The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen [Book Review]

Title: The Revenge Playbook
Author: Rachael Allen
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: June 16, 2015
ISBN: 0062281364

In this poignant and hilarious novel, Rachael Allen brilliantly explores the nuances of high school hierarchies, the traumas sustained on the path to finding true love, and the joy of discovering a friend where you least expect.
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.
Brimming with sharp observations and pitch-perfect teen voices, fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Mlynowski are sure to fall head-over-heels for this sharp tale—by the author of 17 First Kisses—about the unexpected roads that can lead you to finding yourself. 

I read Rachael Allen's debut novel, 17 First Kisses, last year and it was incredible.  I loved the characters, the emotions, the feels it gave me, and essentially it had my hopes for this follow up extremely high. This was a really great second novel, though it is very different than 17 First Kisses and I will tell you why!

In The Revenge Playbook we are shown a group of girls, each experiencing different troubles, but each seems to stem from the same source... their high school football team. These girls come together through a single purpose - to get revenge.

I really enjoyed this book, and I was interested from the beginning. The girls each dealt with their own problems and issues, but they did so in ways which felt real to me. Slowly throughout the novel we are shown their back stories and their relation to each other, which makes everything become clear.

This is a fun contemporary and it feels lighter than Rachael Allen's debut. This book deals with some deeper issues very well, but ultimately the idea of revenge and the girl's antics towards each other make it feel lighter and fun.

Having said that though there are some very important issues in this book that make the girl's reactions and their antics towards the team make complete sense. Not to mention there is some serious girl power that should be around more in books. At times this book shows the worst in people, but it shows the best in them, too. This book was more powerful than I expected initially upon seeing the cover, and I really enjoyed what was found in the pages.

While I did enjoy this one a lot, I did miss the emotions that 17 First Kisses gave me. There were so many characters to care about with this book that I felt I didn't feel the same connection. Rachael Allen's writing is still fantastic though, and the feelings were there, they were just lessened a bit.

Ultimately this book is about girl power and friendship - if you like contemporary's you should check this one out.