This is a Macbeth retelling that is both bloody and lyrical. Capin does a wonderful job of providing both atmosphere and psychology, as we delve in the mind and social settings of those who think they are above culpability and the people they have wronged. Though not for the faint of heart, this is a revenge fantasy for those whose perpetrators think they won't remember...

This is a crazy young adult story about Elle (AKA Jade) who was raped at a party and then takes matters into her own hands and sets out for revenge by killing all the boys (and even one girl) that participated in any way with the rape. While the subject matter is traumatic, nothing is shown and the reader gets the aftermath and vengeful feelings. The story is way over the top and you totally have to suspend disbelief. There are comparisons to MacBeth and the movie, Heathers. (which I can see since Elle/Jade has her coven of girlfriends who help her in her plan.) Jade transfers to the school where all the students attend and meets Mack, who she twists into doing the killings.

This is a wild, dark story that will not be for everyone. It's labeled as Young Adult, but with such language and themes, I would be hesitant to target that audience. I had some problems with the choppy writing and the fact that all the characters could have been the same person. They were all rich, snobby teenagers that seem to act much older and Jade/Elle and her coven were not likable characters, either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Trigger/content warnings: sexual assault, murder, bullying

I'm going to be honest. I couldn't get past the 26% mark in this book. I just started to really really hate the reading experience. This book was just not not not for me. This book's writing style was just terribly done. It felt like I was reading a teenager's first draft of a very subpar novel. I found myself suspending my belief throughout the entire time I was reading, however, this book is a thriller/contemporary novel, but it just was so unrealistic that I couldn't get behind it. I ADORE fantasy and witchy/witch coven centered books, but this book was just so WEIRD. It didn't make any sense, the pacing was just horrid, and the writing style was just awful for me. In this book, the main character infiltrates the school of the boys that raped her and she decides to convince a boy that is in their group that wasn't a part of the rape to kill all of his friends. When this starts to happen, he doesn't ever put up any sort of fight. He doesn't feel conflicted at all. I just felt like these characters were so forced, unrealistic, and written so badly. I just cannot get past any of my qualms.

This is the revenge story I've been dreaming about for ages and it was great. Apparently a Macbeth retelling (I am wholly unfamiliar with Macbeth), this was bloody as hell and pulled no punches. While ultimately an enjoyable read, both Jade and her coven were so cold and heartless that nothing about this felt realistic. Occasionally it felt a little repetitive and there were points where I just wanted to see where things would go. So while I would recommend this and am glad I read it, I'd also say it's not necessarily a perfect read.

Wonderful. Fantastic. Vengeful and exciting. Love that trigger warnings were mentioned right off the bat. This book sucked me in immediately and kept me engaged the entire time. I flew through this story, devouring it as fast as possible. Definitely five star read for me!

If you are looking for a guilty pleasure read to take you back to the basics of all the elements you loved as teenager, watching Gossip Girl or indulging in Witch Craft/Cruel Intentions movies - THIS IS YOUR BOOK.
I haven't felt so giddy reading a book that didn't dance around political politeness or what is consider "appropriate" today.
It felt great to jump into the YA genre that made it fun to read - it was a wild ride full of angst, violence, greediness, and juicy revenge.
I'd recommend it as a great escape and a way to jump back into your youth.

Holy bananas.

This book is insane in a great way. It was very different from my normal type of read but I found that to be the most exciting thing about it.

I'd heard many people talking it up and it really is as ruthless as the expectation put on it.

When our main character is raped at a party she decides revenge is her best option. She, along with her friends, do everything they can to infiltrate the lives of those who allowed the deed to happen and in an absolutely gripping way, serve out their punishment the way they see fit.

This is just. Worth a read even if it is just for the emotions and disgust and satisfaction of everyones actions. Gratuitous... something goes around and it happens in just the right method that you simply cant look away from.

My Thoughts:

I’m going to try to make this review not a total gush-fest, but let’s face it, I absolutely love this book with my whole heart so that’s going to be ridiculously difficult.
In the past, I’ve had a lot of difficulty with Macbeth retellings because they never quite lived up to the source material in my mind. It’s my favorite Shakespeare play (hell, I even wrote a thesis on it), so I love picking up retellings of Macbeth in the hopes of finding the same magic that I found when I first read it. But, I never found it until I read this book.
Foul is Fair is a retelling that is the closest to the source material that I’ve ever read, while still making standing as its own story. This book is extremely brutal and raw, so definitely check out any trigger warnings if you’re sensitive to various topics (I’ll include triggers at the very end of this post for those who need them). There are very few times that, after completing a book, I want to immediately read it agin, but I do with this one.
Jade’s story hurts in all different ways, and seeing her capture her revenge is the ultimate fantasy. The writing in this was incredible. I haven’t read anything by Capin before, and her writing truly surprised me. The cadence of this book was what captured that Shakespearean magic that I spoke of earlier. The writing reminds me a bit of Maggie Stiefvater’s style, just as an example. It does take a bit getting used to, and if you’re not a fan of poetic and symbolic writing, you may not connect to it as much as I did, but it really helped shape the atmosphere of the novel. The atmosphere in this book was incredible: dark, twisted, and incredibly engrossing.
Jade was the ultimate Lady Macbeth if I ever did see one. She and her friends, her three witchy friends, were the villains in the story that I couldn’t help but root for, empathize with, and understand. This is a story with no heroes, no characters with the moral high ground, and it was such a refreshing story to read.
Capin wrote a dark feminist story, that’s a bit crazy, but so very entertaining; I will be reading this book over and over again for years to come. I was only about fifty pages into it when I personally pre-ordered a copy for myself, and I highly highly suggest that you do the same.

Recommend to a Friend?
I would definitely recommend this to a friend. Especially if they enjoy:
Dark, hard-hitting contemporary
Shakespeare retellings
Stories with gorgeous, but not so straightforward writing


Trigger warnings: Sexual assault, rape, blood, murder, physical and emotional abuse
(I may be missing some, but these are the ones that stood out to me. Check out other reviews to see if there are any more.)

The book is Foul is Fair which is being catered to the young adult market. I’m not a young adult, I’m an intelligent one who thinks that books should be read regardless of age. At 13, I read Go Ask Alice. Have any of you read it? It was a bold, stark, harsh look at the reality of a druggie girl who overdoses. Last year I read Sadie by Courtney Summers, also for the “young adult” market. It was one of the best books I’ve ever read. So I read Foul is Fair. I was told it would be along the same lines as Sadie – a tough book for tough girls. It is NOTHING like Sadie. Nothing!

First, I read it without the cover as an ARC. If I had seen this cover, I never would have read the book because I really do judge books by their covers. This cover is definitely reflective of the contents of the book.

Second, it is supposed to be tongue in cheek re-telling of Macbeth. I actually re-read Macbeth because I thought I was losing my mind. It is nothing like Macbeth.

Third, it is supposed to be a story of a girl who is date raped and is now going to take revenge rather than being a “victim” or a “survivor.” And herein lies my biggest objection to this book. I was sexually assaulted when I was the same age as this character. It changed my life profoundly. HOWEVER, if I sought revenge or IF I had wanted to kill that boy then I would have been no better than him or his friends or the rest of the sad lot of males with too much hate and too much testosterone. That is not who I was nor who I am today. It is definitely not who I wanted my daughter to become.

I have read the raving reviews from the women fist pumping and cursing like sailors – which I do as well on occasion – but what I am seeing instead is everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that is wrong with the male rape culture in the first place! So much hate, so much violence, so many women who want to appear relevant and be one of the gals and get a lot of hits on their reviews but no one is standing up and saying, NO! Well, I am! I do not want our daughters to think it is okay to act like the men we despise in the first place! And that is exactly what this book is doing. It is not about a wish-filled fantasy. It is about revenge. Read the author’s notes at the end of the book. If this is what women have stooped down to, then we all – ALL – are in serious trouble. And just for the record, I’m pretty much done with “young adult” books.

I loved this book. I was very thankful the author chose not to describe the sexual assault and just focus on the aftermath revenge. Jade was awesome as well as the rest of her coven.

Wild, gritty, and compulsively readable

Summary
Elle and her friends rule their LA circle. They are untouchable. Or so they think. On Elle's sweet 16, the coven crashes a St. Andrew's party. And Elle becomes the boys' next victim.
But the boys picked the wrong girl.
Out for revenge, Elle transfers to St. Andrews and plots to take out each person involved. With the help of Mack, she will take them out one by one.

Overview
➸ POV: 1st Person from Jade's POV

➸ Elizabeth Jade Khanjara - 16, Queen Been, Sexually assaulted, Seeking revenge, Best friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer

➸ Content Warnings: Rape, Sexual Assault, Rape culture, Sexism, Gender-based violence, Suicide, Grief, Graphic violence, Murder, Relationship Abuse (physical and mental), Gore, Substance Abuse. The author provides detailed content warnings here

My Thoughts
Wow. This book was SO intense. This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart so definitely be wary of the graphic and violent content if that is something you are sensitive to before diving into this.

