Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

The basics

Title: Fire with Fire

Author: and

Series: Burn for Burn #2

- Burn for Burn (September 2012)
- Fire with Fire (August 2013)
- Ashes to Ashes (September 2014)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance.

Not even close.

For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. But it’s not easy, not when Reeve is still a total jerk and Rennie’s meaner than she ever was before.

And then there’s sweet little Mary…she knows there’s something seriously wrong with her. If she can’t control her anger, she’s sure that someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve was. Mary understands now that it’s not just that Reeve bullied her—it’s that he made her love him.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

It seems once a fire is lit, the only thing you can do is let it burn...

Read a full summary of Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian below. If you can’t remember what happened in Fire with Fire and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

in short

The girls make a pact to make Reeve pay, which ends with Lillia falling in love with him and ALL THE FEELINGS, and then Rennie finds out and gets upset and it turns out that Mary is DEAD and has been the entire time and then Mary kills Rennie with fire and promises to make Reeve pay for what he did to her.

what happened in Fire with Fire?

  • Lillia goes to see Reeve in the hospital. Sob sob.
  • Mary realises that even though she hates Reeve, she kind of loves him too. She asks Lillia how he is, and Lillia tells her that he’s got a broken leg which means he has to sit out this season.
  • Reeve returns to school. He’s sad about being off the team but he’s determined to get back into shape as soon as possible. He goes out onto the field with his crutches and he gets embarrassed because he’s so slow and clumsy. Sob sob.
  • Kat’s friend, Kim, has left her boyfriend and kind of disappeared. With a lot of money.
  • Rennie isn’t talking to Lillia because she’s convinced that Lillia has feelings for Reeve. Which she does but NOT THE POINT.
  • Mary joins the yearbook committee. Rennie is also there, and refusing to let the other girls show a photo of the prom king and queen. She says it’s because it would be a ~trigger for Reeve, but it’s obviously because Lillia won prom queen and not her mwahahaha.
  • Reeve has taken up swimming to get his leg back into shape, but his therapist/personal trainer tells him that it’s going to do more harm than good by working it too hard and fast. Reeve fires him there and then.
  • Nadia and Alex are totally becoming a thing.
  • Lilia is running a Fall Festival night for the younger kids. Rennie is no help whatsoever. Reeve, however, turns up.
  • Mary’s Aunt Bette starts talking about spirits and stuff because she’s very witchy. Mary dresses up and goes to Ricky’s house with Kat to watch horror movies. They then go to Lillia’s Fall Festival and enter the maze. It’s all very creepy. Mary confronts Reeve for being a bully. He tells her to go fuck herself. Lillia tells Reeve off. Sob sob.
  • Mary runs into the woods because she’s upset and clearly thinks this is a good idea? Who knows what she did in there but she comes out a few hours later. She finds a guy and kisses him.
  • The girls figure out that Reeve is hopelessly in love with Lillia (*WAILS*) and they come up with an idea to break his heart. I would just like to mention that I think this is a horrible idea and I don’t approve at all.
  • Kat’s dog runs the hell away from Mary BECAUSE MARY IS OBVIOUSLY A GHOST OR A DEMON OR SOMETHING PPL
  • Lillia apologises to Reeve as part of Operation Heart Break. She’s also dressed up and looks hella hot. She then goes swimming when Reeve does and I die from the tension.
  • Reeve accuses Lillia of putting ecstasy in his drink. Sob sob. She then cries and tells him about how she was raped at a party. Reeve apologises and comforts her. Sob sob sob.
  • Lillia and Alex go to Boston with their mums to look at fancy schools. Kat convinced Alex to go after what he wants instead of trying to please his parents.
  • Mary watches Lillia and Reeve in the pool together. She gets upset. Lillia says she might take the swim test for real.
  • Lillia organises a movie night at her house while her parents are away. She invites everyone but Rennie because lawl Rennie is a cow. Reeve shows up but he thought it was gonna just be the two of them. Sob sob. He leaves early because he gets a bit upset and also jealous. But he still wants to see Lillia at the pool. BYE.
  • Kat remembers the time back when her mum was sick and Rennie was meant to come over. Rennie didn’t want to, and Kat got angry at her sick mother instead of at Rennie for being a shitty friend. Kat throws away her daisy necklace.
  • Reeve cries in front of Lillia when he tells her that there’s no way he’s going to be back on the team this season. Lillia promises to help him study, because he’s clearly smart. Reeve worries that he’s not a good guy.
  • Reeve invites Lillia to watch TV with him. Alone. But because it’s Thanksgiving, Lillia isn’t allowed to go. Mary sees Reeve and Rennie leaving the cinema and she freezes the lock on their car.
  • The girls come up with a plan to get Reeve and Lillia together “officially” over Christmas.
  • REEVE AND LILLIA KISS AND ITS LEGIT
  • Rennie is having a Gatsby themed New Year’s party. She goes to Kat’s house and apologises for all the bullying and torment that she put Kat through, and then invites her to the party. Kat says she’ll think about it if she can bring someone, meaning Mary.
  • Lillia has another gathering at her house and after Reeve embarrasses Alex over pizzas and then Alex embarrasses him back, Reeve then insults Lillia by pretending that she’s insane for holding his hand. RUDE.
  • Reeve drops Rennie home and says he’ll be back, but he then cancels. Lillia invites Kat and Mary over for a sleepover. Reeve turns up the next morning to ask why she’s not at his open house. Lillia tells him that he’s a jerk and they have a sort-of-break-up *SOBS*
  • Lillia goes to the open house but Rennie is there and she answers the door, and tells Lillia that Reeve doesn’t want to see her.
  • Mary and her Aunt Bette go to a gallery, and it turns out to be one that Rennie’s mum owns. Rennie and her mum start to mock Aunt Bette. Mary tries to make the paint cans tip over. She almost manages it but Bette stops her.
  • Some student comes up and gives Lillia photos to give to Rennie. Lillia puts them in Rennie’s locker.
  • Reeve shows up at Alex’s mum’s party. He’s very drunk. He tries to drive home, but they take his keys away, and so he walks because he refuses to let Alex drive him. He calls Rennie for a ride home.
  • Lillia remembers when she first met Reeve. They were playing tag in a house that was being built and Lillia tagged Reeve so hard that he fell into the wet concrete. Lillia tries to tell Reeve’s dad that it was her fault but Reeve takes the blame. SOB SOB SOB.
  • Kat’s dad and brother get her a new laptop for college <3
  • Mary’s mum turns up at the house and takes Aunt Bette away because Aunt Bette SEEMS TO BE IMAGINING MARY WTF WHY IS MARY ACTING LIKE A GHOST THIS IS CREEPY

