Book Review: The A-List

Title: The A-List (A-List #1)
Author: Zoey Dean
Publisher: Poppy (Hachette Book Group USA), 2003
Number of pages: 243
First read: May 2010
Genre(s): Young Adult

After 18 years of being nice, polite and perfectly boring, Anna Percy had it enough. Wanting to step outside the safe box called life of a New York City Upper East Side WASPy prep-school girl, Anna seizes the opportunity and jets off to L.A. where her long-divorced father lives. What Anna doesn't know yet is that with flying off to L.A., a new chapter of her life begins: First she meets the gorgeous Ben Birnbaum on the plane, goes to the all-exclusive wedding of a famous Hollywood actor and its after-party, and she might just fall in love with Ben... But then she meets the three true A-Listers: Cammie, Sam and Dee, and no one steals their spotlight.



character files
*/Anna Percy/*
Slender and blonde, Anna is a natural classic beauty. She's well-educated (she read Socrates in the 7th grade - hello?!), rich, ever polite and wishes to be more like her best friend, Cyn, who's exotic and leads an interesting life.
I'm sure that without Anna, this book would have sucked. The A-List belongs to the category of satires about (mostly) spoiled rich kids with bitchy and/or dumb heroines. Anna is different. She's nice, well-read, intelligent and polite. Also, she never loses her calm and knows to stand up for herself. I also loved it that while she wants to change herself into someone entirely different than her boring self, that she stuck to herself - that she didn't follow the mainstream just to get attention from guys. (As if she ever needs that - she's gorgeous without all the surgeries/makeup/other accessoirs)

*/Samantha "Sam" Sharpe/*
The daughter of a famous movie star, Sam wears size 8 (boardering on 10), a fact that causes her constant distress. Sam is smart (4.3 GPA) and a wanna-be movie director with actual talent - and also madly in love with Ben Birnbaum.
At first I thought Sam was just another bitchy character Anna has to deal with. And at the beginning, she is bitchy. But Sam has got actual brains and sense of humor. She's also bored by the daily party life, which is saying something.

*/Camilla "Cammie" Sheppard/*
As the ex-girlfriend of Ben, Cammie has red curls, bee-stung lips, faux breasts (in short, slutty appearence) and is determined to get him back. She's also shallow and bossy and makes mean remarks.
Cammie certainly is a b**** and she pissed me off with her attitude, but Zoey Dean gave her also a human side - the trauma over the death of her mom which occured years ago. It's a weakness she hides from other people, often even from her best friends, Sam and Dee.

*/Delia "Dee" Young/*
Dee is tiny (five-one; although, who am I to talk? I'm 1,61 m (about five-three), and barely that.), wears size zero and has big blue eyes that scream innocence - uh, not so much. She does like making other people happy but is mostly simple and shallow. Oh, and also totally into a certain guy.
I could tolerate Dee better than Cammie but sometimes shallowness really got me. All in all, though, Dee is an amusing character to read about. I think she's a simple person - someone who acts without thinking about it before.

*/Ben Birnbaum/*
Described as incredibly handsome and gentleman, Ben is a Princeton student and has a history with Sam, Dee and Cammie. (They grew up together)
At first Ben appears to be perfect - a gentleman who likes intellectual girls. Right now, anyway (read: Anna.). As the novel progresses, though, the ugly parts of his past and association emerge - but I like it, 'cause it makes him look more real. It's a part of him anyway.

storyline
"What is the matter with you Hollywood brats? Do you think that the whole world has to revolve around you all the time?"
That was the pissed-off wedding planner Fleur from page 71. And that line actually describes the whole book - it would, if it weren't for Anna. She's different, I told you.
Accompanying Anna to her new Beverly Hills life was a great fun. We get to see how the rich and spoiled celebrity kids live. And having a main character like Anna in this kind of series is just so refreshing.
It is funny how all three - actually four, including Anna - girls think Ben is The One for her. Well, whether it stays like that or not, you'll have to read the next books to find out!

Star Power by Zoey Dean

Star Power (Talent, #3)
By Zoey Dean
Publisher: the Penguin Group, 2009
257 pages, paperback
Date Finished: 6/26/2010
Genres: Young Adult, Chick Literature, Realistic Fiction

First Line of Book: " 'Okay, my future star, we're almost done!' "

Review: Star Power was a great series finale! It was short (which made it a quick read), but it was also action-packed, in a figurative sense; every second, Ms. Dean had me wanting more of the "action" that was going on with the Inner Circle. I was stuck with my nose inthe book all day while I finished it.

Mackenzie Little-Armstrong, her best friends Evangelina Becks and Cordelia Kingsley, and the girl she's made into a star, Emily Mungler (celeb name Emily Skylar), have all had some terrible times in the last month, and Mac is determined to make things right for her BFFs. Coco wants to be recognized for her, not her mother, and Mac does her best to help her become the indie singer she's always dreamed of being. Becks is trying out to be the fourth Dixie Gal, but can she stay true to the DGs and her friends? Emily has made it big already! : Her first-ever movie, Deal With It, has started shooting, and all she can think about is her celeb crush Davey Farris Woodward. Can she put DFW aside and focus on her acting career?? Meanwhile, Mac is trying to be the great friend, a thirteen-year-old talent agent for her friends (includes Emily), and a daughter that impresses her mother, L.A., and eventually the world. Can any of them pull it pff without losing each other?

I loved the girly action in this book; it was always making me want to know what was next. The Inner Circle is going through so much, trying to get their lives the way they always wanted them, to have their biggest dreams come true. The girls were so close at the beginning of the book, but it seems like after Emily got to the set for Deal With It, the girls started drifting away from each other. It was drama, as one can always expect in a Chick-Lit, and I liked that. It was what kept the reader (me) wanting more. I've now read the entire series, and I've noticed that every time the I.C. broke apart, they glued themselves back together tighter than before. The characters also have become very grown up-y; not only seeing their needs and their families needs, but what their friends need as well. That was something I really enjoyed knowing they accomplished.

The book was overall amazing, and I wish that there were a fourth book, a companion novel of some sort to the wonderful series. Now, I'm going to try to finish Zoey's other series, The A-List. :D

Rating:


Quotes from the Book:

**So ... unfortunately, I didn't fins any quotes that I liked in this book. Promise that I will remember in future reads to collect even the boring ones. But you should know: for me, collecting quotes from Chick-Lits is hard. I get caught up in the drama, and forget about everything else. So don't be hopping mad if I don't have Chick-Lit quotes. :)**


--Zakiya, the walking butterfly