📚 review 📚
better than revenge - bea fitzgerald

hollywood rivalry
sapphic rivals to lovers
evelyn hugo vibes
heated all the time, rival occasionally

now this is how you write rivals to lovers! everyone needs to take notes - also everyone needs to get on this, it’s bea fitzgerald’s best book to date.

not going to lie, i am loving this influx of hollywood themed books - it is a trend i approve of, with emily henry’s latest, this one and the new john green coming in september, i am excited for even more celebrity drama!

this follows harper and nadine as they compete for parts in drama school and then continue to use each other’s names to further their careers, but obsession can only ever really lead to blood shed. told through headlines, documentary transcripts and nadine’s memory of events, better than revenge proves that hollywood and everything associated with it is a fiction, that we are all actors in this drama and life is essentially a choose your own adventure book.

this is easily a contender for my favourite read of 2026 - thank you @netgalley for the early copy, better than revenge is out in july.

All hail queen Bea Fitzgerald for another killer book!

Wow, I screamed when I got this arc and as we know, Bea does not disappoint.
I .COULD. NOT. PUT. THIS.ONE.DOWN

The delightful petty rivalry, nothing being what it seems , and of course : who is the body and what's to be done with it ?

All this and more gets revealed in this book.

Great pacing, excellent tension. A well written absolutely fun ride. Thelma and Louise on steroids with a perfect mix of cat and mouse obsession. One critique on the back cover blurb, it exposes too much of the narrative structure, I started the book going in almost blind(not reading the back cover) and had such a great time discovering how the interview played into the overall narrative, right now it feels as though the back cover exposes almost too much of it.

I am blownnnnnn away. Wow. I’ve said it 20 times and I will continue to say it, books like these are my absolute favorite. I love alternating chapters between story/plot and interviews with the characters. Better Than Revenge follows a feud spanning from adolescence to adulthood between Nadine and Harper. Just when you think they can’t stoop lower or get worse, THEY DO. But at the end of the day I never could bring myself to hate either one of them fully. I knew the last half of the book was coming, I KNEW it had to end like that but that never stopped my interest and surprise on how everything concluded. If you love messy Hollywood drama, this is the book for you!

"𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆'𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆"
I feel like nothing I can say will do Nadine and Harper's story the justice it deserves! I am completely in awe of everything that I have just finished reading.
The line between hatred and obsession is so thin throughout the whole book, which makes it such an addictive read as you don't know just how both the FMCs are going to take their rivalry and you feel like you need to read just one more chapter to find out what crazy thing they will do next.
The underlying devotion and loyalty between them both is always at the route everything they do, and I spent most of time wishes for that "f*uk it" moment where the fighting and animosity comes to a head...
Beneath it all, it is a great look into the paparazzi and media domination of the 90s/early 2000s and how they could make or break a person with one perfectly timed photo or headline.
I loved every single page!

This was such a captivating and addicting read. Once I started I could not put it down. The writing was phenomenal and magnetic. The characters were individual, unique, and well developed. I loved the juxtaposition between the narrative and the documentary clips. It made for an intriguing guide to the story. I also love how the two converged at the end. And then ending, it was well written and satisfying. This was a wonderful read.