Clique Series: Best Friends for Never by Lisi Harrison

The book jacket really sells this book short, although I imagine you would be looking to read this book after reading the first one in the series. This one picks up where the first one left off: Massie fighting to make sure she is the Queen-bee of OCD with her faithful followers, which Claire is still watching from the outside really wanting to be accepted.

The main conflict of this book is that Massie is told that she falling out of the limelight at OCD, and to make sure it happens, another girl in her grade is planning on throwing a co-ed Halloween party. This really frosts Massie, but she regroups to throw the co-ed Halloween party of the century organized by a high-price famous Starbucks drinking party planner. naturally at this party is the basic middle school/ high school drama: two friends like the same guy, girls have crushes on boys, friends stab each other in the back and blow each other off... yet in true Clique fashion this is all done in designer clothes! :)

Additionally, there is tension in Massie's group because of boy trouble and Olivia trouble (you'll have read to find out what that means!). Massie is also getting pressure from her mom to include Claire in all that she does, and Claire has challenges Massie to a no-shopping for a month contest. Needless to say, Massie is stressed! Add to it that the school is looking at implementing a UNIFORM policy. This is one stressed middle schooler. :)

There is a twist at the end of this book, which may lead to Claire being "in" and someone from Massie's tight group of followers being "out"! You'll have to read to find out the "who," "what," "where," "why," and "how"!

I liked the book. Quite honestly, even though this is total bullying in many cases, and I think the girls are unbelievable mean, AND ass to the fact that the money spent on clothes, food, and so on is totally unbelievable, I like just getting lost in this unrealistic world for an afternoon. It is like watch a soap opera that takes place in a middle school except there is no drinking, no drug, no sex, and no alcohol.

Have you read this book or any in the series? Let us know what you think!

Daughters of the Moon: #1 Goddess of the Night by Lynne Ewing

Vanessa really wants to be normal, but she has a secret that she can only share with her best friend Catty. The secret is she can make herself invisible. She is not really sure how or why, but at times in her life when she is under extreme emotion, she disappears. Catty has a secret, too. She can travel back in time, and while Catty experiments with her ability. Vanessa wishes it would go away, but it won't and it is becoming a big problem because every time the love of her life, Michael Saratoga, kisses her... she starts to disappear. You can see how this would be a problem.

In addition to this problem, Vanessa is getting the overwhelming feeling that she is being watched. Catty wants to travel back in time to track this mysterious person, but Vanessa is not so sure about that. It is not until Catty disappears that Vanessa knows she must act.

In enters Serena and Jimena two other girls Vanessa's age that live in the Los Angeles area, and it turns out they have powers also. Serena reads minds, and Jimena has premonitions. These two girls introduce Vanessa to Maggie (the moon goddess mentor of sorts) who begings to teach the girls about the moon goddess who has given them their powers. She also warns them of evil of the Followers and Atrox and the impending show down.

Soon the girls figure out that it is the Followers/ Atrox that have Catty, and Vanessa is willing to do whatever it takes to free her. Even if it means going against the advice of her new friends and Maggie. She just hopes that her powers are strong enough to free Catty.

The cool thing about this series is that each of the books is told from a different character's point of view, so while in this one Vanessa is the main focus, Jimena narrates the next book. The books are about 300 pages and have incredible cool covers. Definitely a fantasy story, but what makes it fantasy is the powers that each of the girls have. It is a classic battle of good vs evil, and in a weird remote way it reminded me of the tv show Charmed... but they are not witches here. Just high school girls trying to be normal. This could very easily be a tv series.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Have you read any of the others in this series? Leave a comment.

The Clique: A Novel by Lisi Harrison

I must admit that I love the covers of these books. They are all cute plaids, prints, and argyle. They also have the oh so familiar pictures of girls whispering. It is this action that pretty much sums up The Clique Series. The Clique is the first book in the series, and it firmly establishes the middle school uber-rich clique of Massie (the Queen) and her followers: Dylan, Alicia, and Kristen. To establish these four as the bossy and mean eltists girls that they appear to be, the author adds in a girl names Claire that has recently relocated to the New York area because her father is friends with Massie's dad. To make her even more undesirable, Claire and her family are living in Massie Block's guest house. Together all the girls attend Octavian Country Day School (an elite all girls school that actually mentions dressing fashionably in the handbook).

The plot of this Clique installment basically chronicles the battle between Massie and Claire. Everyone is mean at some point in the book, which is how middle school feels at some points, but what I actually liked about the book is that because the point of view changes between Claire and Massie the reader is able to see that even though the girls appear one way on the outside, they all feel scared and uncertain. Everyone is afraid of having no friends. How true is that? These girls spend the majority of the book worried that they will have no friends, lose friends, or be friends with some "loser". Claire desperately wants into Massie's clique because they are the clique of power at their school, but she really does some horrible things to hang out and be accepted by some horrible girls. This book is like the movie "Mean Girls".

While I do think that this book spends a lot of time talking about the shallowness of these girls (money, clothes, make-up, boys, etc), I still found the book enjoyable. As long as when you read it, you realize that this is not realistic and that people SHOULD NOT treat each other this way, it is an entertaining read because it is so soap opera- like.

I must also admit that I checked the next one out of the library to read.

Have you read The Clique or any of the other books in the series? What do you think?