In Too Deep by Jennifer Banash

Casey has finally started to fit in with the rich and sophisticated at Meadowlark Academy. Her fashion sense is improving, she's hanging out with Madison, Sophie and Phoebe, and Drew might be her kinda-sorta boyfriend. Even though Casey's retaining her small town roots, she feels like she might be giving up herself to be more like the other girls. And she's not sure if that's necessarily a good thing...

Okay, so this is a continuation of The Elite, but everything is explained so it's not necessary that you read The Elite first. Recommended, but not necessary. As I said before, I like these types of books when I'm looking for that light, fluffy read, but as I was reading In Too Deep, I started to get bored with the plot. There were some surprises and twists, but I found myself skimming the internal monologues that sometimes pop up, without even realizing that I was doing it. See, I'm the kind of person that likes reading dialogue, so when there's long passages of descriptions or explanations, I start to get bored. That's not a bad thing, it's just how I am. Jennifer Banash still did the rotating points of view, which I like in this story because you get to see what goes on with the other characters and what they're thinking about. If the whole book was Casey's point of view, we would never get into Madison's head and see how she justifies her actions (which helps the reader sympathize with her a bit). Even though I didn't enjoy this book as much as The Elite, I'll probably still read Simply Irresistible to see what happens next.

6 out of 10.

The Elite by Jennifer Banash

Casey McCloy has just moved to New York City from Illinois to live with her grandmother, while her mother is doing research in England. She gets to reside in a posh apartment building, attend a prestigious high school, and rub shoulders with Manhattan's elite. Even though she's not as rich or sophisticated as the other girls , she becomes friends with the three most popular girls in school: Madison, Phoebe and Sophie. The girls relunctantly allow Casey into their circle, but a social faux pas might push Casey out. Let's just hope that Casey stays away from Madison's on-and-off boyfriend Drew...

This book was a light read, full of fluff, but I still liked it a lot. It reminded me of Gossip Girl, since they're both easy to read and might be considered guilty pleasures. The characters were fun to read about, even though they fit the usual stereotypes: the perfect and pretty queen bee, the innoncent outsider, the cute and sensitive boy. It also seemed like the whole book revolved around one plot point, with few other things thrown in. The whole time Drew and Madison were trying to decide if they still liked each other, and the book was filled with "I like him, no I don't, should we date, will she be at the party, blah blah blah". Even though it got redundant, I liked reading about these girls, who seemed to define elegance and sophistication. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book, In Too Deep.

6 out of 10.