The writing style of this fit so well with the story and really pulled me in from page one. The short, succinct sentences worked so well with the aggressive tone of this book. This book is very plot driven and the stylistic choices had me engrossed the entire time. I absolutely plan to read more from this author in the future!

At it's core this book is a commentary of rape culture and female empowerment. It is dark and violent both to it's male and female characters. Every single character in this story is privileged and unlikeable. And for some reason I found it fascinating to read. Reading about these characters lives was like staring into a fire, you just can't look away.

This book absolutely requires you suspend your disbelief. It's not a realistic story but instead an over the top, dramatized depiction of women getting angry over rape culture. I was all in for it. I think this book is important and impactful and honestly unforgettable.

If you can handle the subject matter, pick up this book. It is wild, gritty, and compulsively readable. I can't wait to see what Hannah Capin writes next. She is an amazing new voice in feminist literature.

Review is live on Goodreads and will be posted to my blog on February 12th at 9am CST

<b>Foul is Fair</b> is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s MacBeth. The title derives from a quote in the play where the three witches chant <i>“Foul is fair and fair is foul.”</i> to indicate what is bad for others works quite well for them. For the most part Capin capitalizes on the saying’s other meaning that appearances may be deceiving – where golden boys are tarnished and revenge may just be the equivalent of justice.
While reading this book I couldn’t help thinking of this English class I took in college called The Revenge Theory. We read books like Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Hamlet. We watched The War of the Roses and both versions of Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close. What stuck with me most was the idea that the avenger must be careful to not let their emotions rule them lest they themselves be destroyed. Swimming in my head as I read this book were Confucious’ warning – <i>“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves.”</i> and the adage <i>“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”</i> I kept waiting for the axe to fall; part of me expecting Jade to suffer for her vengefulness, the other part of me hoping that the boys got their just desserts.
I recognize that revenge and justice are typically polar opposites. Revenge is driven by anger. Justice is meted out with considerable thought. Revenge is often a cycle where violence begets more violence. Justice brings closure. But <b>Foul is Fair</b> had me asking or perhaps wanting for them to be the same thing. I was hoping that Jade could keep her stuff together long enough to think rationally and execute her plan. When Elle was raped her attackers did not even own their guilt. To them she was not a person but only a means to their gratification. In their eyes they were not responsible for her pain. They were assured and confident because they were used to wielding the power and dominating the landscape. Their wealth had always granted them a shield of invincibility. They <i>thought</i> they were untouchable.
Throughout the novel Capin plays on the “foul is fair” motif asking the reader to dig deeper to derive from the symbolism in the text. In numerology the number 7 stands for perfection and realization. In <b>Foul is Fair</b> there are seven perpetrators, seven intended victims of Jade’s wrath. People whose life path number is seven are said to not take things at face value. Instead they search for understanding to get at the truth.
Metaphors with animals are used to describe the characters and reveal their true natures. The boys are likened to wolves as they rove and hunt in packs and to denote their cruelty. The second string girls are called birds. They flock and flitter and fly off at the flick of a wrist. This is to emphasize their social stature within the school. Birds are also used as a bad omen as they perch in Oleander trees.
Although many of the characters names have direct counterparts in Shakespeare’s MacBeth a few of the names serve as banners for their personalities. Lilia for the flower Lily as she comes off as pretty, fragile and delicate. Connor is the conman that nobody really trusts. Piper is a common bird. The female sandpiper is polyandrous – she mates with several males during breeding season. I’m not sure whether this is a hint to Piper’s commonality, an allusion to the fact that she will never be Queen or a nod to her unfaithfulness to Lilia, that she cannot be trusted. Another interesting factoid about female spotted sandpipers is that it is the female that lays claim to and defends nesting grounds. Within her couple Piper certainly had the stronger backbone and had no problem marking her territory. Jade, the color, represents envy. Her green eyes serve as mirror to reflect the jealousy in the hearts of the boys as they each covet Duncan’s position. Jade, the gem, symbolizes balance or in this case the scales of justice.

I really enjoyed reading <b>Foul is Fair</b>. The symbolism gave me a lot to think about. Even though this is a retelling you do not have to read MacBeth to appreciate this book. <i>Special thanks to NetGalley, Meghan Harrington from Wednesday Books and Hannah Capin for advanced access to this book. My blog tour post can be found here: https://carryabigbook.wordpress.com/?p=168</i>

This novel will pull you in immediately even if you want to take a step back because holy wow it's intense. The main character is raped and wants revenge, which everyone in her life is okay supporting(?????). It is wicked and vicious, which was too much for me, but also going to be someone else's ferociously perfect book.

