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Get Even
(Don't Get Mad #1)
by
The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite priv ...more
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite priv ...more
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Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Published
September 16th 2014
by Balzer & Bray
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Popular Answered Questions
Lauren ✨ (TheBookishTwins)
It does, and both are great with similar a mystery aspect, but this was released before The Perfectionists.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Get Even (Don't Get Mad, #1)

She thrust her right hand forward.*rolls eyes*
“I, Kitty Wei, do solemnly swear, no secrets—ever—shall leave this square.”
Margot was beside her in an instant, her right arm extended.
“I, Margot Mejia, do solemnly swear, no secrets—ever—shall leave this square.”
Let's say you can buy a Dior purse for $50, in a spectacular find on clearance. Let's say you can also buy a knockoff Dior purse for $50. If they're pretty much the same value, wouldn't you want to get something that's more...authentic? ...more

Rating: 5/5
Get Even is the story of four very different girls coming together to get revenge on the bullies of theis school. Bree, Kitty, Olivia and Margot couldn't be more different, they don't have the same friends or the same interest, but somehow they were brought together and decided to punish those that are cruel to their classmates. So, the DGM was formed, a secret group at their school that targets the bullies. But, when one of their future targets gets killed and a card of DGM is found ...more
Get Even is the story of four very different girls coming together to get revenge on the bullies of theis school. Bree, Kitty, Olivia and Margot couldn't be more different, they don't have the same friends or the same interest, but somehow they were brought together and decided to punish those that are cruel to their classmates. So, the DGM was formed, a secret group at their school that targets the bullies. But, when one of their future targets gets killed and a card of DGM is found ...more

Are you looking for suspense,
mystery
, and
thrills
?
Are you looking for a revenge story in a prep school of les rich, complete with a raging, bully-enabling, hypocritical priest at its head?
Are you looking for side characters that are absolutely cardboard cut-outs of the bitch, the jock, the junkie, the minion-of-the-bitch-who-is-actually-miserable-and-feels-happy-when-she-is-complimented-over-the-bitch (wow that was long), the best friend, the snarling physical ed ...more
Are you looking for a revenge story in a prep school of les rich, complete with a raging, bully-enabling, hypocritical priest at its head?
Are you looking for side characters that are absolutely cardboard cut-outs of the bitch, the jock, the junkie, the minion-of-the-bitch-who-is-actually-miserable-and-feels-happy-when-she-is-complimented-over-the-bitch (wow that was long), the best friend, the snarling physical ed ...more

This book drew me in from the first page and continually shocked me throughout each chapter. The characters and setting were beautifully written, and the suspense built up perfectly. The only thing I didn't like was the cliff-hanger ending; and that's because I want to find out what happens next! Overall 5/5 stars; is it June yet?!
...more

Gretchen McNeil is one of my favorite teen thriller writers. This woman can not only expertly blend teen drama with blood chilling suspense, she can make it all believable and truly convincing. With her latest literary endeavor being a series (as opposed to the three stand-alones she wrote earlier), I was excited but also just a little bit worried that the books would be a bit more "watered down".
Get Even was not as dark and substantial as her stand-alone books for sure, but it was still capti ...more
Get Even was not as dark and substantial as her stand-alone books for sure, but it was still capti ...more

Jan 20, 2017
Colleen Houck
added it
Shelves:
bullying,
high-school,
risk-taking,
revenge,
secrets,
contemporary,
murder-mystery,
crime,
death,
secret-organizations
If you are a Pretty Little Liars fan then this is the new book series for you. I like how the characters in the DGM group don't run in the same circles or acknowledge one another in public. As usual, Gretchen is a master at mystery. I still don't know who done it! Also I need a buddy who sells cupcakes.
...more

I am really not sure what to get out of this book. I kinda walked into it knowingly. I did know it was going to be very similar to Pretty Little Liars. Now, I never read the books. All I know about PLL is the TV show, but still... I just couldn't shake off all the similarities and I found myself comparing the two ALL THE TIME. But not just that. I usually don't take a lot of notes while reading, but by the time I finished this book, I had soo many notes that I know already half of them will not
...more

Burn for Burn meets Pretty Little Liars, but with less intensity than the former and only half the cleverness of the latter.
Having said that, I'll be the first to admit that this book is very addictive. The pages flew by and I was completely engrossed on what was happening, even though it all was either extremely melodramatic or bordering of silly. Surprisingly, for a book with very little depth to it, I didn't find it particularly dull, which was one of my first concerns when I started reading ...more
Having said that, I'll be the first to admit that this book is very addictive. The pages flew by and I was completely engrossed on what was happening, even though it all was either extremely melodramatic or bordering of silly. Surprisingly, for a book with very little depth to it, I didn't find it particularly dull, which was one of my first concerns when I started reading ...more

This was a re-read and just as good as the first time! Love me some secret society books!

BE WARNED! My first reaction upon finishing GET EVEN was "It can't end there!" I got totally sucked into the story of four girls from various backgrounds and with various interests who band together to get revenge for the bullying activities that are going on at the Catholic high school.
Kitty is a the volleyball captain and a student leader. She is also the only Asian at her school who isn't good at math and science. Olivia is the scholarship student from a broken home who is an incredible actre ...more
Kitty is a the volleyball captain and a student leader. She is also the only Asian at her school who isn't good at math and science. Olivia is the scholarship student from a broken home who is an incredible actre ...more

Officially my favorite book by Gretchen. I loved these characters and this story and every single word on every single page. Well, except the use of the f-word. And no, I don't mean fuck.
The girls are all so different and while it's awesome to see them unite to get revenge on bullies, it's even better seeing their secrets unravel. Gretchen's way of peeling back the layers until the big reveal was just delicious.
And the boys? Gah. What a collection. We've got a drama boy, an athlete and a music ...more
The girls are all so different and while it's awesome to see them unite to get revenge on bullies, it's even better seeing their secrets unravel. Gretchen's way of peeling back the layers until the big reveal was just delicious.
And the boys? Gah. What a collection. We've got a drama boy, an athlete and a music ...more

Feb 10, 2014
Lauren ✨ (TheBookishTwins)
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
contemporary,
mystery,
edelweiss,
favorites,
owned,
fav-2014-reads,
highly-anticipated-2014
I received a free copy from the publishers via Edelweiss.
My god, that was awesome.
I had very high expectations of Get Even because I love mysteries and I love revenge stories. It did not disappoint and was strangely addictive. I would definitely recommend to fans of contemporary, and fans of Burn for Burn by Jenny Han.
Margot, Kitty, Olivia and Bree are from completely different social circles. Margot is an overachiever who doesn't have many friends, Bree is a bit of a rebel craving her father's ...more
My god, that was awesome.
I had very high expectations of Get Even because I love mysteries and I love revenge stories. It did not disappoint and was strangely addictive. I would definitely recommend to fans of contemporary, and fans of Burn for Burn by Jenny Han.
Margot, Kitty, Olivia and Bree are from completely different social circles. Margot is an overachiever who doesn't have many friends, Bree is a bit of a rebel craving her father's ...more

No, just no. I don't really know where to begin reviewing this book.
Let's start with the characters. This book follows four girls Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot who this story seems to revolve around. They are a bunch who form a group called DGM (Don't Get Mad, if you cannot tell from the title), four girls that just decide to come together and become a secret society that takes revenge on the bullies in their school. This is where it got confusing from the start, because when you have four mai ...more
Let's start with the characters. This book follows four girls Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot who this story seems to revolve around. They are a bunch who form a group called DGM (Don't Get Mad, if you cannot tell from the title), four girls that just decide to come together and become a secret society that takes revenge on the bullies in their school. This is where it got confusing from the start, because when you have four mai ...more

I think I definitely enjoyed this book because I listened to it rather than read it. While it wasn’t narrated by a full cast, the narrator DID do an amazing job of changing her inflection, tone, and even accent when speaking for each character in the book. This made it so much easier to listen to and a much more enjoyable listening experience. I’m excited to see what Netflix has done with it!!

2.25 stars
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
I wasn’t sure about this book from the start, and as I got further into it I really lost interest.
I didn’t really like any of the characters in this book. They all annoyed me at some point, and the way they thought so highly of themselves was a joke. Everything they did was a ‘mission’ and they even had headsets to talk to each other with! It’s like they thought th ...more
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
I wasn’t sure about this book from the start, and as I got further into it I really lost interest.
I didn’t really like any of the characters in this book. They all annoyed me at some point, and the way they thought so highly of themselves was a joke. Everything they did was a ‘mission’ and they even had headsets to talk to each other with! It’s like they thought th ...more

At first, I wasn't sure I'd like this, as the beginning was a bit rocky, as no introductions were made for the characters and it begins right in the middle of the action. After that scene, things settled down a bit, and the characters were gradually introduced. Because there are a lot of them, it was a bit difficult to keep track of all of them.
In terms of plot, this has quite a bit of mystery! All of the characters have a dirty secret (which felt a bit unreal at times, I mean, a whole student b ...more
In terms of plot, this has quite a bit of mystery! All of the characters have a dirty secret (which felt a bit unreal at times, I mean, a whole student b ...more

Nov 02, 2013
Melanie
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
could-have-been-so-much-better,
death,
young-adult,
books-i-own,
contemporary,
romance,
bleh,
f-a-i-l,
mystery,
e-arc
Oh man, this was painful.

Four school girls with nothing in common are secretly a vigilante group known only as DGM: Don’t Get Mad. They retaliate against bullies, but when their latest target is murdered before they can humiliate him and DGM is framed, they realise someone knows their identities, and is coming after them next unless they give themselves up.
Get Even should have been an amazing book. I stayed up until 3am reading it. I don’t even remember the last time I did that with a book. It SHOULD have been amazing b ...more
Get Even should have been an amazing book. I stayed up until 3am reading it. I don’t even remember the last time I did that with a book. It SHOULD have been amazing b ...more

Feb 28, 2014
Gisbelle
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
high-school,
young-adult,
series,
first-in-series,
young-adult-contemporary,
arc,
contemporary

My thanks to Balzer & Bray for this galley.
This is the third book I have read written by Gretchen McNeil. Ten which I loved so much. 3:59 which I thought in general was nice, but I didn't like that much (I'm not a sci-fi gal.) And now this one. I guess it fell somewhere in the middle because there were some parts I really liked about this book, while at times, not so much.

I liked how the story started, with four girls who wanted to stand up for their schoolmates that being unfairly treated. It w ...more

THE REVIEW
Mediocre.
If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be mediocre.
Frustratingly mediocre.
Gretchen McNeil, YA mystery, four girls banding together to fight high school bullies, multiple POVs and secret societies - Sounds like the perfect read right? Unfortunately not in this case.
Get Even started off with a lot of potential but things started going downhill pretty fast. DGM (Don't Get Mad) is born when four girls from completely different social circles band together to g ...more
Mediocre.
If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be mediocre.
Frustratingly mediocre.
Gretchen McNeil, YA mystery, four girls banding together to fight high school bullies, multiple POVs and secret societies - Sounds like the perfect read right? Unfortunately not in this case.
Get Even started off with a lot of potential but things started going downhill pretty fast. DGM (Don't Get Mad) is born when four girls from completely different social circles band together to g ...more

Feb 10, 2014
Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
tbr-2014
It was very PLL, but I was okay with that. I love guilty pleasure books like that. Sometimes I got confused bc there were SO many characters, but eventually I sorted it all out. It was a cool mystery withou being overly dramatic. I had fun reading it.
I have no idea why it took me this long to read this book!! Maybe it's because I readTen and was like MEH. Well, thank you ARC August! This is much improved over Ten. I mean, it isn't my favorite book I've ever read, but I love books like this!! It' ...more
I have no idea why it took me this long to read this book!! Maybe it's because I readTen and was like MEH. Well, thank you ARC August! This is much improved over Ten. I mean, it isn't my favorite book I've ever read, but I love books like this!! It' ...more

4 stars
(My first book I've read in 2016! Off to a good start!)
As many of you people know, John Tucker Must Die is a cult classic. 4 girls, who are different from each other, uniting together to take down the douche canoe that is John Tucker. (Note: I did not watch John Tucker Must Die but I did google it, so that counts... kind of.) The movie sort of started a trend in people wanting to seek revenge against people who have wronged them. There are TV shows, books, video games, and other forms of ...more
(My first book I've read in 2016! Off to a good start!)
As many of you people know, John Tucker Must Die is a cult classic. 4 girls, who are different from each other, uniting together to take down the douche canoe that is John Tucker. (Note: I did not watch John Tucker Must Die but I did google it, so that counts... kind of.) The movie sort of started a trend in people wanting to seek revenge against people who have wronged them. There are TV shows, books, video games, and other forms of ...more

