Burn for Burn Books In Order

Publication Order of Burn for Burn Books

“Burn for Burn” is a series of young adult romance novel by bestselling children’s and young adult fiction author Jenny Han. She is best known for writing the young adult series “The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy” and the bestselling “To All the Boys” series that went on to be made into a motion picture of the same name. The author was born to Korean parents in Virginia and went to the University of Carolina for her bachelor’s degree. She then got her Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing when she graduated from The New School in 2006. Jenny wrote her first children’s novel “Shug” while she was still a student in college. It was a story of a twelve-year-old who has to deal with the pressures of high school. It was after this that she went on to publish the “Summer I Turned Pretty” series. Her most successful work was “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” which was about a high school student that had her life upside down when her letters are publicized without her consent. The novel was later optioned and made into a film released in 2018. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Growing up, Jenny Han had always loved young adult as she grew up when the genre was undergoing something of a renaissance. As a teenager, she would read the likes of “Sweet Valley” and “Babysitters Club” books and the novels from the likes of Judy Blume and Lois Duncan. After college, she moved to New York to get her MFA in creative writing and then was employed at Books of Wonder and it was during this time that she wrote her first novel. Working at a children’s bookstore was a good internship for an aspiring children’s author as she had to read a lot to know what to recommend to customers. She also got to know what kind of novels children and young adults loved and bought. After finding success with her debut “Shug” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series she quit her job to become a full-time author in 2011.

The “Burn for Burn” series by Jenny Han combines paranormal with contemporary romance aspects such as dealing with loss, sweet, friendships, intense romance and teenagers becoming adults. The lead characters of the series are Lilia, Mary, and Kat who are working together for the common goal of revenge. High school is often a stressful and high-pressure situation and hence the girls have made many enemies. However, they cannot revenge immediately to slights and provocations and hence for they embody the saying revenge is a dish best served cold. Their biggest targets include Rennie, Alex, and Reeve, all of whom have crossed the paths of one or two of the girls at one point or another. Lilia and Kat were once the best of friends until Rennie ruined everything. As for Mary, she is new in school but she is not going to lie down and take abuse from anyone. Together, they form an alliance and come up with devious plans for revenge. The stories in the Burn for Burn series are told from the point of view of the three girls. Through their voices, the reader gets to learn more about their background, their experiences, the hardship and pressures they had to deal with.

“Burn for Burn” the first novel of the Burn for Burn series of novels by Jenny Han is a novel that introduces the lead protagonists of the series. It is set in the island resort town of Jar Island at the end of the summer when change is in the air. New girl Mary, outcast Kat and the popular Lilia made a pact of revenge after they were betrayed by people they believed they could trust. Lilia is full of shame and guilt after a date that went wrong and resulted in her getting raped. She has vowed to protect Nadia her younger sister who has lived a sheltered life but is now being harassed by the advances of Alex, another senior. Kat is impatient to put the screws to Rennie who has made sure that her friendship with Lilia came to an end. She has also been destroying her reputation by spreading some horrible rumors about Kat. New girl Mary was brought up on Jar Island but has spent the last several years away since she wanted to get away from the bullying by Reeve the school’s star quarterback. Their plan for revenge is executed with utmost precision but the consequences are greater than what they had envisioned. It results in a near tragedy and the girls are left deeply shaken.

“Fire with Fire” the second novel of the series continues the story of Mary, Kat and Lilia whose well made plans went awry last time round. However, it does look like they got away with their actions and now all they have to do is pick up the pieces, move on and live their lives leaving their pact behind. But it is proving to be harder than they thought it would be as Rennie has become even meaner and Reeve remains the jerk he was. Mary is a sweet little girl but she thinks there is something very wrong with her. She has anger issues and knows that if she cannot get things under control when pushed, somebody could be hurt in a way that could make what happened to Reeve look like child’s play. She understands that her anger is not all about the bullying she endured from Reeve but also the fact that he had made her fall for him. Burn for burn, tooth for tooth, eye for an eye and heartbreak for heartbreak the girls are determined to give as good as they got. Their new plan is to make Reeve fall in love with one of their own and then break his heart.

“Ashes to Ashes” the third novel of the series opens to Lilia feeling guilty as she had been dating Reeve behind her friend’s back. Now that Rennie is dead, she knows it was wrong to do that to her best friend. Kat does not have to deal with such feelings as she had reconciled with Rennie and they had made peace before she died. A few weeks later, things had been going back to normal as Kat and Lilia bonded but now everyone is puzzled with the unusual disappearance of sweet Mary. However, everyone believes she decided to leave the island as she had never fit in. But unknown to them, there is something more to it as she had taken her own life. Mary’s soul is trapped on the island and she is now a ghost roaming the paths and houses of Jar Island. She will not rest until she has her revenge on Reeve who was so mean to her that she had committed suicide. She is determined to take him down and by that action set her soul free. But Mary’s anger is so great and she is so unpredictable that she may just harm the likes of Kat and Lilia.