Rabbit and Juliet

by Rebecca Stafford

Seventeen-year-old Rabbit has been struggling to stay above water since her mom died. In the span of a year and half, her small Georgia town has become unbearably hellish: Her ex-boyfriend, resident golden boy Richard, turned into an unrelenting stalker; her friends are nonexistent; and her dad is campaigning hard for Functioning Alcoholic of the Year.

But all that changes when the sarcastic, gorgeous, and frustratingly impenetrable Juliet Bergman walks into Rabbit's life. All hard angles and James Dean bravado, Juliet throws Rabbit a life preserver just before her depression threatened to sink her.

Then one morning, Rabbit's ex-best-friend Sarah--Richard's current girlfriend--shares a horrific discovery about Richard and his crew that pitches Rabbit back into darkness. The three girls vow to enact revenge on the boys for what they've been doing to unsuspecting girls at parties. With Juliet leading the charge and demanding blind loyalty from the girls, Rabbit falls harder for her than she thought possible. It isn't until Rabbit is faced with a startling act of violence that she must decide how far she's willing to go--for herself, for Juliet, and for justice--when love and grief threaten to topple everything.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT, Fiction, Crime

1 pages, Audio CD

First published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Jules Billings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rabbit & Juliet kept me unsteady, on my toes, and constantly guessing. A surprisingly dark YA novel with bloodshed, morally grey areas, a refreshingly normal protagonist, and queer lust, this Bottoms-esque book marks a powerful debut for Stafford.

[Star · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content warnings: references to rape and other forms of sexual assault - including photos taken of passed out girls being sexually assaulted, alcohol, parent with alcoholism, parent who died from cancer, violence, toxic men, toxic friendships, depression depictions.

Rep: Rabbit is cis, white, and sapphic. Juliet is cis, white and sapphic.


This was fantastic. I am here for girls getting revenge. It's what they deserve.

Rabbit is in way over her head throughout this entire book and it was so incredibly well written. I adored this book from the first word right through to the end. It was just so good.

More guys should have died, though (none died, sadly)

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this book came out when I was younger. I would’ve been obsessed!! I had a good time reading this book, and reading something my professor wrote was definitely an experience. There were moments where I read a line, and I could hear it in her voice, and the line reminded me of feedback she gave me on my writing. Anyway, I would recommend this book!

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t disagree with the blurb more.

Rabbit aka Sadie befriends Juliet, in part because she has a crush. Rabbit is also mourning the loss of her mother, struggling with her father’s drinking and frustrated that the friends she pushed away have stayed away.

I disliked Juliet from her first scenes screwing with the moderator of a self help group. Rabbit was so needy for attention and positive regard she overlooked Juliet’s sociopathic tendencies, like leaving Rabbit and another friend in the middle of a lake, naked and without life preservers. Juliet is just as abusive to Rabbit as her ex, Richard although in different ways.

Revenge doesn’t work for me when a sociopath is leading the charge.

As much as I sympathized with Rabbit, I didn’t fully buy into her character. Most high schoolers don’t speak in SAT words like Rabbit.

RABBIT & JULIET is well-written, in terms of wordbuilding. I liked the premise for the book more than the book.

[Dominick Gramarosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m utterly amazed by how precisely intellectual yet unwaveringly receptive a piece of writing can be. Stafford’s style is existing proof. I wish I knew how to wield language with the same sort of deliberate care.

Forgot to add this, but it was a great vacation read

[Charlee Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS!!!

[kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, if you don't know by now that books about queer girls in murderously toxic friendships/relationships are catnip to me, I don't know what to say to you. I really, really enjoyed this book. I did find Sarah more interesting as a character than Rabbit and would have preferred to read it from her point of view, but that's not the story it was trying to tell and that's fine. The writing is very good, Juliet is compelling if slightly underdeveloped, and the tension is exquisite. Although more with regard to the relationships between the girls than the actual action.

Here's the thing. I support vigilante justice when it's teenage girls taking down gross horrible sexual predators in their small town, and I wanted to see more of that. Less of Rabbit feeling guilty afterward tbh. I understand that we're supposed to read Juliet as a kind of secondary villain and to feel she's going too far, but I...didn't? Or at least not because of her actions toward the boys. I'm not particularly interested in ethics and morals in situations like this. Kill them all and run off into the sunset with your unhinged girlfriend.

