I am not sure how I missed writing a review for this title. I thought this was wickedly clever and even though a bit dark, was sooooo good! I loved the characters. I even loved some of the awful ones!

Honestly.

Alyson is the worst. Choose a side! And really? You didn’t see this coming? Not at all?

This one was predictable and with an obnoxious mc. Wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Allyson Benowitz loves romance novels and desperately wants to live out the perfect story book romance. When the star of the lacrosse team, Brenton Riggs Jr., asks Allyson to be his girlfriend, it all seems too good to be true. Especially with the King’s Cup going on—a game where boys count their hook ups to see who the ultimate winner is. Allyson and her friends create the Queen’s Cup to get revenge on the boys by publicly humiliating them. Allyson doesn’t think Riggs is part of the games, but her friends aren’t so sure.

This is a fairly predictable YA thriller, but I really enjoyed it. It’s fast paced and mostly light hearted, though it does talk about heavy and important topics like consent and sexual assault. Nothing is graphic, but those are some triggers to be aware of. I thought the author did a great job of fleshing out Allyson and Riggs’ characters so we’re invested in their relationship while also sprinkling in enough hints to keep us skeptical about Riggs’ involvement in the King’s Cup. I only knocked it a star because the last chapter seemed random and unnecessary to me. Thanks to NetGalley, Delacorte Press, and Jordyn Taylor for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alyson is a romantic at heart; she hopes to write romance novels someday. So of course, she's ecstatic when she meets her own prince charming, Riggs. Then she and her friends discover that the boys at their school are playing a disgusting game, using girls to accrue "points", and they decide to get their revenge. But her perfect Riggs couldn't be involved, right?

This was an enjoyable little read. I always enjoy feminist revenge plots, though I feel like I wish Alyson could have gotten a bit more involved in getting her own revenge. I easily related to her as the main character. She's just a teen girl who wants love, and it's pretty easy to see why she misses some red flags. The friendships were nice, but I'm iffy on the little twist at the very end. It just wasn't built up enough in my opinion. I enjoyed the news clips throughout. They built up some tension as to how the story would end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

📖My Thoughts📖

What would you do if you found out that some of the boys at school were having a contest that involved earning points based on how far they could get with a girl? Obviously, you would seek revenge, right? But just how far would you go to make them pay? On the other side of the coin, just remember this. Karma’s a b*tch.
I have to say, there were some pretty good twists that came up in this book. And the ending? Holy smokes, I didn’t see that one coming! The premise was a pretty good one, but also hard to read at some times. There are some triggers scattered throughout the book, so be sure to check them out before picking this up. Overall it was a fast paced, entertaining book that I could and would have easily torn through in one day, but adulting got in the way.
Thank you Netgalley, Random House Children’s and Jordyn Taylor for the opportunity to read and review this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

God I love the entitled prep school boys getting their comeuppance subgenre! This book was very predictable and kind of formulaic but I tore through it in one night so props for beating my pathetic attention span! Also, what in the hell kind of a name is Brenton

#TheRevengeGame #NetGalley
Teens will enjoy the drama and twisted ending! It is definitely an interesting read! Don't skip til the end, definitely worth the "what" moment!!

So good! Probably one of the better YA novels I have read in a while. I do always love a good prep school setting, like this one, since they are always rife with drama, and this one delivered. I didn’t love that Alyson was as naive as she was, but honestly, when I was a junior in high school I was probably worse. But the ending, let’s talk about that ending; did not see it coming. Did I see something akin to that? Maybe, but the twists weren’t done and definitely something I enjoyed reading. I recommend this to any YA fan!

This book just didn’t land for me. I’m normally a sucker for feminist revenge themed novels of any kind. But from the beginning the main character was not a girls girl. She was boy obsessed and then gets a boyfriend and is constantly like
“Omg thank god Riggs is amazing”. Idk it just rubbed me the wrong way

I love young adult mystery thrillers. This one had a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and I loved the mysterious aspect.

