Ever since Violet Forrester first moved next door to Brianna, she has been tortured relentlessly…
It seems like Brianna has everything, and yet she still doesn’t have the one thing she really wants; the one thing that Violet cares about the most—Blake Edwards.
After years of letting Brianna walk all over her, Violet’s finally had enough. She’s tired of sitting back and watching Brianna flirt with her boyfriend, steal her friends, and push her around. She’s finally ready to stand up for herself.
To do this, Violet and her new friend, Lena, devise a plan to make Brianna realize that not everything is hers for the taking, and Violet knows the perfect way to do it…
After all, nothing is better than revenge.
That is, until someone gets hurt.
I never know what to say here, I could tell y’all about the splotchy birthmark on my left thumb, or the scar on my right wrist from my surgery. Maybe you want to know why I became a writer, or what ethnicity I am? Do you guys really care that my eyes are two different sizes? What is it that makes me, Taylor Monet, who I am? Maybe it’s the fact that I’m above average. Not in everything, just my height. I’m below average at math. Writing is the only thing that I seem to excel at. It’s my escape from my average life. A place where I can be who I want to be, go places that I’ve never been, and meet people that I’ve only met in my dreams. Isn’t that what writing is all about? An escape into another world? Because let’s face it, the world we live in today is crazy, and uncontrollable. I like being in control. I just want to write my own story. My life is my story. And these stories are product of my wild imagination.
As said best by Mark Strand, “We would be lonely if we didn’t use words. We are dependent on them. We’re just dependent on them in a certain way.”
TBird’s Review:
Better than Revenge
4 stars
Better than Revenge is full of high school drama at its best. Violet was
unfortunate enough to live next door to her number one bully and drama
queen Brianna. For years Brianna has done things to make Vi’s life
miserable and through it all Vi just kept getting stronger and more
independent in her life. The final straw was when Blake, Vi’s sexy
boyfriend and Lena, her newly found best friend, was drawn into a scandal
of lies and blackmail. It was time for revenge because drama queen and her
little trolls that follow her around have done enough damage to deserve
some payback.
Now the plan was brilliant and I have to give kudos to the author for
thinking this up, but in the midst of all the revenge, Violet’s heart was
still breaking over what she had discovered. There is also a lot of angst
among the characters families that draw these teens together against their
will, so the side action is interesting as well. Violets mother was a
riot, she is so crazy that sometimes I found I laughed out loud at her
silliness but some of the choices her mother made, caused me to feel an
over protective anger for Violet. The ending gave me mixed feelings. I
can see the realistic value of how it ended and I was glad to see Violet
was able to see the other side of the situation but I felt like they moved
on while I was still feeling a rush of emotions over what happen. In a
nutshell, if you can read this through the eyes of a 17 year old girl you
are going to LOVE this story. I read it through the eyes of a mother and
trust me things don’t calm down so quickly inside my mind when kids and
bullying is involved.
I struggled with the number rating for this book only because I am not a
huge fan of books about teenage angst and high school drama, let’s be
honest I live with two teenage girls, I get enough of that at home. This
story fits that genre to a T, BUT I couldn’t ignore the fact that this was
a very well written book. The characters were developed so well they almost
became real to me and it would be a five star book to those who love this
type of plot. So in all fairness and because I do deeply love the message
that the author has in this book and her style of writing was wonderful and
easy to read and follow, I went with a four stars and feel solid with my
choice.
Renee’s Review:
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review for Stephanie’s Book Reports.
Violet And Brianna are neighbors Ever since Violet moved in next door Brianna has been horrible to her. She teases and tortures her. With them both being in high school Violet has hopes of things changing. She’s eve got a boyfriend now name Blake. But don’t mess with the Queen Bee or you’ll get stung, and Brianna is pretty much the it girl at their high school. She’s horrible to everyone. But, when Blake gets caught up in one of Brianna’s schemes Violet has had enough. Revenge is a dish best served cold and it’s time for Brianna to taste some cold dishes.
Gosh this book took me way way back to high school. I loved though how Taylor Henderson wrote the character of Violets voice. I did feel like I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if I was in my late teens early twenties because that’s how high school was. Now many years later you don’t pay any attention to the drama. It’s a great book and I enjoyed it but kept thinking if I was eighteen I’d love it more.
Carla’s Review:
*I was given a copy of this book as a gift from Stephanie’s Book Reports in exchange for an honest review.
3 stars for Better than Revenge by Taylor Henderson.
For as long as she can remember, Violet has been teased and tortured by her next door neighbor, Brianna. Brianna is beautiful, and Violet just can’t understand why she hates her so much.
Now that they are both in high school, Violet hopes that things between them will change. Violet is happy. She has a great boyfriend named Blake whom she is crazy about. Brianna is the “queen bee” of their high school and she treats everyone (even her friends) like crap. When Blake gets caught up in one of Brianna’s webs, Violet has had enough. She realizes that now is the time to retaliate.
Violet and her friend, Lena, come up with a master plan of revenge. When they are through with Brianna, they hope that she will finally realize that being on the wrong side of bullying is no fun. Will their plans produce the results they want, or will they realize that stooping to a bully’s level makes you just as bad as the bully?
This was on okay read for me. In my opinion, it is geared towards younger readers, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Just not my cup of tea.
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