The ending was very unsatisfying to me. The whole climax was, really. I wanted it to go so much harder. But I did love the experience of reading the book and it's one I'll definitely revisit and recommend with warnings. I don't feel like any of it is gratuitous and a lot of it is off page, but there's some heavy stuff here. Death of a parent, alcoholic father, sexual assault, attempted suicide, etc.

[Evie R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this was not what I expected when I randomly picked up this audio book. I will say, I absolutely HATED Rabbit's character. I found her to be such a wet blanket, and while I definitely empathize with her, I hated her for going along with everything Juliet wanted. She just went along as if she didn't know any better. I get that this is a YA Novela and that the protagonist and supporting characters are teenagers, but they were entirely too old not to know better than to follow someone they barely knew blindly.

Juliet was also manipulative and emotionally violent. I hated Sarah as well because she inserted herself into Rabbit and Juliet's friendship as if Rabbit wasn't there first and then had the nerve to get jealous and petty. Rabbit was also very jealous, petty, and possessive. Juliet really knew how to play them against each other.

Rabbit's father, another character I dislike, had the audacity to try to discipline her when he essentially abandoned that poor girl for months after her mother died. All he did was check out and drink himself stupid, leaving her to take care of herself. Even after she tried to expire herself, he made no move to get sober and just stopped paying attention. The ending was super unsatisfying for me, but ultimately, it tracked. We're all left wondering who Juliet really was. Overall, it was good. Frustrating, but good.

[SpaceCadet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those titles that if I read it when I was 16, I would take it to heart and make it a part of my personality. I would've loved that Juliet is just bonkers, and that Rabbit is taken under her wing in a weird homo-erotic way. I would've eaten this shit up. However, I'm not 16 and I don't have that punch I used to. It's fun, but I think the revenge isn't my favourite part because yeah, it's not coming from Rabbit, it's coming from Juliet who is seeing it as retribution for everything teenage girls go through at the expense of teenage boys. Rabbit is just the vessel to act everything out with. Which isn't to say that consequences should go undelivered, but man I wish Rabbit had more of a voice than just blindly going along with it. I actually think a sequel would be fun because Juliet is so unhinged that I don't know how she'd handle finding Rabbit at a later point in life in a place that isn't Small Town Southern USA. Is this similar to Yellowjackets? This feels similar (minus the cannibalism in Yellowjackets)

[Daryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how messy and imperfect Rabbit/Juliet were, it really kept me invested in the story. That being said, it felt like nothing would happen, there’d be buildup with the chapter cliffhanger implying something is going to go down, only for the next chapter to just be like talking. I feel like the first half was too slow. I did think that Sarah felt like a third wheel, and even when she’d try to insert herself I just got kind of annoyed, like I didn’t need her in the Rabbit/Juliet dynamic, and maybe less time with her could’ve gone to building up Juliet as an eventual antagonist, and building up the attraction between Rabbit and Juliet.

Also just a general note I HATE the “if you do this you’re just as bad as them” trope like…Richard and his friends were creeps and you want me to be mad at my morally grey girl Juliet?! Nah there’s only one rapist there and I’m kinda sick of the morality talk when it comes to situations like this. Like…where was RICHARD’S compassion when it came to all those girls?! Anyway this is a personal pet peeve of mine with this trope but hey.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

4 stars

It’s not often I start a review with trigger warnings, but this one needs them. Rabbit lost her mother to cancer and tried to take her own life with the remnants of her mother’s pills. Rabbit also learns that her ex-boyfriend, Richard, who almost raped her, has naked pictures of Rabbit and two other boys. She then discovers that it wasn’t just her, and it wasn’t always just pictures. So please be aware if any of these are triggers for you.

I picked this book up because it takes the above scenario, and adds in feminine rage and revenge, a sisterhood of wrath and fury, and I’m a sucker for a good revenge plot.

Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has bite...And it’s delicious.
Juliet is the new girl in town and she has raw femme ferocity, to put it mildly. She’s a “bad influence” on Rabbit, who’s facing an alcoholic father, dead mother, and toxic ex boyfriend. All the characters needed therapy, which is exactly what made the characters so fun and so believable. Everyone had reckless youth energy. And it’s highly contagious.

My only negative for the whole book was the religious condescension. In my opinion, It was overused and alienates a fan base. But I’m likely a minority as a LGBTQIA+ Christian-so most wouldn’t see a problem there. So besides that, I loved every sarcastic and sexy sentence. Needless to say, Juliet is my new character crush.
I need another serving. But maybe it needed to end.
Maybe it's better this way.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, still a little annoyed about the dead parent streak that I'm currently on.

And while female revenge is always an intriguing focus for a YA novel, this one was too stereotypical to be unique in any way. Rabbit has a dead parent. Rabbit has a failed relationship and a stalker. Juliet is a manicpixiedreamgirl who enters Rabbit's life and another girl that's a newly dumped girlfriend of her ex-- together the group forms to ferret out the bad boys doing bad things.

It was fine, but it wasn't anything special.

[Raaven💖 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This was full of suspense and had a lot going for it. I really enjoyed Rabbit’s character. Juliet was very much manic pixie dream girl and I had my suspensions about her from the beginning. I love books about being getting back at your abusers, and this one took it in an interesting new way. The end was a little stale but other than that I really enjoyed the read.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast-paced YA about a brutal friendship. When Rabbit first starts to fall under Juliet’s spell, she thinks, “Our conversation in the car replayed in my head. What did she mean when she said we’d have fun? Like a terms of service agreement 80 pages long, I didn’t linger on it. I was too distracted by everything around me.”
Also striking (and realistic) for how truly clueless the adults in the novel are.

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooooooh, morally grey protagonists ... yes, please!

This book hit me a bit harder than it might others. Having personally experienced some of what happens in the novel, I was drawn into being more than just an observer/reader. I fought emotionally, physically, and psychologically alongside Rabbit and loved her voice and her falliblity.

CW: attempted suicide, sexual assault, non-consensual photography, alcohol & drugs, body horror

Y11 Y12

Senior Fiction

[Hannah Balagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up late into the night to finish this book, which rarely happens for me. Not only was every line beautiful (you can tell the author is a poet), but the story was surprising, the characters felt real and complex, the ending was satisfying, and the overall message is an important one. It checks all the boxes!

[Izzys_Internet_Bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5

When I started this book it was just because another book I was reading was putting me in a reading slump. But, this book in the end also had me loose my interest as well. I had enjoyed the idea of the book, as well as the layout. I just couldn’t pay attention to the story for some reason though. That’s where my problems started.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has everything I love: female friendships, queerness, vigilantes, complex backstories that unfold slowly, and angsty young love.

A psychological thriller, think The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but in high school. A must read debut!

[Sophia Barsuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to a two than a four. I will probably write a longer review at some point, but for now, I can say that while there were things I really liked about this book, I am left with a much bigger feeling of "what was the point of all this?"

[Emma Akers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!! I had the honor of working the release event and Stafford is a natural!!

[tova · Rating 5 out of 5]

toxic yuri? toxic yuri

[Janet]

Well-written, compelling. It is _not_ a feel-good, girl power book.

[Britt Buckenroth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read. LOTS of female drama and unrealistic retribution - I think high schoolers will love it.

[Andrea Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's your typical teenage girls vs. toxic masculinity revenge fantasy... until it's not.

[Rosemary Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent young adult novel for all ages

This book kept me interested and absorbed. The characters were well drawn and the plot was believable and realistic. Recommended

[Rowen H.]

absolutely bonkers

[emma]

very Heathers vibes, i liked all the references to pop culture and film (like the not-so-sneaky twin peaks reference). a pretty satisfying revenge story although the end felt a little quick.

[Melissa Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading Rabbit & Juliet because the synopsis sounded great, but sadly, the execution wasn’t, in my opinion. You can see where this book draws its influences from but it unfortunately falls short in comparison. I only finished the book because I didn’t want yet another DNF this year. I was hoping something amazing would happen in the end that would change my entire opinion of the book, it did not.

I honestly didn’t like any of the characters. They felt very flat and they were all awful in their own ways. If they happened to be complex, I wouldn’t mind this, but even Juliet was two dimensional. I’d love to talk about this in more depth but that would be difficult without giving major spoilers. Rabbit’s instant and complete obsession with Juliet got old after a while too.

Another area I don’t want to spoil is how this book ends, but I do need to comment on how satisfying it is. You don’t learn the outcome of the biggest event of the book and that’s really annoying. What was the point of this story? Nothing really happens and a lot of the more ‘action-packed’ scenes are told in passing in the past tense.

The end part that talks in the style of a movie montage would be less awkward if that happened more often throughout. The chatty style narrative is not used at any other point during the book, so it seemed very out of place.

I’d hoped for a lot more from Rabbit & Juliet but sadly, I found it a little boring. That might not be the case for you though, so I would recommend checking this out if my review hasn’t put you off and you think the synopsis sounds interesting.