Name: Monicap's review of Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han
Item: Ashes to Ashes
Rating: 3
Author: Monicap

Jenny Han

Siobhan Vivian

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.

Ashes to Ashes

megan

Monicap

Nope. I guess this was an adequate wrap-up of the series, but I don't think any of the characters arced particularly well through this final novel.

The epilogue was so cheesy.

I DO admire Han and Vivian's commitent to their theme--they did manage to bring it around to the same revenge plot, but unfortunately it got really old really quick. 

SPOILERS FOR IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED FIRE WITH FIRE
(view spoiler)[I was never inclined to believe Mary was actually dead. Even as far as 46% into this book, I still expected it to be revealed she was actually alive. The ghost mechanics made no sense. 1) One of the most fundamental differences between the living and the dead in most mythologies is that the living can change and the dead can't, yet Mary somehow changed from a heavt=y 13-year-old to a skinny 17-year-old. 2) Why did she only decide to start haunting now? What was she doing for the previous five years? 30 Why could Kat and Lillia and Rennie and half the male population of the high school see her and others couldn't? I realize they attempted to explain that, but it didn't plug all the holes. I would have actually rathered that they didn't try to explain it all. In the first two books, they drew deep enough into their narrative that they could have not questioned the fact that it made no sense, and just continued as though it did. I would still have these questions, yes, but arguably less to complain about. 
Also, I understand that their explanation was just another way for them to keep the revenge theme central to their narrative, but we could have arrived at the same place thematically without offering that feeble explanation--Mary sees the boy being bullied, pushes the tree over, he doesn't see her and she still concludes she must be some sort of avenging ghost. Still works, just fine. (hide spoiler)]

Anyways, not my favorite ending to a series. Not bad, but not my favorite. For thematically similar narratives that I belive performed better see We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and the Mercy series by Rebecca Lim.

Victoria

I tried so hard not to read any reviews prior to reading the last installment of this series. But of course, I failed. I read a few and those who rated this with 1 and 2 stars all basically said the same thing—they hated the ending. 

I went into reading this thinking that it would be like Pretty Little Liars (watched the series but never read a single book, just so you have an idea of what I was comparing it to). The first book—Burn for Burn—made the impression that it would be quite similar to PLL being that it was., first of all, set in high school and basically all about plotting revenge. This wasn’t as intense as PLL (again, the TV series not the books) but the second book—Fire with Fire—really took a great turn! I was hanging off the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next in the lives and revenge conquest of Lilia, Mary and Katherine. 

Okay, let’s backtrack a little bit. This book is about these three girls: Lilia, Mary and Kat who, on the first day of school, decided to come together to plot revenge on all the people who have hurt them deeply. It was a good story plot. The authors did a great job with character development and each of them really had their own voice and you could easily tell them apart. I’ve read books with multiple protagonists and I usually end up confused as fuck as to who the hell is “speaking” because their personalities all seem so similar. 

Burn for Burn wasn’t really much of anything. It was just the base of the story. It was all about the reason as to why these three girls hate these people and why they’re plotting revenge against them. Fire with Fire really was the turning point as everything started coming together and falling apart in this installment of the series. It was amazing! And the cliff-hanger at end was just, ugh, damn. That really put me right on the edge!

Then comes Ashes to Ashes—the last book and apparently, the most hated one. People weren’t expecting such a “lame” and/or “corny” ending to the story. I, however, personally liked it. I liked how it went down. It’s true that the whole thing had the potential of being better that it was but then again, the point of view of the authors were one that I actually appreciated. Plus, there’s the fact that the Epilogue narrated everything that has happened in the futures of the characters, and I absolute love that. I love that I didn’t have to guess and imagine what their futures would be like. 

Not many people would like the ending given that the series was super intense and the ending was the exact opposite. But still, give the series a shot. It’s actually pretty great, in my opinion.

Alexa M

New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come. After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie. . . Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same. Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

Jude Moon

I was afraid of not liking this third book as much as I liked the other two and I was (as expected) right. In my case I'm sure it was because of the timing, because I read the second book 3 or 4 years prior to this one, so I had forgotten half of the plot and I obvsly noticed some things I hadn't quite catch at that time.

The plot was quite good, it just felt quite... hectic. Lots of things happened and some of them came out of the blue and I must say at times I felt a little bit confused about everything. 
As for the characters I actually was dissapointed with my renewed view of them. There's some people that I didn't like from the very beginning, Reeve and Rennie for example, but characters like Lillia and Kat felt much more flat than I remembered. This happened basically because I didn't understand the motifs behind the mayority of their decisions, specially Lillia's, so I couldn't quite connect to them or feel as much sympathy for them as I would've liked it to.

In general, I didn't love it, but I would recommend it if you are starting to read YA and you want a fast-paced trilogy, because if there's something I really enjoyed about these books was how fast you read them.

My rating: 6/10

Mia Tuccio

the ending basically ruined everything I hated the end. the rest of the book was rlly good tho

Leigh Osborne

This was a really disappointing book as I hate how it ended. Reeve didn't deserve what happened to him. I hate how they turned the sweet naive girl into a psychotic one. I wish I just stopped at the second book.

Chelsea Hunter

Ashes to Ashes was a nice strong conclusion to this series, and although I had my issues with the book regarding a certain paranormal aspect, I could appreciate that the story was well written and somewhat well delivered. This was my least favorite of the series, and I felt that I had many concerns with how this book ended.

Here's the thing about this series, where I felt it went wrong for me. In my review of the first book, I mentioned that I might have enjoyed this when I was younger, and I definitely feel that way after finishing this series. Not only because of my first thoughts before picking up this series, but after the paranormal aspect that was introduced into this series. I wasn't expecting it, and I really didn't like it, partly because I don't read paranormal books as much anymore, but also partly because I was hoping for a good summery contemporary only read - which was what I was expecting, which was obviously not delivered.

My feelings about the characters were much more in line with how I felt about them in the last book, nothing really changed in that regard. I liked Lilia and Kat, although some moments Kat irritates me. Although, I really enjoyed seeing both of them grow throughout the final book. Mary is the one character I absolutely cannot stand in this book - and you'll understand yourself if you have read the ending of this book.

Overall, I was even more disappointed with the path this book/series took, and although, I did enjoy the series overall - I would not read it again. I do look forward to reading more from both Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian, and I hope that I enjoy their other books more.

Elaine

I have to say, I didn't like in what direction the story went in this one. After the reveal at the end of book 2, I was skeptical of what was about to happen and I was let down. I really enjoyed the characters again, but the story became so unbelievable it lost me in the first 30 %. Other than that the ending was way to quick, and the last chapter made me even angry...Other than that the story was good and the writing was so addicting I had to read it in full and see what happens.

Emily C Peterson

3.5. the ending was so crazy abrupt. It really took me out of the story

Zoe Smolen

I never would have thought this is where we would end up when I first started Burn for Burn. What a wild ride.

Nikki Fowler 

Dinda

Ok honestly I'm not a fan of this series, maybe I'm a bit crazy for bought this book and read without not finished yet with book 1 and 2. But I found it was cheap so yeaaa.

I think the book was okey, though the plot was sort of boring. I wonder what the author wanna tell about and I can't find out the climax of the story until page 248 (that's mean after reading more than half book). But it was successfully filled me with many emotions (like loss, sadness, fear, love).

I haven't planned to read book 1 and 2, I just have spoiled with the ending btw

Joleen

** spoiler alert **
           I mean wtf was that?! You cannot give a character so much development and then completely shatter that. 
Reeve turned into the loser that he always dreaded! And Alex and Lillia? Really? Wtf!

megan &
Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han

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