The Best Revenge

by Michele L. Rivera

Cleo Tanner and Amelia Hastings might attend the same high school, but they come from different worlds. It’s not until both girls are wronged by their exes that they come together to exact vengeance on those who wronged them.

The plan is simple—Amelia and Cleo will pretend to be a happy couple at school to make their exes jealous. After all, nothing is harder than seeing your ex move on quickly. They would know.

There’s only one minor Amelia’s straight and Cleo’s a lesbian.

The set up can still work, though. The whole thing is just for show. It’s not as if anyone will develop real feelings (that would be ridiculous!). Cleo isn’t even Amelia’s type, because Cleo’s a girl, and Amelia isn’t attracted to girls...or is she?

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2025

About the author

Michele L. Rivera is a Massachusetts native who has been writing lesbian romance since 2013. It all started with the release of her first book, “Taking the Lead,” which is a fictional story loosely based on her own coming out experience.

Through her writing, Michele strives to share her strong personal beliefs that love is love and that happily ever afters do exist.

When she’s not writing love stories or poetry, she enjoys cuddling with her adorable cats, sipping on whiskey, watching movies, and searching for artistic inspiration within the human experience.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just wanted to read something angsty, something melodramatic, something funny and I think I found it in The Best Revenge. Cleo Tanner and (straight) Amelia Hastings are not one whom you could call high school friends, but somehow they got close and came up with a plan to get back at their ex by dating each other. As with teens’ romance, sometimes certain scenes can be dramatic and there were times when we had Cleo & Amelia having a 180; one minute, they are fine and before you can blink your eye, things between them somehow get unpleasant and sticky. But hey, I still enjoy reading their story regardless.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michele wrote it so its good.!

[Issy Waldrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dating for revenge is never the best policy, even more so when you know that, and do it anyway. But when it's done so that you can spend time with your crush, or conversely, you find that you're wanting it more than you'd thought? Well... things just even more complicated.

It's an enjoyable book, very much as advertised. Young adult, with plenty of angst and drama, as hurt doesn't go away easily, but there are also plenty of sweet moments, growth, and you can't help but cheer when Amelia finally comes to terms with herself (there's something special about coming out stories, though of course, things never seem to go smoothly for these two). The supportive cast is great, especially Noelle, and I would love for her get a book of her own.

But yes, enjoyable read that I am happy to have picked up.

[Lauren Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute delight! I hadn’t read a Y/A book since I was a young adult myself, so I was curious as to how this would land for me. I can say after finishing that Michele Rivera handled what must be a challenging writing genre with perfectly appropriate restraint and understanding, while developing/maintaining a smart, sassy, (and at times quite sexy), story of friendship, high school crushes/relationships, and sapphic discovery. This is my third read from this author, and as always I find myself not just enjoying the main characters, but the supporting cast as well! Five stars for this fun read!

[Robin Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had both humor and heart, though it did wax serious at times. It covered a few thorny issues, like is it okay for a straight person to pretend to be gay for some side purpose? The story also touched on online bullying. I thought the quality of the prose was great.

Amelia is the more popular, affluent, snobby, and conventionally gorgeous of the two protagonists. Cleo has her own style, but isn't as popular, and Amelia considers her "strange" at best. She has long harbored a crush on Amelia, but Amelia is straight. Amelia starts out as snooty towards Cleo, so there's a little bit of an "enemies-to-lovers" element to it.

Over the course of the book, Amelia discovers her sexuality and develops as a person. But the book doesn't delve into the huge complexities or emotional implications such self-discovery might entail. The ups and downs in their fake/real romance seemed to center on issues of miscommunication and trust. Obviously those issues will arise when your entire relationship is a pretense and every act of affection could be construed as just roleplay.

Cleo seems to alternate between googly-eyed infatuation and complete disdain for what she perceives as Amelia's lack of respect for lesbians. I felt like I might get whiplash a few times. But what story about teen angst doesn't have some whiplash?

The characters had to be persistent and really work at communication to get past the issues holding them back. So my biggest complaint is what happens about 80% of the way through the book...
The proverbial third act breakup was heart-crushing and seemed to make all the other obstacles they'd hurdled moot. Such mini-breakups have to be handled really gingerly by authors. But this falling-out seemed to have an awful lot of gravity to it. It touched on real trauma for Cleo caused by online humiliation. I felt her anger and Amelia's loss. But the resolution seemed to be just "I forgive you" and then they went back to being madly in love. At that point some of the magic was lost for me. Either of two results would've been better for me: 1) Cleo could've been more understanding given the tangential nature of Amelia's culpability instead of multiple days of ghosting and revulsion towards Amelia, which is difficult to walk back from. After all, Amelia had had the video taken down and hadn't given it much thought after that, and she was a changed person. Or 2) the story could've spent more time on the breakup and makeup, with less ghosting and more discussion. But I prefer option 1.

But overall I'm glad I read the story. 90% of it was delightful.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually one to read the teenager romances but it is Michele L. Rivera so I said why not. I highly recommend this book for those young lesbians of the world or those who are stuck on the fence. Michele writes the story in such a way that makes it feel like a modern day Annie On My Mind but with so many more witty lines between the two main characters , Cleo and Amelia. Those of you who have ever had feelings for a straight girl in high school will definitely bring you back to a time when there was so much angst you thought you would die. As usual there were parts of the story that had me actually laughing out so loudly the cats ran off. It would be interesting to see a second book about Amelia's sister, but that's just me... hoping.

[Rebecca MacAlister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

I liked the story. It was cute. I wasn't too fond of some of the advice from Cleo's best friend and parents, and I think Cleo should've held a grudge just a little longer. But it was a good story. I like it.

[bookster · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Marquis Finney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cloe sucks

I really wanted to like this story, but Cleo is so annoying I couldn’t. How she treats Amelia is horrible and she deserves better.