I started this book, not knowing it was more fantasy driven (witches etc). I read a few chapters before I knew that this was not the book for me. I am unable to provide feedback, because I did not finish the whole novel.

I can remember the day I received the email from a publisher (@wednesdaybooks) - having worked with them on new releases in the YA genre, they had sent me many amazing reads. This one was different from the books I normally read, as it was classified as a YA thriller. There was violence, off-the-page-SA, and did I mention violence? I didn't know if I was strong enough to read it at the time. It was February 2020, and my family was so sick at the time (we all know what happened next). So the book sat on the shelf.

When I went to the library with my son, I had to pass through the YA section. I just happened to catch this book sitting on the shelf, and I remembered having it as an ARC. I checked it out (I love a physical book vs ebook option!) and dove in.

Foul is Fair is a modern retelling of Macbeth. On the night of her 16th birthday, Elle attends a party with her friends where she is SA. With the help of her friends, she plots revenge by transferring to their school, rising to power and taking them out one by one. There’s a lot of blood, a lot of violence (not gory or graphic but still there) and a lot of emotions repressed as the plot continues.

If you are looking for sympathetic characters and a completely realistic plot, then this might not be the book for you. But knowing all this, I still found myself quickly turning the pages to see what would happen next. Watching the structure of Macbeth mix with Heathers and Cruel Intentions was very interesting to me!

This was a fast read that I could have read in one sitting (my kids prevent me from doing that anymore!)

I unfortunately have to give my honest opinion of this and say I didn’t like it and I DNFed it… I couldn’t connect at all and lost all interest to move forward. I can’t exactly pin point what didn’t work for me, perhaps the writing style.

Well, this was... very difficult to read. I have a hard time with characters who are not redeemable in any way, and that's exactly where this one felt it was going. Because of that, along with the difficult content, I've decided this is not a book for me, but I'm sure there are readers out there who will love it.

This book reminded me of a young adult version of Promising Young Woman. The topics of rape and violence are always hard to tackle, but the author did it in a very intriguing way. The plot is crazy, but that's the entire point of the book. Highly recommend, five stars.

I really enjoyed this book. It was the ultimate girls revenge book. I loved the story and characters.

High school parties are everywhere. And the Coven of four (Elle, Mads, Jenny, and Summer) are untouchable. So are the Golden Boys - a group of teammates from a nearby prep school. On the night of Elle’s sweet sixteen the Coven decides to crash the Golden Boys party. When Elle is chosen as their next target that night, the Coven comes together for revenge…and plots the demise of each boy involved.

This is a revenge thriller novel provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

This book comes with content warning for: sexual assault, gang rape, slut shaming, suicide, transphobia (mentioned) and victim blaming

Foul is Fair is a feminist retelling of Macbeth. After Jade is gang raped at a party, she vows that she will bring down the boys who attacked her one by one. She, along with her coven of friends, infiltrates the school and begins to take down these boys and anyone who looked the other way while they did these horrific things.

Things I liked:
- Honestly, I'm a sucker for anti-heroes that refuse to take anything laying down. I especially love it when they'll stop at nothing and go hard on the revenge, and Jade is definitely that. She's unwilling to let what happened to her slide and go full out for revenge.

- The coven has a lovely friendship. They genuinely support each other and take care of each other, and are willing to go just as far as Jade to get revenge.

Things I disliked:
- Like many of the reviewers, the writing style here is off-putting. Not only is it very much "tell, no show" it's also very repetitive. If I had to hear how many times that Jade was a "knife, she was that bitch" etc etc I thought my eyes would roll out of my head. WE GET IT!!! That, more so than the writing style, really killed this book for me. If we took out all the repetition from this book, it might actually be good (but would probably also be 50 pages shorter- also not a bad thing.)

- It's really unrealistic. I didn't so much mind this because obviously it's not going to be, but it can get really hard to believe sometimes. Like that people would be willing to murder their friends within the span of 2 weeks for a girl they barely know? Also that there could be this many murders in the span of a week in one friend group without that much suspicion? It just doesn't add up.

-In the same vein, there's a lot of girl-on-girl judgement. Not just the slut shaming, but Jade puts down other girls for just existing and minding their business? I'm not sure how this can be a feminist retelling when in reality it's all about shaming other women for their choices.

Final thoughts:
In all honesty, I'm not sure if I can recommend this book. The problems I had with it are so big that it makes you wonder why anyone would give this book a chance. But, if it interests you, give it a chance? I also tried the audiobook and that definitely helped.

God DAMN I LOVE THIS okay so sharp edged women are amazing and I loved this but pleAse be aware of triggers!!!

Whatever the heck I just read..... I loved it. The ultimate revenge story, unbelievable but downright perfect. If you love fantasy, are a girl and have been wronged, this is the best book ever. Don't expect realistic revenge, but expect to be satisfied.

The premise sounded interesting. It seemed like a contemporary retelling of MacBeth. However, it was a hard read for me. There were many graphic images that made me uncomfortable.

Less than 5 stars because there were multiple times in the book where metaphors, similes and the like, distracted from the book instead of adding to it. There were too many times where I could barely tell what was going on because of so many dramatic and "fancy" ways of saying something simple.)
The ultimate YA Femme Fatale.!
Why is this so good?! and perfect?! The ending was everything I needed. The entire book was everything I needed! It reminds me of movies such as I Spit On Your Grave or A Promising Young Woman.!
I love that this book and author are so unapologetic about seeking revenge. Letting revenge be more than just a fantasy.

