The Revenge Playbook

Author: Rachael Allen

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Contemporary

Release Date: June 16, 2015

Summary: Don’t get mad, get even! In the small town of Ranburne, high school football rules and the players are treated like kings. How they treat the girls they go to school with? That’s a completely different story. Liv, Peyton, Melanie Jane, and Ana each have their own reason for wanting to teach the team a lesson—but it’s only when circumstances bring them together that they come up with the plan to steal the one thing the boys hold sacred. All they have to do is beat them at their own game.

Review: The idea that 5 girls, who really have nothing in common, decide to band together to show the football team that they don't rule the town/school as much as they thought they did. Sound familiar doesn't it? Right from the get go, this novel reminded me of the movie, John Tucker Must Die. Since I enjoyed the movie, I figured 'Why not?'

I really enjoyed the idea of these girls banding together and feeling empowered by each other. Reading about each of their individual stories/reasons as to why they wanted to take down the football team was great and made the characters more relate-able. I also really enjoyed reading the chapters involving them actually doing the scavenger hunt. Those parts were so cute and funny! I also liked the way that Allen included the multiple POVs and flipped from the past (the girls history) and the present (doing the scavenger hunt). It really helped in the overall development of the story and pacing.

On the offhand, there were a few things I didn't particularly like. As previously mentioned, this book reminded me a great deal of John Tucker Must Die. Although I enjoyed that movie, it ended up making this book predicable and less original. Also, I felt that throughout the novel, the girls' virginity was a constant topic. I definitely felt that it held more weight throughout the entire novel more than it should have and actually ended up taking away from the story more than I had anticipated. I can understand (with this being a contemporary novel) how that could make the book more "realistic", but for me, personally, it just took away from the novel.

Overall, this was a fairly fun novel, but not one of my favorites. I can't see myself reading this again . . . but hey! you never know!