#Siobhan Vivian

[ardent-reflections]

You can decorate absence however you want- but you're still gonna feel what's missing.

Siobhan Vivian

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: We Are the Wildcats

Author: Siobhan Vivan

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2020

Genres: fiction, contemporary, sports, mystery, romance

Blurb: Tomorrow, the Wildcat varsity field hockey squad will play the first game of their new season, but at tonight's team sleepover, the girls are all about forging the bonds of trust, loyalty, and friendship necessary to win. Everything hinges on the midnight initiation ceremony: a beloved tradition, and the only facet of being a Wildcat that the girls control...until now. Coach - a handsome former college player revered and feared in equal measure - changes the plan, and spins his team on a new adventure. One where they take a rival team's mascot for a joyride, crash a party in their pajamas, and break into the high school for the perfect picture...but as the girls slip out of their comfort zone, so do some long-held secrets. Just how far they're willing to go for their team takes them all - especially Coach - by surprise.

[lilithspade]

Leitura 76 de 2023

Não sou este tipo de garota

Siobhan Vivian

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Não ou esse tipo de garota’ é um daqueles romances adolescentes tempestade em copo d’água. A protagonista se depara com um problema que ou parece imenso aos olhos dela quando na verdade é insignificante ou é o resultado das próprias escolhas e modo de lidar com certas situações que ela mesma aplica.

É uma leitura rápida e fluida e o interesse romântico é um amorzinho que você gosta logo de cara. Principalmente por ele ser o único cara no livro todo que não é um babaca de marca maior.

É um livro para ler quando não se está muito afim de uma leitura complexa ou profunda. Algo mais para ‘limpar o paladar’, mas que funciona muito bem nessa proposta.

[blairbuttercup5]

The list by Siobhan Vivian.

This is book is about 8 girls whose chosen on the 'list', a tradition that's going for a long time, which determines which girl is the prettiest or ugliest.

Characters: prettiest

Margo

Bridget

Lauren

Abby

Characters: ugliest

Jenifer

Sara

Candace

Danielle

I read this book about a year ago when I found it in my school library, I really enjoyed this book and decided to read it again.

However, I feel sad that there's no sequel to this book.

It ends like a cliffhanger, which I don't mind but it would be better if there was a part 2 of this book.

There are many unresolved issues but I still love this book.

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary,

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Content Warning: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual content, Death of parent, Rape, Fatphobia

Summary: Think Mary, Kat, and Lillia have nothing left to lose? Think again. The fiery conclusion to the Burn for Burn trilogy from New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han, and New York Times bestselling author of The List , Siobhan Vivian.

They only meant to right the wrongs. It was about getting even . Burn for burn.

But the fire they lit kept raging…Reeve ended up hurt, then Rennie ended up dead.

Everything will turn to ash if they don’t stop what they started. But now that Mary knows the truth about what happened to her, will she want to?

Secrets drew Lillia, Kat, and Mary together. The truth might tear them apart.

*Opinions*

This is one of the first series I bought once I got back into reading and had adult money to purchase it, and it is even longer since I read the first novel. There is a dopamine hit from that something that any book lovers understand. As the final book in a trilogy, this novel wraps up a lot of the storylines, but I felt as if it wrapped up too quickly. Especially when the second novel was over 500 pages. Obviously, this review is going to be full of spoilers. 

Ashes to Ashes follows the events after the tragic New Year's Eve that ends with Rennie being killed by Mary. Mary, now realizes that she is dead and a vengeful spirit that can do serious harm to others. She sets her eyes on Kat and Lillia, who she feels betrayed her by befriending and dating Reeve before deciding that Reeve needs to die. As Kat and Lillia attempt to pay attention to their senior year spring break and prom, Mary continues to torment them. When Mary realizes that Reeve needs to kill himself, she reveals herself to Lillia and makes her break up with Reeve, who she has fallen in love with. Now that Lillia and Kat are aware that Mary is a spirit they have to race to try and bind her before she hurts someone else. However, Mary wants revenge to cross over and she will have it one way or another. 

I think that this is a satisfying conclusion to the series, but I wanted more from it, especially at the very end of the novel. Kat, Lillia, and Reeve went through so much trauma and did so many things that deeply impacted their future, but it is all glossed over. On one hand, I understand that this was a story about the three girls, and with Mary gone, the story has to end. However, I would have gotten more about Reeve following the footsteps of his brother, Kat changing her plans and going to NYU, and Lillia and Alex finally being together. Now, I did appreciate that Lillia and Alex went all the way through college before starting a relationship, but after all the back and forth I would have liked to see them happy a little longer. Again, the romance was not the point of the story, but it was a big part of it. 

One thing that bothered me about this book is the way that sex has been treated throughout the three books, but it became very clear in this novel. Lillia, my poor girl, decides to have sex with the boy she loves and literally has to break up with him the same night. I do appreciate that Han and Vivian did not make her regret having sex with Reeve, but it really wasn’t necessary, especially after she was raped at the beginning of the very first book. I am glad that Lillia went on a healing journey to feel comfortable having sex, it is important for young women to see that, but she suffers so much in these novels that I feel like she could have just broken up with Reeve without the sex. Especially because the reason she used to break up with him was finding out about Mary, it had nothing to do with sex. They didn’t need to do that to my girl. 

I think that the way Mary is written descending into madness was really well done. Everything she does makes sense, especially when you put yourself into a teenager's shoes. Mary is abandoned by her family, realizes that she is dead, and then sees her two friends betraying her and breaking their pact. I never warmed up to Reeve, but the way she tortured him was so unsettling, especially as she was attempting to get him to attempt suicide. The fact that she was so far gone that it didn’t matter that Reeve did feel bad about killing her, she needed to make him hurt. I would have liked a little more time with her realization that no one was to blame for her killing herself besides herself, and it was done a little more elegantly, but I enjoyed that Mary saved her friends in the end. 

Kat’s plotline was the weakest one in this novel, mostly focused on attempting to get accepted into college. It makes sense for the spell they do at the end of the novel, but she is really just there to move the plot along. There is some character growth with Kat realizing that she doesn’t have to be so mean, though it was never addressed that she had to shut herself off because Rennie made everyone shun her. Also, I would have liked it if they addressed the fact that Kat and Alex hooked up a little more, even if they shifted into a friendship role. 

Lillia is my favorite character and I just wanted to protect her because she goes through the ringer in this series. At the beginning of the pact, she has the smallest to gain in messing with Alex and yet she is made to pretend to fall in love with Reeve, then actually falls in love with him, and then has to break up with him to keep everyone alive. She also loses her best friend, who is not a good person and I did not care that she died, because of this pact. I have already talked about the sex of it all, but I just wanted her to be left alone for a couple of chapters. 

Speaking of Rennie, I still felt as if her death was only used for a plot progression and because they had no idea what to do with her anymore. I wish it would have Mary to hurt someone she hadn’t meant to, that she had become the same as Reeve. There was so much that could have been done with Rennie and I felt like they wanted to get her out of the way to focus on Reeve and Lillia. I wish more would have been done with Lillia’s and Nadia’s relationship since it was such a motivating factor in the first novel. 

I know that it sounds like I hated this novel, but I was stressed for a good part of the reading of this novel. I was satisfied with this novel, but personally want more from the characters which is interesting since this is a character-driven novel. I think this is a well-written YA novel and has teenage characters that act like teenagers. I would recommend but for higher YA readers. 3.5 stars. 

[twohalves1whole]

“you can decorate the absence however you want- but you’re still going to feel what’s missing” -siobhan vivian

[knightsofeclipse]

SHE CALLS HER BON-BON!!!?!!!

[daydreamsandhallucinations]

Major Shivian vibes

[mialotte-tnn]

HER NAME IS VIVIAN!!!!

she has to be talking about Jamie’s mum right????

[thoughtartistry]

“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.”

– Siobhan Vivian. 🔆

[alisarmad]

You can decorate absence all you want — but you're still gonna feel what's missing.