Foul is Fair is a modern, refreshing retelling on Macbeth that will make you want to cut all your hair off (think Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction) and kill a man. This book oozes sweet vengeance in such a badass way that, even though you know what Elle is doing is terrible, you still can’t help rooting for her to the very end. She’s a spitfire, a hellion, a goddamn sorceress, and watching her weave her way through these boys’ lives is utterly fascinating.

The subject of this story is extremely heavy: Elle goes to a party one night where she is raped by four boys from another school. But Elle isn’t like the other victims; Elle wants to extract revenge on the boys who tried to ruin her life, and she has the means and power to do it. If you know the story of Macbeth, you can probably guess where this is going. If you’re like me and aren’t familiar with Shakespeare’s works, you’re in for an insanely wild ride.

There were, admittedly, times I felt a little overwhelmed by all of the characters, as we’re introduced to everyone very early on and all at once. It was hard to keep track of who was supposed to be dating who, who was second-in-command, etc. Truthfully it only really got easier once the body count in this book started to rise, but I was also okay with that because it showed how disposable these other characters were to Elle. She was truly the main character and shining star of this story.

I absolutely loved the way this story was written. The prose is gorgeous without being pretentious or confusing. Elle’s first person perspective gives us all of these eerie, beautiful lines like, “[My parents] want me to be a doctor. I want to be the queen” or “I am a queen in a golden crown and a dress the color of blood, holding death in my hands” or “she is life, but I am death.”

I loved all the references to royalty in this story, giving it a true homage to the story its reimagining. One couple is the king and queen of the school, with their friends patiently waiting for them to be knocked off their pedestal and for it to be their turn. There are lines like, “We were […] wearing our shiny new crowns before anyone else knew a monarchy was coming. We were glossy red-lipped victory.”

Foul is Fair is a haunting, surreal story about a girl who refuses to be silenced, who refuses to become a victim. Elle rises from the ashes of her old self and creates a maddening, gore-filled story that has us giving her a screaming, standing ovation.

Such a unique, accessible spin on the classic Macbeth. Teaching at an all girl high school, my students would have loved to read this modern day rendition of revenge and greed. One of my favorite reads of the year!

Due to the author's weird anti IP stance, I will not be reading this this novel. Author's who write Intellectual Property based novels are just as valid and deserving as authors who don't. Also this book is literally based on Shakespeare so that's pretty pot calling the kettle black.

DNF AT 22%. Unfortunately I could not get into this book. I found myself not paying attention and wondering who was who because I kept forgetting all their names. So many characters, lots of boring repetition, so much silly drama. This book wasn't for me.

This book was like a hard punch that takes time to recover. Going by the reviews, I thought it would be a simple revenge story. But OH.MY.GOD. The writing was so amazing and this was an intense, bloody, gore-filled and crazy story that left me haunting for days. I have never read Macbeth but I knew the basic and this feminist retelling of Macbeth blew me away. INTENSE is definitely the word to describe this book. It is twisted but leaves you feeling...powerful?! The main theme of the story is sexual assault, rape culture, and violence and this book dealt with these in a pretty hard way. So please read this when you are in the right mind to do so because it soon becomes dark.

Elle goes to a party with her three best friends on her sixteenth birthday but the golden boys of another school, known as St. Andrews Prep, choose her as their next conquest. But she denies being a victim. She and her friends plan to take revenge, for her rape, on their own and stops at nothing. They aim to destroy them all. I couldn't stop wondering how unwaveringly supportive Elle's friends were. That group of girls themselves were horrible but their friendship was something unchallenging. They believed in Jade (Elle) and her murderous revenge plan and supported her at every step.

This is not for everyone, as all won't be able to suspend their beliefs to read about a group of girls set for murderous revenge. Because girls can't be that cruel right? But why not? Look at the world today, all that is happening to girls. Why can't this be a reality? Of course, in reality, to imagine such a story would be catastrophic, but again, I can't help myself but feel how privileged men are.

This is a story of taking things into your own hands when you know that even the justice system will fail you. How many rape accusers get the punishment they deserve? And how many cases don't backfire and blame the women instead? How many of those women are still alive, not eaten up by fear and trauma? Foul is Fair takes justice into its own hands and deliver revenge by not letting go the men of that crime unpunished.

Foul is Fair is pretty dark but the writing reads like a classic and will leave you mesmerised. This story is not for everyone but if you do decide to read it, keep an eye on the content warnings.

Foul is Fair was a refreshing twist on Macbeth. The story reminded me so much of the movie Heathers. The dark satire of the writing and characters. Although there are trigger topics (sex, sexual assault) I’m glad that it wasn’t discussed in graphic detail. The main characters Elle, Mads, Jenny and Summer are the party girls looking for a good time. They decide to crash a party and after an assault takes place the crew decides to right the wrong and starts a revenge spree. I must say that some of the scenes were a tad bit violent for me, but that aside I thought the story was well written and I liked the underlying messages that were implored on the reader. The subject of bullying, drinking, assault and peer pressure are real life issues that should be talked about freely, I think the author really made you think with this book.

I gave this book a second chance after having to put it down, and unfortunately, my thoughts are the same. I could not get into the writing. I love retellings, and with the heavy topics discussed in this book, I was hoping it'd be more poignant. THank you, NetGalley for the chance to review it.

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!