps." ― p.2

GET EVEN you might enjoy PRETTY LITTLE LIARS by Sara Shepard, THE DOLLS by Kiki Sullivan and DANGEROUS GIRLS by Abigail Haas. There's lots of girl drama and murderous plotting going on in these three books. Perfect for fans of Gretchen McNeil's newest book.

* Have you read TEN by Gretchen McNeil? 

* GET DIRTY, the sequel to GET EVEN is scheduled to release June 2015. 

* Click here to read an excerpt of GET EVEN.

* For more information about Gretchen and her books visit www.gretchenmcneil.com. 

Mini Reviews #14

Today's Mini Reviews post is part of my YA Halloween Fear Factor special in October and the beginning of November. Out of all the books that had yet to be reviewed I chose TEN by Gretchen McNeil, DANGEROUS GIRLS by Abigail Haas and LITTLE WHITE LIES by Katie Dale to represent the Halloween reads in form of a Mini Reviews post, because all three have something dark about them, in a horrific and/or thrilling way. Murder, betrayal, deception, now choose your brand of thrill ride.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Ten teenagers are invited to White Rock House, stately mannor on a private island. Meg and her best friend Minnie just wanted to have a fun weekend and enjoy the party, but someone on the island has different plans for them. When they find a DVD with a vengeful message, people start disappearing and getting killed. Of course the killer is after the two girls as well.

TEN is a mix of all the teen slasher movies that you've watched, turned into a book. The setting for TEN is very glum and isolated, a tiny island with only two mansions and a storm brewing. These factors are expected to make our characters' quest for survival harder and even though they often say they shouldn't separate they do exactly that. They were just as infuriating as teens in horror movies. Admittedly both setting and characters are a bit clichéd and the plot felt too generic. It could've been more extensive in explanations and allowed some more time to work on a stressed-out reader instead of rattling through the murders in a row, offing people like ticking off a check list. TEN comes along with a story of friendship, a small love story for Meg and one of the boys on the island and its grand killing spree. The story of our teens is supplemented with diary entries of an unknown person, whose past and entries are the key to finding out who's behind the murders.

3,5/5 ***/* TEN -  A mainstream YA horror slasher story, with creepy occurrences and gruesome murders according to schedule.

I read TEN during my summer vacation, in a lonely cottage on the Danish coast, while rainy and windy weather broke through the quiet of the night. So you can imagine a portion of the story's intended tension and creep-factor were definitly delivered to this reader.

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publishing Date: September 18^th 2012
Length: 296 pages
Keywords: YA, horror, thriller, romance, island

Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary 

Ten Excerpt 

Author's Homepage

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Murder in paradise. That's what Anna and her friends' vacation on Aruba ends with. The group of teens was only set out for a fun time and now Anna's best friend is dead and Anna herself is in jail, treated as the island's police's prime suspect.

The entire novel was strategically well-structured, scenes of Anna's trial alternating with scenes from the past and the previous nights on Aruba, doing some explaining and offering insight on how the characters play together, how they met each other and what ultimately led to the murder. Anna and Tate have a sweet romantic love story and Elise is the best friend Anna had been needing for so long.

While some short scenes of Anna's present days in prison, in dialogue with her lawyer or in the court room sometimes lack tension, sequences of Anna and Tate's as Anna and Elise's past can balance them out with their mixture of tropical romantic nights, parties, sex, drugs and deadly games.

Anna is a character one immediately feels sorry for, considering her current situation, caught in a foreign prison, without support, her friends or her family. While I felt strong sympathy for her, I even suspected her to be involved in Elise's murder as the prosecution is throwing evidence into the game that looks real bad for her.

3,5/5 ***/* DANGEROUS GIRLS – A paradisic concoction of sweet romantic and all the same murderous feelings!

 While DANGEROUS GIRLS offered a tropical dream of a murder case and I just flew through the story, the ending to the book left me disappointed in its vagueness.We are left with too flimsy a solution for the entire story that at first sight appeared to be complex in background, and with that many friends being possible suspects. Out of all the possible ways to end the story, the one Abigail Haas picked was also the reason for a perfectly engaging story to leave me unsatisfied in the end. So in the end I wished Abigail Haas would have presented us with much more details and actions on actual crimes than the ways of law.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publishing Date: August 1^st 2013
Length: 320 pages
Keywords: YA, thriller, friendship, murder, jail, trial, romance, Aruba

Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary 

Dangerous Girls Excerpt 

Author's Homepage

Little White Lies by Katie Dale

Lou's freshly attending university. It's a new start for her. She's making new friends in only a matter of hours and she meets the attractive and secretive Christian who lives in town, too. They seem to run into each other with a conspicuous frequency. Their attraction is mutual and almost palpable, their relationship though built on a construction of lies and secrets.
Katie Dale is a genius to even let her main character keep secrets from us. Brilliant idea! You don't know who to believe and trust. I never knew who was lying and even if Lou was to be trusted. LITTLE WHITE LIES keeps you constantly guessing and reforming your opinion about its characters. Their secrets are unravelled slowly and put into context in a well-paced manner. 

Christian and Lou's relationship isn't built on the most solid foundation: lies, or at least withheld information, so there was to be expected more than one conflict to disturb their peace. Their romance is continuously evolving, changing, turning steamier, darker, more reluctant, trusting and so it is beautifully fitting into the overall arc of suspense and the various secrets that have yet to be unveiled.

4,5/5 ****/* LITTLE WHITE LIES – An artfully constructed, suspenseful thriller with high recognition factor by one of my favourite British YA authors!

I loved Katie Dale's debut novel SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE so much. Her second book is headed in a much darker direction, a Brit thriller par excellence. Wild chases and the hunt for clues make her second novel so absolutely gripping. She shows the effect and dynamics of public news, an angry mob and a helpless individual caught in a web of lies, false assumptions and lack of chance to explain himself. I'm so excited to hear what will be Katie's next book.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publishing Date: August 1^st 2013
Length: 384 pages
Keywords: YA, thriller, friendship, romance, UK

Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary 

Little White Lies Excerpt 

Author's Homepage