— Siobhan Vivian, from Same

[tired-inferi]

Quotes that that remind me of the Peter pettigrew in the fic I’m writing:

“And how odd it is to be haunted by someone that’s still alive”

“The number of hours we have together is actually not that large. Please linger near the door uncomfortably instead of just leaving. Please forget your scarf in my life and come back for it later”

“I didn’t feel at home in life”. -Anne sextion

“I replay that moment every night in my head”

“I desire very little, but the things I do consume me.” -Baeu Taplin

“I know this feeling of being a ghost in your life- no one sees you, no one feels you, so you stay still as if you could actually disappear at any moment”

“I have this strange feeling that I’m not myself anymore. It’s hard to put into words, but I guess it’s like I was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me and put me back together again. That sort of feeling.” -Haruki Murakami

“You can redecorate absence however you want, but you’re still gonna feels what’s missing.” -Siobhan Vivian

[cannibalcult]

i also wish that some characters, mostly mia, had more to them than just being there for their partners :(

mia has a sorta interesting story but its rarely mentioned now and she just exists to show up to visit charlotte.. wish the plotline of her and marjorie attempting to be somewhat friendly towards each other was forgotten? i wish mia could interact with others more

i wish tnn was doing more storyline stuff.. i understand shes trying to appease both sides but theres been a lot of parent skits and ehhh

[night-thief]

You can decorate absence however you want but you're still gonna feel what's missing.

- Siobhan Vivian, Same Difference Turtleback

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary,

Rating: 4 out of 5

Content Warning: Death, Suicide, Child death, Bullying, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Car accident, Fatphobia 

Summary: ONCE A FIRE IS LIT, THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO IS LET IT BURN.

Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan: work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But after the disastrous events of the homecoming dance, they realize they may have gone too far. Well, Lillia and Kat do, but not Mary. She wants more. There is something not quite right about Mary, and if she can't figure out what it is, someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve. Reeve, who hurt her so many years ago. Reeve, who still needs to pay for what he did.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls agree to one last act of revenge: make Reeve fall in love with Lillia, and then she will crush him. It's the only way he'll learn.

*Opinions*

The second installment of the Burn for Burn series was much longer than the other two novels in the trilogy, but the amount of emotion and events that Vivian and Han pack into these pages make it worth the longer read. It is difficult to talk about this novel, especially with how it ends, without mentioning major spoilers so if you are okay with minor spoilers but not major plot twists, please go and find another review. 

Fire with Fire begins only days after the events of Burn for Burn, with everyone returning to school after the disastrous Homecoming dance that left Reeve with a broken leg and his hopes of a scholarship to college dashed. While the revenge plot that Mary, Kat, and Lillia had cooked up worked beautifully, the group doesn’t feel great that their revenge came to pass. Lillia is being iced out of her group by her best friend Rennie, who is devoted to Reeve’s return to form in hopes of getting back onto the football field. Reeve has become even more moody and upset, focused on his training and nothing else. Luckily, Alex is still there for Lillia, but that comes with its own complications. Kat has shifted her focus to college applications and attempting to put everything that happened behind her, which puts her in contact with Alex and the school counselor again. However, she finds that she enjoys her time with Lillia and Mary and starts to try to open herself up emotionally again. Mary is not doing well and feels as if her revenge has not been enacted. When she overhears Lillia yelling at Reeve, she realizes that he has feelings for her friend. Another revenge plot is hatched, to have Reeve fall for Lillia and then have her break his heart the same way that he broke Mary’s. However, nothing is that easy, especially matters of the heart. When the threat of what they did at homecoming is at risk of being exposed and secrets of the past rearing their heads, will the group be able to make it to New Year's in one piece and with their hearts unbroken? 

To say that things heat up in this novel is a bit ironic given the ending, but a fitting description. Both Han and Vivian do a good job of writing teenagers the way that they exist in the world. The characters in this book are messy and emotional, the way that teenagers are. Kat, Mary, and Lillia are all trying to do the right thing for each other, but they also have their own desires and wants that war within them. There really isn’t a strong plot within this novel, it is just the group attempting to get Reeve to fall in love with Lillia and then the fallout when she does crush his heart. However, there are no dull moments in this novel because the girls are not narrowed down to the revenge plot. Kat is dealing with the repercussions of her mother’s death, even five years later, and the life she had before her fallout with Rennie. Lillia is dealing with the expectations of her family, her relationship with her sister, her deteriorating relationship with Rennie, her relationship with Alex, and seeing more to Reeve than the exterior he puts up. The only character that is focused down to a pinpoint is Mary, but there is a reason for that in the narrative. 

