Book Review: Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou

**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Genre: YA, Thriller
Release Date: October 8, 2019 
Description:

"What you see isn't always what you get.

Stevie never meant for things to go this far. When she and Dee--defiant, bold, indestructible Dee--started all this, there was a purpose to their acts of vengeance: to put the bullies of Woepine High School back in their place. And three months ago, Stevie believed they deserved it. Once her best friend turned on her, the rest of the school followed. Stevie was alone and unprotected with a target on her back. Online, it was worse.

It was Dee's idea to get them all back with a few clever pranks, signing each act Love, Heather--an homage to her favorite 80's revenge flick. Despite herself, Stevie can't help getting caught up in the payback, reveling in every minute of suffering. And for a while, it works: it seems the meek have inherited the school.

But when anonymous students begin joining in, punishing perceived slights with increasingly violent ferocity, the line between villain and vigilante begins to blur. As friends turn on each other and the administration scrambles to regain control, it becomes clear: whatever Dee and Stevie started has gained a mind--and teeth--of its own. And when it finally swallows them whole, one will reemerge changed, with a plan for one final, terrifying act of revenge."

CW: excessive bullying, extreme school violence, sexual assault 

I've read a few reviews of this book and have noticed that this has references from the movie "Heathers", a movie that I have not seen so I was unable to pick up on them, but I'm sure those who are might enjoy them. Aside from this, I must say this book took a much different turn of events!

At first, the plot seemed pretty straight forward, with former best friends "breaking up" over petty drama, which followed with bullying because the high school social hierarchy is that messed up of a concept. Then comes Dee, Stevie's "savior" of sorts. She is what causes Stevie to get back on her feet and where the whole revenge "Love, Heather" comes about. I absolutely despise bullying, but seeing some justice being served gave me some satisfaction, but at times when the line is crossed, I no longer feel that. This is also around the time when Stevie's character began to change, though it's introduced subtly. The parallel of Stevie's character to the pranks was evident, as when the "revenge pranks" began to lose control and became rampant at school, so did Stevie with her sanity. Sure, Stevie's worrisome nature can be grating on people's nerves (it did to me at times), but it stems from good intentions. As people began to leave her, you can sense Stevie is losing a sense of herself and is reaching a point of dangerous desperation.  This becomes more obvious once you learn the true nature of Dee. I think the build-up to the conclusive ending was brilliant because you no longer knew how to point out the enemy. Is it the extensive list of bullies at school? Lottie, her former best friend who left her? Rhonda/Pete, who is clueless to the drama around him and is seemingly about to leave? Her mother, who seems to have all the time in the world for her boyfriend but not her? Or it is Stevie herself?

Although I despised many characters (because Stevie's school just so happened to be a breeding ground for one-dimensional bullies), I feel like the development of Stevie made up for that. She is a very flawed complex character, but people can be flawed in different ways. Do I agree with her actions at the end of the novel? ABSOLUTELY NOT, but through the events of the story, I can see how she got to where she ended up. With such an unexpected perspective, it sheds light to many dark aspects of a teen, such as bullying (in person and on social media), the stupid social hierarchy, and the many clueless adults that surround them. Overall, it had a mediocre start that fell a bit flat in the middle, but it does eventually pick up once things begin to click into place. Despite this I still recommend it. 

Overall rating:  4/5