After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 7:47 AM

Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder

Hazel Stone, who is just starting her junior year in high school, is desperate to make new friends. Tired of the default group she's a part of, Hazel wants to be a member of the Pretty Little Devils, which consists of perfect popular girls. To her surprise, Sylvia Orly, the leader of the PLDs, agrees, and soon Hazel is inducted into the group, which subsists on secret parties during babysitting jobs, horror movies, and practical jokes.

Meanwhile, Hazel has eyes on Matty Vardeman --- but so does Breona Wu, the head cheerleader and Sylvia's mortal enemy. Lucky for Hazel, he chooses the newly "damned" PLD instead of the cheerleader. Unfortunately this makes Breona extremely angry, and she and Hazel begin getting into fights in class.

Sounds like typical high school drama. Well, it is --- until things turn sinister. All of the PLDs, including low-key Carolyn, shy Ellen and giggly Megan, start receiving strange phone calls and text messages referring to them as "bad babysitter[s]" and threatening to kill them. None of the girls know who's responsible. Before long, students are being killed and suspicions are falling on the PLDs. The end result of this tumultuous year for Hazel and her friends is somewhat unexpected. (review from TeensReads.com)

A quick little read that is supposed to be Mean Girls meets Scream (or other really bad horror flick). Anyhow, I figured out who the real killer was in like the first ten pages, so this was pretty much a yawn for me. And the characterization--well, let's just say that I've had fish with more personality than the main character. I honestly don't think she was fleshed out at all, and I was almost kind of sad she didn't bite it in the book. Okay, that's harsh, but it was truly terrible. (I'm also kind of wondering--today's my 10 year reunion for high school, and while this in no way depicts what high school was like for me, I'm feel the teen-angst and annoyance just remembering those years...) So, anyway, I'm going to go thumbs-down on this sucker. Not worth the time, unfortunately.