1.5 stars
I really loathe this book. There is nothing likable about this book at all. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just highlight a couple things that I especially despised.
1. The love triangle with Kitty, Olivia, and Donte.
I don't think I've read about a love triangle between two girls and a guy up to this point. But this is quite the poorly written one. Olivia is Donte's ex. HE dumped HER. Then Kitty likes him, and they go out, although Kitty knows that Olivia will clearly be hurt ...more
I really loathe this book. There is nothing likable about this book at all. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just highlight a couple things that I especially despised.
1. The love triangle with Kitty, Olivia, and Donte.
I don't think I've read about a love triangle between two girls and a guy up to this point. But this is quite the poorly written one. Olivia is Donte's ex. HE dumped HER. Then Kitty likes him, and they go out, although Kitty knows that Olivia will clearly be hurt ...more

Don't Get Mad. GET EVEN.
^ A very fun concept, don't you think? Giving the bullies a taste of their own medicine wouldn't just give a great deal of justice to all of their victims but would also give such an overpowering sense of satisfaction.
Bree, Olivia, Margot and Kitty (the protagonists) certainly got my respect. They weren't content to just sit back and let the bullies rule the school - they got their hands dirty and evened out the playing field. Without ever giving up their identities and r ...more
^ A very fun concept, don't you think? Giving the bullies a taste of their own medicine wouldn't just give a great deal of justice to all of their victims but would also give such an overpowering sense of satisfaction.
Bree, Olivia, Margot and Kitty (the protagonists) certainly got my respect. They weren't content to just sit back and let the bullies rule the school - they got their hands dirty and evened out the playing field. Without ever giving up their identities and r ...more

A really suspenseful and engrossing read and a thoroughly addictive thriller. It really does get you thinking about who did it and there are so many unanswered questions and clues and I'm really trying to put them together. Starting Get Dirty in 3, 2, 1...
...more

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.
When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, th ...more
When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, th ...more

Get Even by Gretchen McNeil is the first in the Don’t Get Mad series and I did enjoy it. I do have to admit, there are quite a few characters and I felt like that although the story moved forward, not one thing was resolved in this book of the series. I’m pretty sure everyone knows how I feel about that but with that said; I still think the story was very well done.
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot are the main characters and have nothing in common…except for DGM. Through a twist of fate – or just ...more
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot are the main characters and have nothing in common…except for DGM. Through a twist of fate – or just ...more

Kitty, Margot, Bree and Olivia couldn't be more different. Olivia is the theater girl, Kitty the sporty type, Margot the tech pro and Bree is the daughter of a Senator. They are in the same high school and know how hard trying to be oneself can be. It is not friendship that connects them, but something bigger, something stronger. Revenge and justice.
The four girls formed the group DGM in order to protect other students who have become victims to bullying and oppression. Together they have to wi ...more
The four girls formed the group DGM in order to protect other students who have become victims to bullying and oppression. Together they have to wi ...more

Rather boring. Characters were unrelatable and the plot was questionable, as in, there was no plot besides the killing and framing.
Hope book two will be better.
Hope book two will be better.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Crazy for Young A...: Pair 12: Maria and Kathy (March 2018) | 6 | 14 | Mar 24, 2018 08:27PM | |
YA Buddy Readers'...: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil - Starting 3rd March | 15 | 20 | Mar 07, 2015 05:07AM | |
YA Today Book Club: Discussion #34 - Get Even | 2 | 6 | Jan 26, 2015 09:09PM | |
YA Today Book Club: January 2015 Pick | 4 | 7 | Jan 25, 2015 04:19AM | |
Buddy read time xx: Get even, oct. 2014 | 4 | 6 | Nov 07, 2014 08:33PM | |
Crazy for Young A...: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil → Start Date: September 24, 2014 | 38 | 25 | Oct 07, 2014 09:10PM |
Gretchen McNeil is the author of the YA horror/suspense novels POSSESS, 3:59, RELIC, GET EVEN, GET DIRTY, and TEN (a YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, a Romantic Times Top Pick, and a Booklist Top Ten Horror Fiction for Youth) all with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins. Gretchen’s first YA contemporary I’M NOT YOUR MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL, also with Balzer + Bray, hit shelve
...more
Other books in the series
Don't Get Mad
(2 books)
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