This is W.A.R

Author: Lisa Roecker and Laura Roecker
Goodreads Rating: 3.40
Pages: 276
Format: ARC from BEA13

This is W.A.R. begins with a victim who can no longer speak for herself, and whose murder blossoms into a call-to-arms. Enter four very different girls, four very different motives to avenge Willa Ames-Rowan, and only one rule to start: Destroy James Gregory and his family at any cost. Willa's initials spell the secret rallying cry that spurs the foursome to pool their considerable resources and deliver their particular brand of vigilante justice. Innocence is lost, battles are won—and the pursuit of the truth ultimately threatens to destroy them all.

This was another book that had potential that seemed to fall flat. This idea of these girls who wanted to avenge their friends death was one of those simple idea's that you could turn on it's head and make great. I think what went wrong with this book was that the author fell into all the horrible cliche's of the lower class minority who doesn't belong with her cheating mother and her upper crust party girl friend who meets her untimely demise. There wasn't much that made the characters unique.  You had the typical lower class minority girl, the dumb one, the super bitchy one, the rich party girl, and the "get away with anything" family. Need I say more?

I really loved the cover and I think that along with the first chapter, the book really pulled you in and this was what kept me going and reading this book. The use of the flashbacks of the characters to the night of the murder was also a really clever technique, that helped show all the secrets that these girls were hiding from each other.

I didn't care too much for the characters, they all seemed very flat and superficial. Sure they were all really upset about Willa dying, but I just couldn't really feel the revenge that they were seeking. The book was terribly predictable, and while I liked the "Revenge" style plot, it did little to wow me. Sometimes the hardest review's are for books that didn't really move us in either way.

The Court's Decision: