4. The Rise and Fall of a 10th-Grade Social Climber

Okay, so this was kind of a cute book. I gotta admit, I'm a sucker for books that take place in exclusive private schools. And this one does feature a private school pretty heavily, although it's more ultra-progressive than exclusive. (No grades, people. No grades.) I also love that it used its setting of NYC so prominently.

So the book is about this girl, Mimi, who moves from Houston to NYC to live with her dad. She starts going to this school called Baldwin. She makes a bet with her childhood friend, Sam, to befriend the cool girls at Baldwin. So Mimi does just that, skipping school, smoking pot, drinking, and buying a fake ID to get herself into the good graces of the popular girls. She also keeps a journal of her endeavors - predictably, this journal ends up published online. But of course, Mimi is forgiven by the end of the book and it all ends happily ever after.

I really liked Mimi's difficult relationship with her mother; although it was very, very difficult, it was, to me, one of the most realistic parts of the book. I also liked that the popular girls at Baldwin didn't have the typical blonde, all-American look that popular girls in books usually have. Instead, they were very diverse. However, on the flip side, they had the same typical problems that rich girls in books always seem to have - f'ed-up family life, drug problems, etc. Not one of these girls was at all realistic. Also, secretly? I think Mimi's dad was gay. But that's just me.

My favorite character was Quinn, Mimi's dad's assistant. I also love that Mimi's dad is a photographer; I'm not sure why, but I really liked it.

All in all, I think this book gets a 3/5. It was a quick read and funny, but also very predictable.

Buy this book at Amazon ***** Visit Lauren Mechling's website 

(Can't find a website for Laura Moser now. Will update when I have one.)