how did it end?

It’s time for Rennie’s party. Lillia ends up going in the end even though she wasn’t going to. Alex gives Lillia a bracelet and asks if she would have let him kiss her in Boston. Lillia spots Reeve and fails to answer. Lillia tells Reeve that she showed up at his open house, and he had no idea because Rennie didn’t tell him. NOOOO. “I REJECT OUR BREAKUP ON THE GROUNDS THAT THIS IS A BULLSHIT MISUNDERSTANDING” SO THEY KISS AND THEN RENNIE SPOTS THEM OOPS. Rennie tries to tell Reeve that Lillia drugged him at homecoming but HE ALREADY KNOWS. Oh dear. Reeve and Lillia leave (hahahh LEEVE) together.
Rennie tells Kat that she’ll have a word with Kevin, the drug dealer, to see if he remembers selling the drugs to Lillia. Obviously he wouldn’t because he sold them to Kat.
Mary comes across Rennie in her car. Rennie can see her, but the bouncer can’t. Rennie offers Mary a lift home. Mary remembers dying and then she sets the car and everything on fire.
Lillia and Reeve aRE KISSING IN THE CAR IM NOT OK
Kat grabs the photos that Rennie had as evidence of the drugging. Then she hears about the accident and realises that Rennie is dead. Lillia gets the news the next morning. Mary wakes up in the graveyard and sees her father’s grave and then her own. She died when she was thirteen. She then promises to make Reeve pay.

This is a full plot summary of what happened in Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

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Comments:

  • ukwons says:

    Thank you for this recap! I’m about to read the third book in the series and I completely forgot what happened in the first two books since it’s been a while lol

  • Just read this and the first recap as I am just about to start the final book. Thanks so much for these recaps, I had forgotten SO much!

  • Andrea says:

    how did Mary become friends with lillia and Kat if she was dead the entire time? I don’t understand at all. how did she go to jar island high, live with her aunt, and be friends with Lillia and Kat if she was dead? I don’t understand, someone explain!!!!!

  • Mushi_bear says:

    Oh **** that recap was shooking!!! So Mary was dead this whole time!!! How did anyone see her then!? I’m so spooked I’m gonna continue reading the book then! ^-^

  • RiSol13 says:

    Where’s the 3rd book recap?

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