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Fight For Her
Liz Plum’s I Fight For Her has tones of John Hughes and Nicholas Sparks—where Scarlet and Elijah, two teenagers with different backgrounds find one another, and come to terms with lies that can n...
To all her peers, Scarlet Tucker has it all: she’s beautiful, wealthy, and dating the star quarterback. But while Scarlet projects perfection to the outside world, behind closed doors she is haunted by the tragic and mysterious death of her beloved brother.
Similarly, the school’s bad-in-all-the-wrong-ways boy, Elijah Black, carries the heavy loss of his own brother’s death on top of the swarm of unsavoury rumours from his fellow classmates. From the outside, there’s no reason for their two worlds to ever intersect, but Elijah has a secret that could hold the key to Scarlet’s closure and also put her in grave danger.
As the two grow closer, Elijah eventually let’s her in to his hidden lifestyle: underground fighting. It is there Elijah’s secret begins to unravel and Scarlet finds herself faced with the true story behind her brother’s death as well as the imminent danger that goes along with being his kin. Scarlet and Elijah find themselves too deep, both in danger and in feelings for one another as it becomes clear that the only way they will make it out alive is if they stick together.
To all her peers, Scarlet Tucker has it all: she’s beautiful, wealthy, and dating the star quarterback. But while Scarlet projects perfection to the outside world, behind closed doors she is haunted by the tragic and mysterious death of her beloved brother.
Similarly, the school’s bad-in-all-the-wrong-ways boy, Elijah Black, carries the heavy loss of his own brother’s death on top of the swarm of unsavoury rumours from his fellow classmates. From the outside, there’s no reason for their two worlds to ever intersect, but Elijah has a secret that could hold the key to Scarlet’s closure and also put her in grave danger.
As the two grow closer, Elijah eventually let’s her in to his hidden lifestyle: underground fighting. It is there Elijah’s secret begins to unravel and Scarlet finds herself faced with the true story behind her brother’s death as well as the imminent danger that goes along with being his kin. Scarlet and Elijah find themselves too deep, both in danger and in feelings for one another as it becomes clear that the only way they will make it out alive is if they stick together.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 9, 2021
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1277 people want to read
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March 19, 2021
📚 Hello Book Friends! FIGHT FOR HER by Liz Plum is a coming-of-age YA Romance. It is an easy-going story about a love triangle between a popular girl, a star athlete, and a bad boy. The story was interesting and had some potential. It was just a bit too juvenile for my taste and sometimes too dramatic. It is nonetheless an enjoyable love story if you put your teenager's thinking cap on. The author delivered a good story with a lovely ending.
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October 27, 2020
While I enjoyed this book, it definitely wasn’t anything special, or anything I see myself rereading. It was the stereotypical bad boy x good girl romance, and everyone just felt a bit too stereotyped for me. I do have rather high standards when it comes to romances though, so that may have been part of my problem.
This book follows Scarlet, who’s in a relationship with the school’s resident king and quarterback. After bumping into the schools outcast who’s heavily bullied by her boyfriend, Scarlet is dragged into a world of fights, gangs, and lies. Forcing her to reconsider what she wants in a relationship, Elijah brings about some serious change.
My main problem with Fight For Her ended up being the plot. It felt to me like the author tried to do too much at one time. We had the conflicting storylines with the gang, the romance, the street fighting, and Scarlet’s brother. While it all did end up tying in, none of the conflicts was thoroughly explored, and every one was resolved too quickly. I wish the author would’ve stuck to one conflict, and not three or four.
I was also a bit thrown off by the similarity to Scarlet from the Lunar Chronicles. Before you start rolling your eyes because that was sci-fi, and this was contemporary, hear me out. Both of our main characters were named Scarlet. Both of them end up with mysterious street fighters. Both of them are desperate to know the fate of one of their family members. While the plots were completely different, it was just weird to have similar acting main characters with the same names.
As for the romance, my one complaint is that it happened way too fast. As soon as Elijah and Scarlet bumped into each other in the hall, it was obvious they were going to get together. From there, it was fairly predictable. I also hate when characters in books start declaring their love for each other despite having just interacted, so that was a point against this book.
Finally, we have my problem with Jack, Scarlet’s boyfriend. This guy was a total jerk, and actually made me dislike Scarlet quite a bit. You have no idea how many times we got to see him bully someone, or demean Scarlet, and she would just think “but he’s nice to me.” Not once did she stand up for anyone, and although he was supposed to be a jerk, it was just over the top.
Despite listing mostly negative things about this book, I did enjoy parts of it. Like all romances, I was entertained, I’m just a very critical reader, so it’s flaws irritated me quite a bit. Don’t judge this book too early though, because it definitely had potential.
This book follows Scarlet, who’s in a relationship with the school’s resident king and quarterback. After bumping into the schools outcast who’s heavily bullied by her boyfriend, Scarlet is dragged into a world of fights, gangs, and lies. Forcing her to reconsider what she wants in a relationship, Elijah brings about some serious change.
My main problem with Fight For Her ended up being the plot. It felt to me like the author tried to do too much at one time. We had the conflicting storylines with the gang, the romance, the street fighting, and Scarlet’s brother. While it all did end up tying in, none of the conflicts was thoroughly explored, and every one was resolved too quickly. I wish the author would’ve stuck to one conflict, and not three or four.
I was also a bit thrown off by the similarity to Scarlet from the Lunar Chronicles. Before you start rolling your eyes because that was sci-fi, and this was contemporary, hear me out. Both of our main characters were named Scarlet. Both of them end up with mysterious street fighters. Both of them are desperate to know the fate of one of their family members. While the plots were completely different, it was just weird to have similar acting main characters with the same names.
As for the romance, my one complaint is that it happened way too fast. As soon as Elijah and Scarlet bumped into each other in the hall, it was obvious they were going to get together. From there, it was fairly predictable. I also hate when characters in books start declaring their love for each other despite having just interacted, so that was a point against this book.
Finally, we have my problem with Jack, Scarlet’s boyfriend. This guy was a total jerk, and actually made me dislike Scarlet quite a bit. You have no idea how many times we got to see him bully someone, or demean Scarlet, and she would just think “but he’s nice to me.” Not once did she stand up for anyone, and although he was supposed to be a jerk, it was just over the top.
Despite listing mostly negative things about this book, I did enjoy parts of it. Like all romances, I was entertained, I’m just a very critical reader, so it’s flaws irritated me quite a bit. Don’t judge this book too early though, because it definitely had potential.
June 27, 2021
One word: interesting.
The author took some pretty standard YA tropes/clichés and added interesting twists to them. When I picked this book up, I expected to just simply enjoy a cute romance between the popular girl of the school and the badboy outcast. To be honest, the first 200 pages were exactly that: girl feels bad because her boyfriend is a bully, girl breaks up with said boyfriend and establishes a friendship with the badboy/freak/outcast of the school and then they get together. What I didn’t expect though were the illegal fighting, the gruesome scenes, gangs and guns and drug cartels and undercover policemen. I mean this as a good thing because it added some spice to the story! I really ended up enjoying the last 100 pages of the book which were evidently a lot darker than I anticipated, so I’m happy with how this book ended.
And yes, it was an extremely quick and fun read. I’m not going to add the word “light” read, because as the Content Warning on the first page of the book says, there’s 1) bullying, 2) fighting and 3) accidental death. I’d also like to add 4) dealing with cheating, 5) dealing with abandoned families, 6) gruesome scenes, 7) violence and 8) drug addiction and death due to drug addiction.
The author took some pretty standard YA tropes/clichés and added interesting twists to them. When I picked this book up, I expected to just simply enjoy a cute romance between the popular girl of the school and the badboy outcast. To be honest, the first 200 pages were exactly that: girl feels bad because her boyfriend is a bully, girl breaks up with said boyfriend and establishes a friendship with the badboy/freak/outcast of the school and then they get together. What I didn’t expect though were the illegal fighting, the gruesome scenes, gangs and guns and drug cartels and undercover policemen. I mean this as a good thing because it added some spice to the story! I really ended up enjoying the last 100 pages of the book which were evidently a lot darker than I anticipated, so I’m happy with how this book ended.
And yes, it was an extremely quick and fun read. I’m not going to add the word “light” read, because as the Content Warning on the first page of the book says, there’s 1) bullying, 2) fighting and 3) accidental death. I’d also like to add 4) dealing with cheating, 5) dealing with abandoned families, 6) gruesome scenes, 7) violence and 8) drug addiction and death due to drug addiction.
October 26, 2020
Fight For Her is a high school romance about the popular good girl falling for the outcast bad boy. Scarlet comes from wealthy family, dates the school's star quarterback, and seemingly has it all. Elijah has no friends and is bullied by Scarlet's boyfriend Jack. I disliked that Scarlet stood by while Jack bullied others and didn't say anything in opposition. She was a pretty passive person and I wanted her to be less worried about popularity and stand up for herself and her morals. Scarlet did have more confidence as she got closer to Elijah, I think his not caring about other people's opinions helped her realize that she could do the same.
The mystery surrounding Scarlet's brother Max and the fighting ring was an interesting plot point, but it was a bit too dramatic for me. I think the ending could have toned down a bit as it felt unrealistic for the story.
I liked Elijah the most, he was sweet and really cared for Scarlet more than himself. The pacing wasn't bad and this was a quick read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
The mystery surrounding Scarlet's brother Max and the fighting ring was an interesting plot point, but it was a bit too dramatic for me. I think the ending could have toned down a bit as it felt unrealistic for the story.
I liked Elijah the most, he was sweet and really cared for Scarlet more than himself. The pacing wasn't bad and this was a quick read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
March 13, 2021
| RF Blog |
I don't know about you, but I kind of feel like this story is full of crumbling writing and characters. It's immediately clear from the first few pages of this novel that Liz Plum is an amateur writer. As a result, there are a lot of glaring problems with this book on a story level, on a character level, and on a general writing level. And this issue would be a problem on its own existing in unrealistic dialogue, poorly developed characters, and a lot of telling instead of showing. But, unfortunately, it's not the worst thing about Plum's Fight For Her. Really, it's just the beginning.
Full disclosure, I DNFed this book at about 47%. Usually, I try to force myself through at least half of the book before giving up on it (unless it's very clear that the book is problematic) just to give it the benefit of the doubt. It was hard to do that with this one. And I guess a part of me was just hoping for the moment that the main character redeemed herself.
Spoiler alert: she doesn't.
So, Fight For Her basically details the story of a girl who hasn't gotten over her older brother's death. As far as I can tell, this is the only depth to her as a character whatsoever. Otherwise, she's going to a fancy private school and dating the rich jock bully. Then, she has a weird interest in the school's reject student because he also has a brother who died. And that's it. That's all that matters about her character.
There's this thoroughly weird side plot regarding a dangerous boxing ring and her brother's involvement. But, honestly, I couldn't have cared less at this point. Even if that plot had been interesting to me--it wasn't--it wouldn't have saved the absolutely poor writing and disgraceful characters.
Speaking of characters, I'm honestly just kind of baffled at the portrayal of rich kids in this novel. Has Plum even ever met a rich kid? It genuinely feels as though she's spouting off underdeveloped ideas she's generated about how children of well-off parents act that resultingly allows her to play them all off like the bad guys. And damn, it was a problem.
Like, I get it. Children from wealthy families can be snobbish, elitist, and thoroughly ignorant to their privilege. But just because they can be these things doesn't mean they're all like that. It doesn't mean they subscribe to the dumb jock who's also a bully stereotype or that they all have their parents pay the school to get them through with decent grades. It doesn't mean a rich boy who has regular access to daddy's money would have "the NFL [be] the only path in his life."
Realistically, it's the opposite.
These characters are very intentionally portrayed this way in order to make them the antagonists. They're also so flat, unrealistic, and boring that I wanted to scream. I get it. We're supposed to hate these characters. We are supposed to see that they're privileged. We're supposed to see that this privilege has made most of them assholes. We, as readers, are supposed to recognize that they're just so dumb.
But, not only does Plum spell this out for us every chance she gets, it's completely unrealistic and idiotic. The stock market conversation she threw in to make her main character seem smarter and better than her boyfriend and his friends was the most moronic instance of this. Rich kids would be all over this conversation. They would know all about the stock market and talking about it would be a regular occurrence.
But hers were somehow too stupid to care?
Of course, this wasn't the worst part of Plum's novel. It's really just the beginning. You see, the rich jock who's also dumb and an asshole stereotype is used very intentionally to represent Scarlet's boyfriend. He may be the school's biggest bully, but he's different with her. Jack has no personality past being the worst stereotypical jock boyfriend who you know is going to get broken up with at some point. He might even get cheated on, but it's justified because he's an asshole.
He spends every moment making us vomit by referring to his girlfriend as "beautiful" instead of ever using her name, taking advantage of her kindness, and having all the girls in school fawn over him and his supposed "southern charm" or bullying the other love interest in both malevolent and the most asinine ways imaginable. Plum makes it very clear she doesn't have a clue how bullies bully. Or, at the very minimum, doesn't know how to write realistic dialogue.
Maybe she was really trying to drive home the dumb jock persona with zingers like, "Hey, look, guys, it's Eli the freak! He left his drugs long enough to actually come to school." But frankly, it's likely a mix of subpar writing and poor character development. I don't genuinely think it came from an intent to make Jack look even dumber.
Either way, in all of that 47% I read, never once did our supposed heroine Scarlet ever tell him to stop. Never once did she stand up to him and call him out for his shitty behavior. She just meekly allows him to be an ass. But, we'll come back to this later.
I don't know what I hated more. Was it how horrible Jack was as a character or how poorly he was written? Well, all of that kind of pales in comparison to how much I hated Scarlet. Now, Jack is a character...I'll give you that. A poorly written and developed one, but a character nonetheless. And Scarlet is, for some utterly unfathomable reason, in love with him.
We get sort of a cop-out reasoning for why she puts up with his nonsense. There’s a brief throwaway comment about how he helped her through her darkness while she was grieving the loss of her brother. But, honestly, this is an incredibly dumb reason to be with someone if you disagree with literally everything they do.
Case in point, she hates his bullying. Well, supposedly.
We get internal monologue after internal monologue that goes on and on about how much she hates Jack’s bullying or how he is with his friends. There are all these internalized thoughts about how he takes advantage of her kindness. But then she'll bend over backward for him even though it annoys her. She thinks about how wonderful he is with her when they're alone together, yet we never actually see anything from either character to supports this. To make it worse, she complains about him to others and even half-asses an apology for his behavior toward Elijah.
She has the gall to complain about him taking up an opportunity to help his future on the day of their anniversary literally just a few hours after she forgot entirely that it was their anniversary in the first place. There are several moments of internal thoughts that reference her doubting his love for her or Jack doubting her love for him. It was exhausting.
Then there's the possessive jealousy.
So, a generous portion of the novel is spent going through Scarlet feeling drawn toward Elijah, the school's supposed 'bad boy' whom regularly is bullied by the rich dumb jocks of their school. For some reason the fact that Elijah's older brother died of an overdose, he becomes everyone's favorite insulting-bag? Yeah, cause the bullying mainly involves cheap shots about his brother and calling him a freak.
As Scarlet begins talking to and spending time with Elijah, Jack unsurprisingly loses his invariably short temper every single time he finds out about it. When Scarlet just bumps into Elijah in the hall, Jack goes off about how he's "going to shove [his] fist up--" before she interrupts and tells him not to worry because Elijah didn't actually talk to her.
And it gets worse from there.
Jack goes on to tell her that he doesn't "want a freak talking to [her]" because "he has no business" and she's "[his] girl." His possessive behavior kind of drips all over their relationship, even outside of his anger about Elijah. Phrases like, "you look beautiful representing me" just fall from his lips regularly. And for some reason, Scarlet sees this as sweet. I'm not entirely sure whether Plum intended us to appreciate portions of this or not, but I genuinely just found it disgusting.
Ironically, Plum brings Scarlet to a point of recognizing that her words about Jack are making it seem like he's abusive. Of course, Scarlet then backpedals hard to talk about how great he is--which is hilarious, cause she just ends up making him look worse. And, the next thing you know he's kissing her in the cafeteria even though he hates PDA because, "[he] want[s] everyone here to know [she’s] mine, because it seems some people have forgotten. Especially that freak."
Did I mention that I hated Scarlet?
Well, it's not just that she's a flat excuse for a strong female character. It's not just that she briefly calls out sexist comments and then immediately references them as sweet afterward. It's not just that she couldn't have the simplest bit of common decency in her that she would call out her boyfriend for being an asshole. And it's not just that the only instance she ever disagrees with his bullying behavior is in her thoughts or her half-hearted apologies.
She's not like other girls.
And Plum spells this point out every chance she gets. It's in the dialogue. It's in her parents' reactions, in Jack's response to her, in Elijah's interactions. What's worse? It's in her thoughts.
This novel was poorly written. And a large chunk of it is just spent on Scarlet's inner monologue. Plum even uses it to have her pull away from conversations that are going on around her. This seems to happen because Plum struggles with writing dialogue. So, we get a lot of inner thought. And from regular references spelling out Scarlet's intelligence to not relating to her friends, we hear how she's not like other girls.
I don't know what frustrated me more: the fact that we had to have all of this spelled out for us or the fact that she just...wasn't like other girls.
I don't really have a lot of feelings about Elijah. He was okay? But nothing about him really stands out. You kind of like him solely because he's the only character in the entire story that isn't awful. And, quite frankly, that's not enough to make him a good character. He's just the best from the slush pile.
He's referenced as a bad boy, but only because of the "deadbeat older brother--who died...due to a heroin overdose." What's ironic is that he could have easily fit the bad boy persona, considering he's involved in an illegal--or, at least, pushing the boundary of legality--boxing ring that results in numerous injuries. And it's like...if you wanted to have that bad boy persona, why not push that a little more in the introduction?
Why are we focused on the dead brother who has no real influence over Elijah's reputation? Why is he getting bullied because of something his brother did? Plum obviously wanted him to be a "bad boy" and wanted him to be bullied. But it doesn't seem like she put any real thought into how to make this happen realistically or organically.
Which is so unfortunate, because she had the plot all set up to make this a reality. And she just wasted that opportunity.
I've mentioned numerous times that Scarlet is awful. Like, she's literally just an awful human being. I'm not even concerned about how poorly written she is at this point. How can I be? She's a terrible person.
Not only does she put up with Jack's asinine and horrific behavior, but she regularly makes excuses for him based on this love connection because he made her forget she was depressed about her brother dying. She references the Jack she sees when no one else is around, but even then that's not enough to make up for the fact that she defends him. He's not even that great when other people aren't around.
Jack is a horrible person who bullies a kid because his brother died of an overdose.
Elijah is a kid that she feels a connection to, someone she likes as a person. But, she lets Jack bully him. She never says anything, never stands up to Jack. She tries to apologize to Elijah, but her apology is so half-assed that I couldn't take it seriously. And Elijah just tells her she shouldn't have to be sorry.
And I'm like, yes she should.
Scarlet stayed with Jack. She never told him to stop. She defends him regularly. At no point does she ever call out his disgusting behavior. Granted, I didn't finish the novel, but you'd think if she actually cared about Elijah or her boyfriend being a decent human being, she would have said something. I'm sorry, but we're halfway through the novel and it's bullshit that she's still doing this.
Like, come on guys. Did we even read the same book? What the hell is there to like about this character?
I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
| Reader Fox
Full of crumbling houses, a crumbling economy, and crumbling socioeconomic status.
I don't know about you, but I kind of feel like this story is full of crumbling writing and characters. It's immediately clear from the first few pages of this novel that Liz Plum is an amateur writer. As a result, there are a lot of glaring problems with this book on a story level, on a character level, and on a general writing level. And this issue would be a problem on its own existing in unrealistic dialogue, poorly developed characters, and a lot of telling instead of showing. But, unfortunately, it's not the worst thing about Plum's Fight For Her. Really, it's just the beginning.
Looking in from the outside, it would appear that high school has really been the best four years of my life.
Full disclosure, I DNFed this book at about 47%. Usually, I try to force myself through at least half of the book before giving up on it (unless it's very clear that the book is problematic) just to give it the benefit of the doubt. It was hard to do that with this one. And I guess a part of me was just hoping for the moment that the main character redeemed herself.
Spoiler alert: she doesn't.
So, Fight For Her basically details the story of a girl who hasn't gotten over her older brother's death. As far as I can tell, this is the only depth to her as a character whatsoever. Otherwise, she's going to a fancy private school and dating the rich jock bully. Then, she has a weird interest in the school's reject student because he also has a brother who died. And that's it. That's all that matters about her character.
There's this thoroughly weird side plot regarding a dangerous boxing ring and her brother's involvement. But, honestly, I couldn't have cared less at this point. Even if that plot had been interesting to me--it wasn't--it wouldn't have saved the absolutely poor writing and disgraceful characters.
"He doesn't even have the money to 'donate' to the school and get out of homework."
Speaking of characters, I'm honestly just kind of baffled at the portrayal of rich kids in this novel. Has Plum even ever met a rich kid? It genuinely feels as though she's spouting off underdeveloped ideas she's generated about how children of well-off parents act that resultingly allows her to play them all off like the bad guys. And damn, it was a problem.
Like, I get it. Children from wealthy families can be snobbish, elitist, and thoroughly ignorant to their privilege. But just because they can be these things doesn't mean they're all like that. It doesn't mean they subscribe to the dumb jock who's also a bully stereotype or that they all have their parents pay the school to get them through with decent grades. It doesn't mean a rich boy who has regular access to daddy's money would have "the NFL [be] the only path in his life."
Realistically, it's the opposite.
These characters are very intentionally portrayed this way in order to make them the antagonists. They're also so flat, unrealistic, and boring that I wanted to scream. I get it. We're supposed to hate these characters. We are supposed to see that they're privileged. We're supposed to see that this privilege has made most of them assholes. We, as readers, are supposed to recognize that they're just so dumb.
But, not only does Plum spell this out for us every chance she gets, it's completely unrealistic and idiotic. The stock market conversation she threw in to make her main character seem smarter and better than her boyfriend and his friends was the most moronic instance of this. Rich kids would be all over this conversation. They would know all about the stock market and talking about it would be a regular occurrence.
But hers were somehow too stupid to care?
"Keep walking, freak," Jack spits. "You may as well disappear like your crackhead brother and sorry excuse for a father. You may as well not even exist at this school."
Of course, this wasn't the worst part of Plum's novel. It's really just the beginning. You see, the rich jock who's also dumb and an asshole stereotype is used very intentionally to represent Scarlet's boyfriend. He may be the school's biggest bully, but he's different with her. Jack has no personality past being the worst stereotypical jock boyfriend who you know is going to get broken up with at some point. He might even get cheated on, but it's justified because he's an asshole.
He spends every moment making us vomit by referring to his girlfriend as "beautiful" instead of ever using her name, taking advantage of her kindness, and having all the girls in school fawn over him and his supposed "southern charm" or bullying the other love interest in both malevolent and the most asinine ways imaginable. Plum makes it very clear she doesn't have a clue how bullies bully. Or, at the very minimum, doesn't know how to write realistic dialogue.
Maybe she was really trying to drive home the dumb jock persona with zingers like, "Hey, look, guys, it's Eli the freak! He left his drugs long enough to actually come to school." But frankly, it's likely a mix of subpar writing and poor character development. I don't genuinely think it came from an intent to make Jack look even dumber.
Either way, in all of that 47% I read, never once did our supposed heroine Scarlet ever tell him to stop. Never once did she stand up to him and call him out for his shitty behavior. She just meekly allows him to be an ass. But, we'll come back to this later.
I don't know what I hated more. Was it how horrible Jack was as a character or how poorly he was written? Well, all of that kind of pales in comparison to how much I hated Scarlet. Now, Jack is a character...I'll give you that. A poorly written and developed one, but a character nonetheless. And Scarlet is, for some utterly unfathomable reason, in love with him.
"Maybe you could experiment with some dye. I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off a blond version of you."
"Maybe you could experiment being accepting of your girlfriend."
"I am. She's the only one I want or need."
Such simple words, yet they're enough to have any girl falling in love at dangerous speeds. This is the Jack his friends don't see.
We get sort of a cop-out reasoning for why she puts up with his nonsense. There’s a brief throwaway comment about how he helped her through her darkness while she was grieving the loss of her brother. But, honestly, this is an incredibly dumb reason to be with someone if you disagree with literally everything they do.
Case in point, she hates his bullying. Well, supposedly.
We get internal monologue after internal monologue that goes on and on about how much she hates Jack’s bullying or how he is with his friends. There are all these internalized thoughts about how he takes advantage of her kindness. But then she'll bend over backward for him even though it annoys her. She thinks about how wonderful he is with her when they're alone together, yet we never actually see anything from either character to supports this. To make it worse, she complains about him to others and even half-asses an apology for his behavior toward Elijah.
She has the gall to complain about him taking up an opportunity to help his future on the day of their anniversary literally just a few hours after she forgot entirely that it was their anniversary in the first place. There are several moments of internal thoughts that reference her doubting his love for her or Jack doubting her love for him. It was exhausting.
Then there's the possessive jealousy.
"Why does it matter if Jack knows?"
"It doesn't matter, I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"You don't actually believe those rumors about Elijah, do you?"
"I didn't mean by Eli--though still be careful, he's a little creepy--I meant Jack. We all know he hates Eli, I can't imagine what he would say if he saw you with him."
So, a generous portion of the novel is spent going through Scarlet feeling drawn toward Elijah, the school's supposed 'bad boy' whom regularly is bullied by the rich dumb jocks of their school. For some reason the fact that Elijah's older brother died of an overdose, he becomes everyone's favorite insulting-bag? Yeah, cause the bullying mainly involves cheap shots about his brother and calling him a freak.
As Scarlet begins talking to and spending time with Elijah, Jack unsurprisingly loses his invariably short temper every single time he finds out about it. When Scarlet just bumps into Elijah in the hall, Jack goes off about how he's "going to shove [his] fist up--" before she interrupts and tells him not to worry because Elijah didn't actually talk to her.
And it gets worse from there.
Jack goes on to tell her that he doesn't "want a freak talking to [her]" because "he has no business" and she's "[his] girl." His possessive behavior kind of drips all over their relationship, even outside of his anger about Elijah. Phrases like, "you look beautiful representing me" just fall from his lips regularly. And for some reason, Scarlet sees this as sweet. I'm not entirely sure whether Plum intended us to appreciate portions of this or not, but I genuinely just found it disgusting.
Ironically, Plum brings Scarlet to a point of recognizing that her words about Jack are making it seem like he's abusive. Of course, Scarlet then backpedals hard to talk about how great he is--which is hilarious, cause she just ends up making him look worse. And, the next thing you know he's kissing her in the cafeteria even though he hates PDA because, "[he] want[s] everyone here to know [she’s] mine, because it seems some people have forgotten. Especially that freak."
"You may be different from other girls..."
Did I mention that I hated Scarlet?
Well, it's not just that she's a flat excuse for a strong female character. It's not just that she briefly calls out sexist comments and then immediately references them as sweet afterward. It's not just that she couldn't have the simplest bit of common decency in her that she would call out her boyfriend for being an asshole. And it's not just that the only instance she ever disagrees with his bullying behavior is in her thoughts or her half-hearted apologies.
She's not like other girls.
And Plum spells this point out every chance she gets. It's in the dialogue. It's in her parents' reactions, in Jack's response to her, in Elijah's interactions. What's worse? It's in her thoughts.
This novel was poorly written. And a large chunk of it is just spent on Scarlet's inner monologue. Plum even uses it to have her pull away from conversations that are going on around her. This seems to happen because Plum struggles with writing dialogue. So, we get a lot of inner thought. And from regular references spelling out Scarlet's intelligence to not relating to her friends, we hear how she's not like other girls.
I don't know what frustrated me more: the fact that we had to have all of this spelled out for us or the fact that she just...wasn't like other girls.
"Sometimes you have to do undesirable things to fix problems."
I don't really have a lot of feelings about Elijah. He was okay? But nothing about him really stands out. You kind of like him solely because he's the only character in the entire story that isn't awful. And, quite frankly, that's not enough to make him a good character. He's just the best from the slush pile.
He's referenced as a bad boy, but only because of the "deadbeat older brother--who died...due to a heroin overdose." What's ironic is that he could have easily fit the bad boy persona, considering he's involved in an illegal--or, at least, pushing the boundary of legality--boxing ring that results in numerous injuries. And it's like...if you wanted to have that bad boy persona, why not push that a little more in the introduction?
Why are we focused on the dead brother who has no real influence over Elijah's reputation? Why is he getting bullied because of something his brother did? Plum obviously wanted him to be a "bad boy" and wanted him to be bullied. But it doesn't seem like she put any real thought into how to make this happen realistically or organically.
Which is so unfortunate, because she had the plot all set up to make this a reality. And she just wasted that opportunity.
I wanted to go to Elijah and comfort him after hearing what happened, because I knew how hard it was to lose a brother. I knew what he was going through. But I've always thought Elijah was an uninviting personality.
I've mentioned numerous times that Scarlet is awful. Like, she's literally just an awful human being. I'm not even concerned about how poorly written she is at this point. How can I be? She's a terrible person.
Not only does she put up with Jack's asinine and horrific behavior, but she regularly makes excuses for him based on this love connection because he made her forget she was depressed about her brother dying. She references the Jack she sees when no one else is around, but even then that's not enough to make up for the fact that she defends him. He's not even that great when other people aren't around.
Jack is a horrible person who bullies a kid because his brother died of an overdose.
Elijah is a kid that she feels a connection to, someone she likes as a person. But, she lets Jack bully him. She never says anything, never stands up to Jack. She tries to apologize to Elijah, but her apology is so half-assed that I couldn't take it seriously. And Elijah just tells her she shouldn't have to be sorry.
And I'm like, yes she should.
Scarlet stayed with Jack. She never told him to stop. She defends him regularly. At no point does she ever call out his disgusting behavior. Granted, I didn't finish the novel, but you'd think if she actually cared about Elijah or her boyfriend being a decent human being, she would have said something. I'm sorry, but we're halfway through the novel and it's bullshit that she's still doing this.
Like, come on guys. Did we even read the same book? What the hell is there to like about this character?
I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
| Reader Fox
July 28, 2022
Did I feel profound emotion mixed with heartbreaking certainty that this book would forever be carved on the grave of the feelings that I do not have?
No, not really.
But was it fun? Pfft, YES.
No, not really.
But was it fun? Pfft, YES.
October 14, 2020
Okay, so I am finding this book hard to review because, like many of you know, I always want to support my fellow Wattpad authors but this book had too many levels of thirteen year old me cringe for me to properly enjoy this story.
- This is your typical good girl/bad boy story and I knew that going in. I kind of expected some angst, the typical love to hate you get from these books because don't get me wrong, when it's done right, I am LIVING for it. But this book felt like something I would have picked up ten years ago and loved.
- I really didn't like how one-dimensional Scarlet was. She didn't stick up for anyone, let her boyfriend go around bullying people and was overall a weak character. I didn't understand the dynamic between her and Elijah either because it felt so forced and the build-up was missing for me.
- I also don't appreciate when books tell you what is happening instead of showing it to the reader. The writing felt very blocky and boring and some parts were easily skippable.
Overall, this book didn't do it for me. I feel like me, ten, even five years ago would have devoured this book but this isn't something I'd pick up to read now. I think the story was fine, the writing was okay and I overall left this book feeling like it isn't something I would remember.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
- This is your typical good girl/bad boy story and I knew that going in. I kind of expected some angst, the typical love to hate you get from these books because don't get me wrong, when it's done right, I am LIVING for it. But this book felt like something I would have picked up ten years ago and loved.
- I really didn't like how one-dimensional Scarlet was. She didn't stick up for anyone, let her boyfriend go around bullying people and was overall a weak character. I didn't understand the dynamic between her and Elijah either because it felt so forced and the build-up was missing for me.
- I also don't appreciate when books tell you what is happening instead of showing it to the reader. The writing felt very blocky and boring and some parts were easily skippable.
Overall, this book didn't do it for me. I feel like me, ten, even five years ago would have devoured this book but this isn't something I'd pick up to read now. I think the story was fine, the writing was okay and I overall left this book feeling like it isn't something I would remember.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 19, 2021
1.75 stars.
* i got this eARC from Netgalley in exhange for a honest review *
1.75 stars.
I really wanted to like it, i really did. but sadly it did not live up to my expetations - espesially since Scarlet was together and supporting Jack for so long and he was such an asshole, and yes she changed and they broke up. But blah, at the end Jack got his "redemption" and was forgiven so easily, maybe too easily for my taste for being such an asshole throughout the book.
* i got this eARC from Netgalley in exhange for a honest review *
1.75 stars.
I really wanted to like it, i really did. but sadly it did not live up to my expetations - espesially since Scarlet was together and supporting Jack for so long and he was such an asshole, and yes she changed and they broke up. But blah, at the end Jack got his "redemption" and was forgiven so easily, maybe too easily for my taste for being such an asshole throughout the book.
March 8, 2021
Fight for Her is a YA romance novel surrounding a girl by the name of Scarlet, as she falls for the school's badboy/outcast, Elijah. It follows these two love interests in high school. Scarlet seems to have it all, on the outside (hanging with the popular crowd, her boyfriend, Jackson, who is the star quarterback of their school's football team, etc.), but her morals, and personality clearly differs from all of them. The only thing it seems they have in common is their wealth.
I gave this book 3.5/5 stars because there were times where I felt the cliché's were too overwhelming. Normally, I really like cliché's. But this book took a very stereotypical approach with them. I also wish all the 'telling' would have been toned down a bit more. I'd have rather seen a lot of the stuff that was explained in action. So, I'll admit, I did lose interest at some points, and thought about putting the book down.
However, I was glad I didn't put the book down! I personally really admired the pacing in this book; especially in the beginning. I was hooked immediately. I also loved that we were able to get the perspective of a 'popular' character. While she didn't fit the stereotypical popular girl cliché, it was still really nice to see. Elijah was also a really nice change of the 'badboy' trope. I personally found him to be the most likeable character in this book. Their love story was very cute.
Overall, I thought this book was a fun, entertaining read, minus the little flaws. The dynamic between Scarlet and Elijah was very enjoyable as well. (I received a DRC version of this book from Wattpad in exchange for my honest review).
I gave this book 3.5/5 stars because there were times where I felt the cliché's were too overwhelming. Normally, I really like cliché's. But this book took a very stereotypical approach with them. I also wish all the 'telling' would have been toned down a bit more. I'd have rather seen a lot of the stuff that was explained in action. So, I'll admit, I did lose interest at some points, and thought about putting the book down.
However, I was glad I didn't put the book down! I personally really admired the pacing in this book; especially in the beginning. I was hooked immediately. I also loved that we were able to get the perspective of a 'popular' character. While she didn't fit the stereotypical popular girl cliché, it was still really nice to see. Elijah was also a really nice change of the 'badboy' trope. I personally found him to be the most likeable character in this book. Their love story was very cute.
Overall, I thought this book was a fun, entertaining read, minus the little flaws. The dynamic between Scarlet and Elijah was very enjoyable as well. (I received a DRC version of this book from Wattpad in exchange for my honest review).
November 13, 2020
Si bien se parece la clásica novela cliché de Wattpad, va más allá de eso.
Se crea una conexión entre los personajes en el primer momento que me pareció un poco apresurada ya que es un poco obvio (chica buena con chico malo). Sin embargo, la autora apuesta más allá de ese cliché y fue lo que hizo que sea una novela excelente.
Trata temas como la perdida de un ser querido, los prejuicios de los demás y el acompañar al otro en los momentos difíciles.
Recomiendo muchísimo esta historia conmovedora y tierna que hará que cualquier lector sienta una conexión con los personajes en el primer instante y empetice con ellos y su dolor.
Se crea una conexión entre los personajes en el primer momento que me pareció un poco apresurada ya que es un poco obvio (chica buena con chico malo). Sin embargo, la autora apuesta más allá de ese cliché y fue lo que hizo que sea una novela excelente.
Trata temas como la perdida de un ser querido, los prejuicios de los demás y el acompañar al otro en los momentos difíciles.
Recomiendo muchísimo esta historia conmovedora y tierna que hará que cualquier lector sienta una conexión con los personajes en el primer instante y empetice con ellos y su dolor.
August 7, 2023
well this took a turn
October 24, 2020
I loved this book when i first read it on wattpad. And i loved it even more now. I realy liked how easy going this story is and how the MC's both grow so much in the story. Its a wonderful story to read on a cold day under a warm blanket
October 25, 2020
DNF at 13%
I knew from the very first sentence or two that I wasn’t going to like this book but I tried, I gave it the prologue and 4 chapters to win me over but I just couldn’t force myself to carry on.
At the start of Fighting For Her we see Scarlet finding out about her brothers death, from there we jump straight in to her popular high school life (dating the rich, NFL bound quarterback, surrounded by the popular crowd), the stereotypical American high school dream. We’re even treated to lots of little snippets like this from her and the boyfriend Jack -
“Maybe you could experiment with some dye. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of a blond version of you.” “Maybe you could experiment with being accepting of your girlfriend.” “I am. She’s the only one I want or need.” Such simple words, yet they’re enough to have any girl falling in love at dangerous speeds. This is the Jack his friends don’t see. A sweet, gentle man who holds his true personality only for those he trusts most.
For those that haven’t guessed, not only is Jack a terrible boyfriend, he’s also a bully.. particularly to Elijah - Royal Eastwood’s resident ‘bad boy’ (apparently his brother dying from a drug overdose gives him that title). Every time their paths cross, Jack makes nasty comments about Elijah, which of course Scarlet doesn’t approve of but doesn’t question (only in her inner monologue)...
“If someone can harbor that much hate for someone they don’t really know, how can they have love in their hearts?”
Just as I decided I couldn’t continue with this book, Elijah and Scarlet had their meet cute and had interacted a little afterwards so I can’t comment on what happens from there but from what I did read there wasn’t that initial spark that would have kept my interest.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t mean to make you pick them up,” I say. “I was startled by our collision.”
I normally don’t mind the “popular girl falls for the bad boy” trope, in fact I quite enjoy it, however what I read of this book was terrible, there is really no kinder way to say it. There was absolutely no flow to the writing, it felt disjointed, clunky and was just hard to read. The characters lacked any sort of personality and had zero likeability, not to mention it was so cheesy in places. Despite all of that, I may have persevered with the book if the writing had been better.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
I knew from the very first sentence or two that I wasn’t going to like this book but I tried, I gave it the prologue and 4 chapters to win me over but I just couldn’t force myself to carry on.
At the start of Fighting For Her we see Scarlet finding out about her brothers death, from there we jump straight in to her popular high school life (dating the rich, NFL bound quarterback, surrounded by the popular crowd), the stereotypical American high school dream. We’re even treated to lots of little snippets like this from her and the boyfriend Jack -
“Maybe you could experiment with some dye. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of a blond version of you.” “Maybe you could experiment with being accepting of your girlfriend.” “I am. She’s the only one I want or need.” Such simple words, yet they’re enough to have any girl falling in love at dangerous speeds. This is the Jack his friends don’t see. A sweet, gentle man who holds his true personality only for those he trusts most.
For those that haven’t guessed, not only is Jack a terrible boyfriend, he’s also a bully.. particularly to Elijah - Royal Eastwood’s resident ‘bad boy’ (apparently his brother dying from a drug overdose gives him that title). Every time their paths cross, Jack makes nasty comments about Elijah, which of course Scarlet doesn’t approve of but doesn’t question (only in her inner monologue)...
“If someone can harbor that much hate for someone they don’t really know, how can they have love in their hearts?”
Just as I decided I couldn’t continue with this book, Elijah and Scarlet had their meet cute and had interacted a little afterwards so I can’t comment on what happens from there but from what I did read there wasn’t that initial spark that would have kept my interest.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t mean to make you pick them up,” I say. “I was startled by our collision.”
I normally don’t mind the “popular girl falls for the bad boy” trope, in fact I quite enjoy it, however what I read of this book was terrible, there is really no kinder way to say it. There was absolutely no flow to the writing, it felt disjointed, clunky and was just hard to read. The characters lacked any sort of personality and had zero likeability, not to mention it was so cheesy in places. Despite all of that, I may have persevered with the book if the writing had been better.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
January 11, 2021
Check out my review on my blog: http://thereadingdevil.blogspot.com/2...
Or read below!
Starting off my new year with this book turned out to be a great idea! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this fun, quick read.
I found the main character, Scarlet, to be enjoyable and relatable. She wasn't the type to sit back and wait for a guy to rescue her, but rather takes matters into her own hands in all aspects of her life. I found her rambling cute, and her manner of speaking true to her age. I also really loved that she worked and saved her money to buy her own things rather than wait for handouts from her parents. And the same goes for school - she worked hard to achieve high grades, didn't buy her way to the top. It made her character that much more enjoyable to read. Her character grew throughout the book and her experiences only made her stronger.
Scarlet's boyfriend Jack on the other hand, was frustrating as heck. I mean, what a jerk!! Acts one way in front of his friends and another way when he's alone with Scarlet. I did not like him - but then again, I wasn't really supposed to like him so that is a testament to the great writing style of this young author!
As for Elijah Black... yum. My family always looks at me like I'm crazy when I say a character from a book is hot but... all you bookish people out there know exactly what I mean. Elijah was strong yet vulnerable, protective yet not overbearing. He was the perfect combination of all the best traits in a guy! I loved how he was with Scarlet and rooted for them the whole time!
As for the story itself, I thought it had a great plot! A little bit cheesy closer to the end, but great nonetheless. There were new twists and turns that kept popping up right to the very end. What I expected to be a basic cliche love story turned into so much more!
I will definitely be keeping my eye out for what Liz Plum comes out with next.
Or read below!
Starting off my new year with this book turned out to be a great idea! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this fun, quick read.
I found the main character, Scarlet, to be enjoyable and relatable. She wasn't the type to sit back and wait for a guy to rescue her, but rather takes matters into her own hands in all aspects of her life. I found her rambling cute, and her manner of speaking true to her age. I also really loved that she worked and saved her money to buy her own things rather than wait for handouts from her parents. And the same goes for school - she worked hard to achieve high grades, didn't buy her way to the top. It made her character that much more enjoyable to read. Her character grew throughout the book and her experiences only made her stronger.
Scarlet's boyfriend Jack on the other hand, was frustrating as heck. I mean, what a jerk!! Acts one way in front of his friends and another way when he's alone with Scarlet. I did not like him - but then again, I wasn't really supposed to like him so that is a testament to the great writing style of this young author!
As for Elijah Black... yum. My family always looks at me like I'm crazy when I say a character from a book is hot but... all you bookish people out there know exactly what I mean. Elijah was strong yet vulnerable, protective yet not overbearing. He was the perfect combination of all the best traits in a guy! I loved how he was with Scarlet and rooted for them the whole time!
As for the story itself, I thought it had a great plot! A little bit cheesy closer to the end, but great nonetheless. There were new twists and turns that kept popping up right to the very end. What I expected to be a basic cliche love story turned into so much more!
I will definitely be keeping my eye out for what Liz Plum comes out with next.
January 21, 2023
Quick, easy, fun
August 13, 2020
Thank you so much to Wattpad for providing me an E Arc of this book. I absolutely adore the honour of reading and reviewing published Wattpad books.
This one was such a winner for me. I read Liz’s book, Silently Falling, on Wattpad three years ago and still think about it to this day. She’s a wonderful author.
What I loved so much about this book was how authentic the teenagers felt. Especially Scarlet. She’s so refreshingly honest with everyone. Even in situations where most MCs would omit or lie. I found myself being surprised when she told the truth in certain situations. Of course, she has her flaws. Particularly in the beginning and that made me love her even more. High school social pressures are HARD and it’s easy as readers to say “well this is what I would do,” when in reality, there’s a good chance we’d react the same way as the MC.
It takes her a while to speak up for Eli but it’s understood, because her boyfriend makes it hard for her to feel like she can and that’s a very real situation for a lot of young girls in real life. So I totally appreciated that about the book.
The romance was looooovely too. Perfectly paced and no shady backstabbing going on. It was just right and I totally connected to their chemistry. Overall, I def recommend. It’s such a great read !
This one was such a winner for me. I read Liz’s book, Silently Falling, on Wattpad three years ago and still think about it to this day. She’s a wonderful author.
What I loved so much about this book was how authentic the teenagers felt. Especially Scarlet. She’s so refreshingly honest with everyone. Even in situations where most MCs would omit or lie. I found myself being surprised when she told the truth in certain situations. Of course, she has her flaws. Particularly in the beginning and that made me love her even more. High school social pressures are HARD and it’s easy as readers to say “well this is what I would do,” when in reality, there’s a good chance we’d react the same way as the MC.
It takes her a while to speak up for Eli but it’s understood, because her boyfriend makes it hard for her to feel like she can and that’s a very real situation for a lot of young girls in real life. So I totally appreciated that about the book.
