Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood: Review

Title: Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood

Author: Eileen Cook

Release Date: January 2010

Published By: Simon Pulse

Pages: 224

Goodreads Rating: 3.85 stars

Review: At the end of eighth grade, Lauren Wood decided to ditch Helen to be popular by embarrassing her so much that she moved to a different town. It was worth it, though, because Lauren ended up as the most popular senior and soon forgot all about her ex-best friend. But Helen remembered. And she's back now, with a different look, a different name, and a plan. Because she's back for revenge, and she'll do anything to take Lauren down... starting with her boyfriend.

GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD was told with a strong voice that lent it an un-put-down-able quality that had me flipping pages quickly. It's a fast-paced read that you can get through in just one or two sittings without any problem, and the story goes down easily. This makes it the perfect book to kick back and relax with to devour whether you're tanning at the beach or curled up in your favorite comfy chair.

However, there were a few aspects with the plot that I didn't enjoy as much. One part that really bothered me was actually the basis for the story: the fact that Helen was obsessed with avenging her humiliation. While what Lauren did to her was definitely cruel, I didn't think it really warranted moving away nor still holding a festering grudge after four years. I feel like her anger would be more justified if Lauren had done something much worse than just making some people upset with her for a couple weeks.

Another thing I didn't really like that much was the ending. I felt like it ended rather abruptly without much in the way of plot resolution and didn't really deal that well with what happens to Lauren and Helen. All the way up to the end I was hoping that the book would get more fun because the synopsis sounded so Mean Girls-esque and exciting, but it felt much more passive than it could have been, and the ending was similarly lackluster.

This book still remains an excellent read to decompress with, and you can easily swallow the story all at once without a lot of thinking, making it a great guilty pleasure. I did wish that Helen's obsession for revenge was more proportionate to Lauren's crime, and that the book did a better job plot-wise. Other than that, I enjoyed GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD quite a bit and would recommend it to anyone who likes reading books about cliques and popular girls.

Cover Love (7)

This week, my pick is...

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook. Seriously, how can you not love this cover? Every aspect of this cover is awesome. First, there's the fact that the design team wasn't afraid to get fun with the bold covers. The bright yellow background contrasted with the green grass and tag line definitely grabs your attention.

Of course, even more noticeable is the focus of the cover, the doll. As this is a book about getting revenge on a mean, popular girl, it's quite fitting that a "perfect" Barbie doll was chosen to represent her, complete with the "ideal" blonde hair and wide blue eyes. However, the doll also represents how lifeless she is, considering, you know, that she has a knife in her back (which is also a definite attention-grabber!). The positioning of the doll is good because your eye naturally follows the title, to the tag line, and then to the doll and author name.

The fonts chosen are rather notable as well. A fancy script is used for most of the title, which again goes with the theme of the perfect popular girl, but then that bright pink "REVENGE" flashes up. It's a strong font, which works because it's a strong word, and then the color gives it some flair. The font used for the author name was good because it didn't detract from the rest of the cover (author names that take up half the book are my pet peeve) but is a decent, legible font.

If I had to make one criticism, I would say that the cover would do just fine without the tag line. It doesn't say anything that the title and image don't imply, and I'm not a fan of that green directly on the yellow.

What do you think of this cover? Have you read the book, and if so, does the cover work with the story?