revenge. revenge. revenge.
Last year I was lucky enough to become a part of the blog tour for Hannah Capin’s upcoming novel Foul Is Fair and today I can finally talk about it! With this – thank you so much to the publisher St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy of this book!
Jade and her friends Jenny, Mads, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Jade’s sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Jade as their next target.
They picked the wrong girl.
Sworn to vengeance, Jade transfers to St. Andrew’s Prep. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.
Foul Is Fair is a book about revenge. About revenge from a girl that gets raped by a group of presumptuous boys that can do what they want because noone is going to stop them. It’s about a girl that fights back with the help pf her friends instead of breaking. This book is full of dark themes, blood and violence. It’s twisted and messy (both good and bad). It’s like nothing I’ve read before. And I still don’t know how to put my thoughts in order. I’m in no way able to write a coherent text. But I can still write a neat list about the things I enjoyed and the things I disliked.
what I liked:
» Girl Power. This book is full of girl power. Mostly coming from Jade and her circle of best friends (lovingly called the coven). They’d do anything for one another (and do it) and would never let each other down. They don’t ask, they simply trust. And every single one of them is an individual source of power. I just LOVE powerful girls!
» Diversity – at least of some kind. I don’t want to label this book as a great source of diverse representation, but there are some diverse characters portrayed and I enjoyed this very much (though at least the golden boys of St. Andrew’s look all the same in my head).
» Scheming. Jade is a mastermind when it comes to scheming her revenge. She plots with an intense hatred but still keeps a cool head about it. Every eventuality is planned out. Every movement of everyone. The timing. At some points it feels like Jade is able to bend the nature and her surroundings as well, just so that everything goes as planned. And she is incredibly manipulative when it comes to executing her plans. It’s honestly remarkable how good Jade is at this.
» Darkness. I loved how dark the book was. Not concerning the topics (which are extremely dark), but how there was always a dark flow underneath it all. It would be wrong to say that it highlighted the important parts, but that’s exactly what the darkness did.
» Content and Trigger Warnings. I cannot stress this enough! I appreciate every single author that puts content and trigger warnings in their books. Every. Single. One. You can find a list of the warnings below!
what I disliked:
» The Style. I had some major problems with the writing style of the author. Some metaphors were too much for me and it took me quite some time to get into the writing style and until I figured out the flow of everything.
» Unrealistic parts. I’m not saying that the whole plot of the book is completely unrealistic and that none of this would happen outside of a book. The world is too fucked up for that. But some parts of the story just didn’t feel right for me. I won’t say anything so I don’t soil the book, but there were scenes that just didn’t sit right with me.
» Handling of the topics. I know, I know. This book is about revenge. That’s the whole point of the story and I don’t want to undermine that. And I am most definitely not saying, that the author didn’t handle the topics well. But I feel like Jade as the protagonists could’ve handled the situation better. Or at least different. I get that she wants revenge for what was done to her – completely understandable. But I just wish that she wouldn’t have been so dismissive when it came to reporting. I understand thtat if she’d done this, the whole plot wouldn’t have made any sense. But maybe not every reader likes this kind of display.
trigger warnings: sexual assault (not depicted), rape culture, violence, abusive relationship, suicide attempt, transphobic bullying (for more information visit the author’s content advisory page)
I am incredibly thankful that I got to be a part of this blog tour and that I was able to give my honest opinion about this book. I enjoyed reading this novel and please remeber, that everything I didn’t like is my personal opninion. Still it was thrilling and ahuting and messy and dark. So If you’re hooked and want to read this story yourself: the book will be on sale February 18th. Go and get your copy.
The rating:
about the author
Hannah Capin is the author of Foul is Fair and The Dead Queens Club, a feminist retelling of the wives of Henry VIII. When she isn’t writing, she can be found singing, sailing, or pulling marathon gossip sessions with her girl squad. She lives in Tidewater, Virginia.
Author’s Twitter/Instagram: @tldaaollf