The romance was looooovely too. Perfectly paced and no shady backstabbing going on. It was just right and I totally connected to their chemistry. Overall, I def recommend. It’s such a great read !
February 22, 2020
Fight for her by Liz Plum is by far the best book I have read EVER! I first read her book on the app "WATTPAD" and I am grateful I found this book. I love the way she portrays her character is this amazing book, I have read this book over three times and although I always know what's going to happen next it seems as though the book keeps getting better and better. I may just be thirteen but I sure know how to spot a good book and Fight for her definitely is an amazing book.
I just want to commend the author (Liz Plum) for an amazing work and I wish her more success in the nearest future. Keep doing what you are doing, all the best :)
I just want to commend the author (Liz Plum) for an amazing work and I wish her more success in the nearest future. Keep doing what you are doing, all the best :)
April 11, 2021
This was completely fine! A very typical "girl's dating the popular boy and more mysterious boy comes on scene" kind of story, with some added complications of loss and fighting to protect what you love.
I really did enjoy my time reading it, and it was a very easy read, but it did get a few eye rolls from me when it was stated that the main character "isn't like other girls" and at one point she let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding... so overall a fun, enjoyable time, but not the next biggest masterpiece in young adult romance.
I really did enjoy my time reading it, and it was a very easy read, but it did get a few eye rolls from me when it was stated that the main character "isn't like other girls" and at one point she let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding... so overall a fun, enjoyable time, but not the next biggest masterpiece in young adult romance.
October 16, 2020
“ There’s nothing selfish about wanting to be someone’s first choice.”
Scarlett lives a very privileged life, although she works hard and doesn’t believe in handouts, her boyfriend Jack is the opposite, good looking, star quarterback destined for the NFL , they are the high school IT couple.
That’s is until Scarlett notices Elijah.... this book had it all, high school angst, first love, family secrets and plenty of mystery
This was my first book by this author and it won’t be my last .
Scarlett lives a very privileged life, although she works hard and doesn’t believe in handouts, her boyfriend Jack is the opposite, good looking, star quarterback destined for the NFL , they are the high school IT couple.
That’s is until Scarlett notices Elijah.... this book had it all, high school angst, first love, family secrets and plenty of mystery
This was my first book by this author and it won’t be my last .
November 9, 2021
*Inhales* AHHHH This. book. is. so. good. NEW FAVORITE BOOK.
A YA romance with a mix of mystery.
I think I am going to be obsessed with this book for a LONG time. SO GOOD.
READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A YA romance with a mix of mystery.
I think I am going to be obsessed with this book for a LONG time. SO GOOD.
READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 8, 2021
*2.5 stars
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝."
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!
Fight For Her is a YA contemporary romance that follows the story of Scarlet Tucker, a auto-shop heiress as she navigates her relationship with bad boy Elijah Black and tries to discover the secrets behind her brother's death.
This book was entertaining, I'll give it that. It made laugh unironically on several occasions because of how cliche and cheesy it was. Name a predictable trope and it was in this book. If you like basic bad boy wattpad books, you probably would enjoy this, but it was a little too basic for me.
First off, Scarlet was such a pushover. She would watch her boyfriend (who I absolutely hated) bully Elijah and literally brush it off by saying he's his true self with her. She was the kinda person who would watch you get bullied and know it was wrong, yet be a total bystander and not say a thing. It wasn't until near the end that she finally grew some backbone and spoke up. Her boyfriend Jack also was one of the worst characters I have read about. He was literally the definition of the jock stereotype and honestly just a horrible person.
The plot of this book also wasn't very well paced. Nothing even kicks off until like the last 100 pages. Scarlet spends the first two-thirds of the book contemplating her relationship with Jack more than anything else.
Overall, this was objectively not a great book. Was it pretty entertaining? Yes. Would I read it again? No.
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝."
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!
Fight For Her is a YA contemporary romance that follows the story of Scarlet Tucker, a auto-shop heiress as she navigates her relationship with bad boy Elijah Black and tries to discover the secrets behind her brother's death.
This book was entertaining, I'll give it that. It made laugh unironically on several occasions because of how cliche and cheesy it was. Name a predictable trope and it was in this book. If you like basic bad boy wattpad books, you probably would enjoy this, but it was a little too basic for me.
First off, Scarlet was such a pushover. She would watch her boyfriend (who I absolutely hated) bully Elijah and literally brush it off by saying he's his true self with her. She was the kinda person who would watch you get bullied and know it was wrong, yet be a total bystander and not say a thing. It wasn't until near the end that she finally grew some backbone and spoke up. Her boyfriend Jack also was one of the worst characters I have read about. He was literally the definition of the jock stereotype and honestly just a horrible person.
The plot of this book also wasn't very well paced. Nothing even kicks off until like the last 100 pages. Scarlet spends the first two-thirds of the book contemplating her relationship with Jack more than anything else.
Overall, this was objectively not a great book. Was it pretty entertaining? Yes. Would I read it again? No.
August 9, 2022
"I don’t know if closure has ever been a true thing. I don’t know if it’s something everyone has the opportunity to reach, but in this moment I finally feel like I’ve achieved it."
My grandma was comatose for a whole month, she was in the emergency ward, barely able to recognise people. Her condition was that bad. At first, I thought she'd be back. She'd be alright because she's a strong woman, the strongest one I've ever seen in my life but when they discharged her and she came home, we lost her the next day. And I didn't get any closure. Far from it. A woman I love to death went away without any parting words, without saying any coherent word, that broke me really bad. It's been a year since she's gone and I'm still struggling to accept the fact that she's not here anymore. That she won't see me graduate or be there when I get married or I can't see her smile anymore.
Grief never leaves you. It becomes a part of you that you've to carry all your life. Yes, with time, you get used to carrying it but you won't ever get used to the reality that your loved one is no more. I pray to Allah that she's happy wherever she is, I pray that she's not in pain anymore. Aameen ya Rabb-al-Aalameen
November 10, 2020
Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Plot: ✰✰✰✰ Characters: ✰✰✰.5 Plot twists: ✰✰✰ Overall: ✰✰✰✰
TW: violence
Scarlet lost her older brother in an accident when she was 14 years old. Now, she's 18 and though her life seems perfect (she's popular, has good grades, and dates the most popular quarterback in her school), her reality is far from it.
Elijah is the local bad boy everyone stays away from, given his reputation and how mysterious he is. But, when he and Scarlet crash in the hallway, there's something more.
Suddenly, they realize they have more in common than they think, and realize that they both can grieve the loss of their brothers together, which only makes them get closer.
Honestly, this book was more than I expected. Though at first it seemed to be a basic cliche love story, it took some twists and turns that at first I could not have guessed. Though predictable and cliche at times, this book had me hooked, and I binged the whole thing in less than a day. It was very sweet and a good comfort read, with just the right amount of mystery and action. It gets a solid 4 out of 5.
Plot: ✰✰✰✰ Characters: ✰✰✰.5 Plot twists: ✰✰✰ Overall: ✰✰✰✰
TW: violence
Scarlet lost her older brother in an accident when she was 14 years old. Now, she's 18 and though her life seems perfect (she's popular, has good grades, and dates the most popular quarterback in her school), her reality is far from it.
Elijah is the local bad boy everyone stays away from, given his reputation and how mysterious he is. But, when he and Scarlet crash in the hallway, there's something more.
Suddenly, they realize they have more in common than they think, and realize that they both can grieve the loss of their brothers together, which only makes them get closer.
Honestly, this book was more than I expected. Though at first it seemed to be a basic cliche love story, it took some twists and turns that at first I could not have guessed. Though predictable and cliche at times, this book had me hooked, and I binged the whole thing in less than a day. It was very sweet and a good comfort read, with just the right amount of mystery and action. It gets a solid 4 out of 5.
