Review: Vengeance is Sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2013
I'm not a huge fan of young adult or coming of age novels, so when I began reading Sweet Vengeance and Allie was only 19, I kind of convinced myself that I wouldn't like this book, that my 30-something self couldn't relate with a teenager.  But while Allie is still a teenager, what she goes through in this book consist of very adult situations and decisions. The second half of this book featured Allie as a 25 year old woman, and I have to give Ms. Stark big cudos for the difference in how Allie was portrayed. She was initially very weak and vulnerable but wound up being a brave fighter and I'm glad that she came into her own during the course of this story. Jase was very frustrating...he knows he shouldn't continue to let vengeance rule his life but can't...won't...stop until the Trasatti family has been brought down. He skirts the edge of the law & morality but loves Allie with every bone in his body & will protect her until the day he dies.Their relationship was very sweet, Allie was a teenager pining over a hot older bad boy with ties to the mob; Jase is hell-bent on exacting revenge for the murders of his family but falls under Allie's spell the second he sees her. She makes him want to be a better man, but he also wants to take the Trasatti family down. He knows Allie is the key to making that happen, but none of them, including Allie, can figure out why. There were some lightly erotic spots in the book, nothing too hardcore or gratuitous, and I thought Ms. Stark did a great job weaving a tight and interesting plot with suspense and danger into a very good love story. The characters were all developed well and the writing was excellent. Nice job!