The end of this novel was absolutely wild and makes it so I am very confused about how this series is going to wrap up. There was foreshadowing in the first book that something was happening with Mary, so I figured that she was a witch of some sort, especially with everyone saying that about her aunt. What I was not expecting was to find out that she was already dead and just a vengeful spirit that Kat and Lillia were able to see for some reason. It is still unclear why the other two girls can see her, I am assuming that will be revealed in Ashes to Ashes. However, the slip in Mary in this novel from a quiet girl who really wants revenge to kind of the antagonist of the novel was fascinating and well done. The reader knows Mary and feels for her, so it isn’t until the final pages of the novel that you can no longer support her need for closure as it has morphed in such a dangerous way. I think it’s an interesting theme to explore in YA, especially for a teenager who was forced to suicide by bullying. 

The character I felt the worst for was Lillia, who is constantly being pushed to do most of the heavy lifting in the revenge plots because she is in the friend group of the individuals being targeted. I think she was written beautifully in the tug between wanting to help her friends but also her heart being melted by someone that she sees in pain, someone she has known most of her life. In my head, I am screaming for her to just be with Alex because he is the smart choice, but that is not how the heart works, especially as a teenager. I do not like Reeve, but I even got the flutters and the insecurity that pops up when you start liking someone new. I just want her to be happy. 

Kat was kind of pushed to the back burner in this novel in terms of character development and plot movement. She is forced to look at her life and deal with her mother’s death a bit more, but that again seems to be pushed into the background. However, her softening toward Rennie before the end of the novel opens her up to a lot of growth in the third book in the series. I like that she is rough around the edges, desperately grasping for things to make her happy, but is slowly starting to think about more than just getting off Jar Island. 

Now for the ending…Rennie’s death feels more like the authors wrote themselves into a corner instead of something that made a lot of sense. Again, I am hoping that things will become clearer in the third installment, but to have Mary burst into flames and kill Rennie when she was just trying to help her felt really out of character. It felt like the authors were like “well, Rennie knows about the Homecoming events, what can we do to stop her from exposing the group” and couldn’t come up with anything other than killing her off. Don’t get me wrong, I did not like Rennie’s character, though she is also written well in her unlikability. The death just seemed like a necessity of the plot rather than something that had a real impact narratively. 

Overall, I am enjoying this series a lot more than I expected as a 32-year-old reading a YA series. I think that this is a good series to give to high school-age teenagers because it addresses issues without being preachy. You see what happened to Mary due to bullying, but also what revenge and pettiness can lead to. This is a 4 star read and let’s see how the series finishes out. 

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💋 That's SO Fetch!: What To Read After Watching Mean Girls

🩷 Good morning, bookish bats! I actually have a weird, complicated relationship with Mean Girls. After reading Queen Bees & Wannabes, my mother didn't let me watch the 2004 film, as if THAT would somehow protect me from the realities of middle and high school (WOW, feeling old writing this now).

👠 Yet somehow, I CONSTANTLY ended up around people obsessed with the movie (and we love Tina Fey, so, I can't blame a single person). Right before the mess of 2020, I even had the luck of seeing Renee Rapp perform as Regina on Broadway, and WOAH. It was everything (and my little, late-in-life bi heart has a whole new appreciation for it). Funnily enough, my parents and sister were with me, and my mom thought nothing of it. It's been a while since I've done one of these posts (namely because of the strike, though I have a few sitting in my queue), so I figured now was the perfect time. Here are a few books to consider reading if you love Mean Girls!

💋 Wren Martin Ruins It All - Amanda Dewitt 🩷 I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston 👠 Queen Bee - Amalie Howard 💋 Royal Scandal - Aimée Carter 🩷 Diary of a Confused Feminist - Kate Weston 👠 The Revenge Game - Jordyn Taylor 💋 The Night in Question - Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson 🩷 The Way You Make Me Feel - Maurene Goo 👠 Rivals: American Royals III - Katharine McGee 💋 The Favorite Sister - Jessica Knoll 🩷 Fat Talk - Virginia Sole-Smith 👠 Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek - Jennifer Keishin Armstrong and Thea Glassman 💋 Queen Bees & Wannabes - Rosalind Wiseman 🩷 Gossip Girl - Cecily Von Ziegesar 👠 Pretty Things - Janelle Brown 💋 How Not to Be Popular - Jennifer Ziegler 🩷 Some Girls Are - Courtney Summers 👠 Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard 💋 Tiny Pretty Things - Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra 🩷 One of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus 👠 The List - Siobhan Vivian