I really enjoyed Foul is Fair. It was so different from other stories I have read and the writing was poetic and filled to the brim with RIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE. It's basically a story of what happens when someone finally messes with the right kind of girl, the one that will build a wall made of bone and blood around the rest of us and make anyone outside of it think twice about doing us girls dirty. It was amazing.

Triggers: Rape, murder, suicide attempt, abusive relationship, manipulation, violence



Elle has everything, her coven of friends, Mads, Jenny, and Summer, power and that perfect LA life. Until Duncan and his group of friends decide she’s next in their line of conquests. Elle wants revenge and her girls are ready to help. Elle becomes Jade, transferring to Duncan’s school and gains control of the popular group claiming one of the boys for herself and convincing him to do things he wouldn’t do otherwise. Elle has had enough.

Saying this book was a little crazy would be an understatement. I was not expecting all that I got from this book. This book is not playing around, the author dives right into the story beginning with the night of the party and Elle plotting her revenge. 

In the beginning, I thought all the talk of ‘killing’ and all that was just symbolism and she was just pissed off, but I was way off. Elle, now Jade, works her way through the St. Andrews boys from that night with ease and help from her coven. 

While Elle’s group of friends would not be my pick of friends, I do like how loyal they are to one another. How they wanted revenge just as bad as she did. (Although, I wouldn’t take this route of revenge).

There is a major plot twist that I had no idea was coming. Even with the hints toward the end, I did not see it. This twist changes the game and now no one’s safe.

This book was nothing of what I was expecting and I think anyone who loves a great revenge thriller should check this book out.

I gave it 100 pages which I think is fair. If you love revenge stories, this might be a good fit for you. It's a rape revenge story and I was planning to stick with it, but it's not what I need to be reading right now. I'm going to put it aside, and honestly, I probably won't pick it back up. It seems to be working great for others, though.

(no rating on review)

Rated 4.5 Stars

The main character, Jade is ruthless, brutal, cunning, devious and unapologetic. I loved her. I know those are supposed to be unlikable traits but on her they were perfection. I had issues with her as well but for the most part I was rooting for her. Foul Is Fair is about revenge, it does deal with other things but revenge is it's main focus. The acts of revenge are not sugarcoated. I highly recommend this book.

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin is a unique story, bright and bold. It is a tale of a brutal assault (not depicted), and the diabolical depths of revenge on girl takes against those who wronged her, and will never wrong another.

The night after Elle and her friends Mads, Summer, and Jenny crash a St Andrews Prep party, and the unimaginable happens, they gather to plot revenge. Elle (now Jade) transfers to St Andrews, and quickly wraps one of the golden boys around her little finger, crafting him into a weapon to be wielded as she sees fit. With the help of her friends, working in the shadows to unravel the boys' fragile sanity, Jade rips the group apart from the inside out.

I quite enjoyed Capin's writing style. It fit the story perfectly. I loved the hyphenated adjectives like dazzle-smiled, murder-bright, and dizzy-high. All of it together call to mind the disjointed snapshots of memory trauma, or the slow erosion of sanity, causes. Jade and her friends are typical 'mean girls', the type of characters I would usually not care for at all, but they are pitted against people far worse. Duncan and the boys of the lacrosse team, who act as if they can get away with anything. As if drugging and raping teenage girls is a sport. In this way, I found myself cheering Jade and her coven on. And what a revenge it was! Designed to cause maximum terror.

I think my biggest qualm is the cover. If I were to consider this book solely by cover some, I'd've passed it over for sure. It feels too light-hearted for the story it contains. There's stuff that isn't at all believable for the 'real-world', but it was easy to suspend disbelief instead of going "that wouldn't happen".

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & St. Martin's for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First of all, Jade tells her parents about the rape and tells them not to involve the police because she'll handle it herself, and ultimately, they let her. This is wrong. Good (even decent) adults report it, no matter what. Second, there is very little consideration for real-life consequences. I don't condone revenge via murder. I'm not gonna tell anyone how to process their emotions or deal with what has/is happening to them, but straight up murder with no consideration of consequences isn't realistic, and is more serious than I think it's laid out in this book.