I added this excellent book to my classroom library. The vibrant colors of the cover and theme of revenge are exactly what high school students are reading. Another excellent addition to my classroom library.

This novel was a lot more romance-heavy than I anticipated. I did enjoy the mystery/thriller aspects to it but it was really enough to make me want to keep reading. I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Plus, the ending was completely out of left field.

Alyson so badly wants to be in love, she will do nearly anything, and "anything" lands her in a situation that nearly tears apart the entire school. After the merger of the Stewart (all female) boarding school with the Sullivan (all male) boarding school, staff and students alike are trying to figure out how to work with the new dynamics on campus. Alyson sees the combined student body as an opportunity to find her one true love and is certain she does when Brenton Riggs begins paying a lot of attention to her. Alyson is enjoying the buzz of first love, but her other female classmates are experiencing unwanted attention and soon uncover the long-standing traditional game of the King's Cup, which awards points to boys for how "far" they can get with a girl. The news sweeps through the female student body and they quickly turn the tables and create the Queen's Cup, which has the girls working together to purposefully and intentionally publicly humiliate the boys who were using them. Alyson refuses to believe Brenton is involved and is desperate to believe he is as in love with her as she is with him. Soon, she cannot deny that the evidence may suggest otherwise.....

Easy story to get involved in, but I did not like the ending. I think the intent was for it to be a twist, but there was nothing leading up to the chosen ending, which resulted in it feeling like a gratuitous, contrived nod at DEI. Otherwise, a good YA addition for high school library thriller collections; good read alike recommendation for Karen McManus fans.

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

Fun book - full of laughs and turns about revenge and getting back at the boys that do us wrong. There was some content I didn't fully expect, but it wasn't explicit. All in all, easy read.

I'm always looking to find things for my Murder Mystery Girl patrons (I would call them the Nancy Drews but they wouldn't get it.). So comps to Good Girl's Guide to Murder made this worth checking out. The 'guys are shallow and suck' point is basically the entire personality of this book. I wish there was just more to the mystery (and I'd not really call this a thriller).
Thanks so much for the ARC!

I wanted to love this more than I did. I think the only reason I didn't enjoy this as much was because the two plot lines felt like they were competing for importance. On the one hand we have the yay teen girls for knowing their worth and not letting guys "things" out of them. On the other hand we had a tragic disappearance we're following too. For much of the book I was more intrigued by the snippets we got from the "now" than I did the actual chapters.

One of the things that was hard for me to get behind was the whole description of this book is the revenge game, getting back at the "kings cup" participants. Yet, we don't find out anything regarding the Kings Cup until nearly 50% through the book. That felt like such a long time to set up a plot point and because of that I found it extremely hard to keep picking up.

HOWEVER, I feel that if I was maybe in high school myself and dealing with the situation of boys keeping track of their bases in a competition this book might have helped me out. It just missed the mark for me.

I appreciate Net Galley giving me a copy of this for my honest opinion.

I received a free advance digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Working on getting through the rest of the advanced books I received in 2023.
The storyline was very interesting and I liked the feminist aspects of this book. I did dislike how focused on a romance book/ movie love story the main character is. She seemed a little too trusting at times and caused problems. The LGBTQ+ representation is really good in this book in my opinion. Also glad with how the book ended overall and would recommend this book if you want a unique high school book.

4 ⭐️ for The Revenge Game by Jordyn Taylor. This YA book is an enjoyable mystery/thriller.

Alyson is a high school girl, who dreams of a cute boyfriend. Her all girls school has merged with the nearby all boys school, and she catches the eye of Brenton Riggs Jr. She thinks she has finally caught a good guy… but has she?

I loved the strong female relationships and characters.


Thanks to the author, Random House/Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for my opinions.

For medical reasons I was not able to finish this, but I greatly enjoyed the part I read and I hope to return to it at some point.