March 15, 2021
3.5-4/5 stars. Scarlet Tucker is the good girl who works hard for what she wants in life and doesn’t take handouts to get to where she needs to be academically and otherwise. After the loss of her brother, she fell in love with star quarterback, Jack, who is everything she isn’t (in a not-so-good way). One day in the hallway at school, she crosses paths with the school bad boy Elijah Black and throughout this story, the pair grow closer together and realize they have a lot more in common than they think, and feelings begin to develop between the two.
I enjoyed Elijah’s character the most in this story! His personality and care for Scarlet was genuine and he is the sweetest “bad boy” you can ever read! I like that he didn’t fit into the typical bad boy trope in some aspects, but also liked that he was a bad boy in a different sense where he’s not a total jerk that makes you wonder why the main character wants to be with them.
There was a lot of telling rather than showing in this story, so it was hard for me to develop or relate to their characters because some of their personalities were cliche or not very common in the world outside of storytelling. I do realize this is a book and while I loved how it was written, I try and relate to a book when I read it and I struggled with relating to most of it. The grief of losing someone was the only part I can somewhat relate to, but like I mentioned, showing not telling is usually the way to go for that.
But overall, a very good job to the author Liz for making me fall in love with Elijah! It was definitely a quick and cute book to read and is a good YA story for a young author as a debut novel. I hope you continue to work hard for your other stories, thank you for allowing me to just love Elijah to bits!! The romance was my favorite overall.
Thank you Wattpad Books and Liz Plum for approving me for an DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed Elijah’s character the most in this story! His personality and care for Scarlet was genuine and he is the sweetest “bad boy” you can ever read! I like that he didn’t fit into the typical bad boy trope in some aspects, but also liked that he was a bad boy in a different sense where he’s not a total jerk that makes you wonder why the main character wants to be with them.
There was a lot of telling rather than showing in this story, so it was hard for me to develop or relate to their characters because some of their personalities were cliche or not very common in the world outside of storytelling. I do realize this is a book and while I loved how it was written, I try and relate to a book when I read it and I struggled with relating to most of it. The grief of losing someone was the only part I can somewhat relate to, but like I mentioned, showing not telling is usually the way to go for that.
But overall, a very good job to the author Liz for making me fall in love with Elijah! It was definitely a quick and cute book to read and is a good YA story for a young author as a debut novel. I hope you continue to work hard for your other stories, thank you for allowing me to just love Elijah to bits!! The romance was my favorite overall.
Thank you Wattpad Books and Liz Plum for approving me for an DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 18, 2021
1 star
I used to be an extremely active reader on Wattpad a few years ago. While I did not read Fight For Her during my time there, I did read a few books with the same tropes: bad boy and fighting. And I want to support published Wattpad authors, so when I saw this title on NetGalley, I requested it.
To be honest, I was not a fan of Fight For Her by Liz Plum. I liked that the author took some typical Teen/YA clichés and added a twist to it. That is, instead of the bad and mysterious boy being popular at the school, he is constantly bullied and called a "freak." Instead of the female main character being a "nerd" or a new student, she is the popular girl. With these twists, Liz's debut novel definitely had the potential.
However, I personally could not connect to any of the characters. I disliked Scarlet for being a bystander when her boyfriend bullied Elijah. I disliked Jack for being unnecessarily mean and arrogant. I didn't dislike Elijah per se, but I also didn't like him.
I disliked the relationship between Scarlet and Jack for being toxic and frankly unbelievable. Even though Scarlet said that Jack was a good boyfriend and Jack said that he loves her, I was dubious. Aside from the frequent use of the word "babe," nothing else in their relationship screamed "we're in love and actually care for each other!" And speaking of unbelievable relationships, there was definitely something missing between Scarlet and Elijah.
Thank you to Wattpad Books and NetGalley for providing a digital copy free of charge in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are mine.
I used to be an extremely active reader on Wattpad a few years ago. While I did not read Fight For Her during my time there, I did read a few books with the same tropes: bad boy and fighting. And I want to support published Wattpad authors, so when I saw this title on NetGalley, I requested it.
To be honest, I was not a fan of Fight For Her by Liz Plum. I liked that the author took some typical Teen/YA clichés and added a twist to it. That is, instead of the bad and mysterious boy being popular at the school, he is constantly bullied and called a "freak." Instead of the female main character being a "nerd" or a new student, she is the popular girl. With these twists, Liz's debut novel definitely had the potential.
However, I personally could not connect to any of the characters. I disliked Scarlet for being a bystander when her boyfriend bullied Elijah. I disliked Jack for being unnecessarily mean and arrogant. I didn't dislike Elijah per se, but I also didn't like him.
I disliked the relationship between Scarlet and Jack for being toxic and frankly unbelievable. Even though Scarlet said that Jack was a good boyfriend and Jack said that he loves her, I was dubious. Aside from the frequent use of the word "babe," nothing else in their relationship screamed "we're in love and actually care for each other!" And speaking of unbelievable relationships, there was definitely something missing between Scarlet and Elijah.
Thank you to Wattpad Books and NetGalley for providing a digital copy free of charge in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are mine.
August 19, 2025
── ✦✦✦✦:
“There’s nothing special about wanting to be someone’s first choice.”
Man, this book brings back memories. This is such a romantic, kick your feet, giddy inducing book and it brought back so much nostalgia that I had to give it four stars.
Elliot and Scarlet are adorable, heart warming and need to be cherished. Scarlet is such a fun female lead that I just love being inside her head as she analyses everything that’s happening around her.
Elliot? Is the STANDARD of how to right a ‘good bad boy’ as he’s called on Wattpad. That man could do anything and I’d still defend him with my life. They’re just exactly as I remembered in the Wattpad version.
I loved this.
“There’s nothing special about wanting to be someone’s first choice.”
Man, this book brings back memories. This is such a romantic, kick your feet, giddy inducing book and it brought back so much nostalgia that I had to give it four stars.
Elliot and Scarlet are adorable, heart warming and need to be cherished. Scarlet is such a fun female lead that I just love being inside her head as she analyses everything that’s happening around her.
Elliot? Is the STANDARD of how to right a ‘good bad boy’ as he’s called on Wattpad. That man could do anything and I’d still defend him with my life. They’re just exactly as I remembered in the Wattpad version.
I loved this.
February 19, 2021
Thank you to the publisher for an arc copy of the book.
The front cover doesn't do this book justice and what it is about. Scarlett Tucker has a love triangle going on with her clueless boyfriend and the bad boy at school. Once Scarlett begins to help Elijah, the bad boy with his car, she begins to see all that he is about. The book goes from who will she end up with, to reasons why her brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. When you don't think Elijah and Scarlett's path could be more together, you find out so much more. It was a little slow at the beginning, but by the end I was wondering how it was all going to turn out. I would recommend this book to anyone for a quick read.
The front cover doesn't do this book justice and what it is about. Scarlett Tucker has a love triangle going on with her clueless boyfriend and the bad boy at school. Once Scarlett begins to help Elijah, the bad boy with his car, she begins to see all that he is about. The book goes from who will she end up with, to reasons why her brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. When you don't think Elijah and Scarlett's path could be more together, you find out so much more. It was a little slow at the beginning, but by the end I was wondering how it was all going to turn out. I would recommend this book to anyone for a quick read.
dnf
April 7, 2021dnf@20%
January 8, 2023
3.6 | your typical wattpad book lmao
April 6, 2023
no bad, not great, but just the right amount of cheesy romance 🤷♀️ Elijah really sold the book for me!
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