GoldenGirl by Micol Ostow Review

GoldenGirl by Micol Ostow

Series: Bradford (#1)
Publish date: January 27th, 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Summary (from Goodreads)
Paige, Spencer, and Madison have it all: the looks, the connections, the money, the boys. As the daughters of three of the most prestigious families on Philadelphia's Main Line (read: old money, and lots of it) and the ruling juniors at Bradford Prep, nothing can stand in their way....except, perhaps, their own dark secrets. When an old frenemy from Paige's hidden past shows up at Bradford and plays nice--too nice--Paige is desperate to smother the threat. How far will she go to silence the truth?
 

Review: 

For fans of Gossip Girl or any other of the sort, you will enjoy this book. GoldenGirl revolves around the lives of very privileged teenagers who have it all. They skip class for mud scrubs at the spa and attend opening nights to the hottest night clubs. 

I was really interested in this book when I first bought it because the entire novel is written in the format of blog posts. Told from Spencer Kelly's (a relative to Grace Kelly herself) blog, we watch the drama unfold in their high society social life. Regan Stanford, the new girl straight out of rehab, starts attending Bradford Prep. She wins over Spencer and her best friend Madison, however it is her other BFF, Paige, that insults Regan every moment and sets out to make her time at Bradford horrible and drive her back to where she first came from. Unbeknownst to Spencer and Madison, Paige and Regan had a past before that led to one hating the other. On top of that, Spencer herself is dealing with guy trouble; Jeremy her ex is back at Bradford and is stuck between him and her current boyfriend; Tyler. Some catfights are about to go down.

A major problem I had with this book is the way the characters talked. They were fairly intelligent people yet the author makes them sound stupid and snobby with vocabulary inspired by Paris Hilton. Even the boys.. Perhaps it was to accentuate that they were rich and snobby however it would've been nicer to have certain characters sound mature and down to earth. For example; Jeremy. Another problem I had was that the ending was rather anti-climatic. It was obvious what was going to happen, a big scheme that as going to backfire. However, the event occurred so quickly that it didn't end this book with a bang. When I flipped to the last page of the book I just went; well ok that's finished. 
For a book with supposedly so much drama crammed into a book it just wasn't exciting when it ended. 

Although I did enjoy this book despite the major flaws. Its one of those books that you can finish in a few hours no problem and for a short book it was eventful enough to keep me entertained the whole time. Never mind the fact that I also really enjoy books filled with drama and rich teens that have it all. Did I mention that the story is told entirely with blog posts? Its a clever and unique way to write a book so that readers have a change when reading compared to the usual way a book is written.

I would consider reading the second book of the series, which is told in Madison's blog, however it also not necessary.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Liar Society by Lisa&Laura Roecker Review

The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Series: The Liar Society (#1)
Release date: March 1st, 2011
Published by Sourcebooks Fire

Summary (from Goodreads)
Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

                    Kate, 

                   I'm here,

                             sort of. 

                             Find Cameron.

                              He knows.

                             I shouldn't be writing.

                               Don't tell. 

                              They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...

Review: 

The Liar Society is a mystery book around a socially recluse girl looking to solve the death of her best friend, Grace. The main character, Kate, has become antisocial and detached herself from everyone around her. Instead, she prefers to relive the memories she made with Grace, leading to her parents sending her to therapy. She is told to let Grace go and start living her life happily. As she tries to listen to her therapists advice, she gets an email from Grace. Or at least so she thinks. The emails leave clues disguised as riddles which leads Kate on a mission to find out the truth about Grace's death. The answers aren't easy, and she later finds help from her redhead neighobr, Seth who has an obvious crush on Kate, and the cute boy who makes her feel something again, Liam.
I enjoyed this book so much I stayed up until 6am to finish the whole thing in one night. I highly recommend this book to fans of Pretty Little Liars or anything similar. There was enough mystery to be suspenseful and engaging yet there was plenty of humor to balance out the overall depressing plot and chilling events. The book is written with several chapters of flashbacks so that readers can understand what happened during the past leading up to Grace's tragic death.

It was really nice seeing Kate's character progressing throughout the book. In the beginning she was the reserved girl who didn't want to socialize with others. People around her looked at with pity which Kate hated even more. As events happen and Kate is fueled by the possibility of seeing Grace again, she becomes this strong and daring girl willing to do anything to understand Grace's death. You also see her opening up to others and actually feeling happy again. Her new friends are characters that I really enjoyed reading about too. Seth, her neighbor is the typical nerd who is oblivious to the bullying directed towards him. That's what I admire about him, he doesn't let anything hurtful affect him and lives life as himself. Not to mention he's dorky and a clueless at times which makes him oh so hilarious and the perfect sidekick to Kate. Together with Liam, the boy who you can't help rooting for to get together with Kate, they become her two knights in shining armor.

As clues were given and pieces of the puzzle were put together, through every step of the way I enjoyed solving the mystery along with Kate. The plot turned into an unexpected twist which I really enjoyed and it suddenly became multiple problems that needed to be solved; how Grace, who was in on her death and why? The ending was something different too. Kate thinks she's solved Grace's death but then she is slammed right back to step 1. Nevertheless, in Kate's own thoughts, she knew that she had changed into a different and mature Kate, and the new Kate deserved a new start.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery, humor, and surprising events. I can't wait to read the second book to this trilogy.

Rating: 4/5