That being said, I think that Foul is Fair, being marketed as a feminist retelling of Macbeth, while it is fiction, can have very real effects. One of the main reasons I added this explanation was because rape and sexual abuse are sensitive topics, especially for survivors, and I wanted to make sure that I'm doing them a justice by explaining that just because it's fiction doesn't mean that it can't still be harmful - please prioritize your health and don't read this if you have even the slightest doubt that you might not be able to handle it. I will say that I enjoyed the book for what it made me think about and how I considered it, but I don't recommend this lightly. Because all of the characters are teenagers in high school and the content is so not high-school aged, I felt that I needed to ensure that I wasn't handling it lightly. If the themes in shows like Game of Thrones or the original Macbeth bother you, I would avoid this book.

There were so many interesting dynamics to consider, and if you've read (or watched) any version of Macbeth, it was cool to connect the parallels between the book and the original. Elle - excuse me, Jade - Khanjara and her "coven" are the girls who know how to play the game, because they invented it. In many ways, they actually kinda reminded me of the girls from Pretty Little Liars with their whole "we run the world" attitude. After the incident, Jade immediately goes to Jenny, Mads, and Summer, who interestingly play the role of the three witches, and starts planning her revenge. These girls would do anything and everything for each other, and the dedication they have to each other is incredible.

On the flip side, their relationship mirrors that of the St. Andrew's boys, AKA Jade's targets. Jade is not their first victim, and the entire lacrosse team knows it, and even worse, they keep their mouths shut because like Jade and her crew, Duncan and the team are untouchable. Except Jade finds the blind spots and rips them apart from the inside. In this sense, it was interesting to see how the loyalties of each group are put to the test, and to see that the girls are tied together with something more than loyalty, while the boys are held together by fear and secrets. And the thing about being put on a pedestal? Eventually, you fall.

Where's the line between revenge and justice? To Jade, they're the same thing, and I so appreciate the fact that Jade may be the protagonist, but whether or not she's a hero is up for debate. Yes, she wants justice for herself, and for every one of the golden boys' victims. She isn't the first, but she'll make damn sure she is the last. And this isn't justice, it's Revenge. Throughout the entire book, Jade has flashbacks of that night and uses it to fuel her focus. Connor. Banks. Duncan. Duffy. She remembers what they did, what they said, and I think a lot of characters and revenge plots follow this same single-minded line of thought, and sometimes, somewhere along the way, they realize they're too far gone to go back.

At first, Jade is completely in control: she knows who her targets are, how to get to them, and how to get away with it. When she meets Mack, he's the noble dude who still turns the other cheek when it comes to Duncan and his friends' crimes, but deep down he wants to be different, and that doesn't happen until Jade comes and fuels his ambition, his will to take what is theirs and be better than they ever were. What I found particularly riveting was when Jade starts to understand that she might not be as untouchable as she thought. She starts out invincible, and then she realizes that she knows she may fall eventually, but she doesn't care. As long as they fall first. At this point, Jade gets (even more) reckless, and even her coven feels the need to question her sense, but still, they are hers, and she is theirs - her revenge is theirs, too.

My favorite underlying theme was a big ol' F you to elitism and golden boys, whose daddies' money gets them out of anything and everything, and whose status makes them think they're beyond rules and human decency. If nothing else, I liked that Jade wanted to disrupt the entire hierarchy, and I think she got revenge the way she did because she knew that their money would ultimately protect them, although I don't think that was portrayed in the book.

Foul is Fair was thought-provoking and will definitely sit with me for a long time, and I think good and/or controversial books do. In the time of #MeToo, I think that this book is meant to highlight survivors and the uniqueness of their experiences and the reclamation of their bodies, and while I don't necessarily love the aging and how things were justified, I can respect the perspective.

One of my main points is the "Yes, and"-ness of the book. Yes, Jade is a victim of sexual abuse and wanted justice and/or revenge on her abusers, and that doesn't mean that her methods were right or heroic. Yes, Foul is Fair is a fictional feminist Macbeth in the Me Too movement, and for some it can have a very distorted view of survivors and how they deal with their abuse. Nothing is ever 100% black and white, and more than ever, we need to realize that. I appreciated this book for putting that fact into yet another context for me, and because I'm not a survivor, my view could be completely skewed.

Overall, I really wanted to highlight the tension that Foul is Fair brings to light and a lot of the inner dialogue that I had while reading. Foul is fair and fair is foul. In this book, nothing could be more true.

This was a book that really took me by surprise. I had heard very little about the plot or author prior to starting, and was really taken for a ride. The book itself is written in such an interesting way, almost poetic in its unraveling of events. My interest in this story never wavered, I finished it in a day I couldn’t put it down. There is definitely a violent theme, and sensitive subject matter, and I agree with other reviews that it is a bit over the top... but, that being said. I feel that it really worked. Especially with the writing style. I look forward to future books from Hannah Capin as this was a win for me.