Pretty Crooked

Author: Elisa Ludwig
Release Date: March 13th, 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books 
Genre(s): YA Contemporary Chick Lit 
Pages: 368
*1st book of a series*


~Spoilers are hidden! Highlight the page to see them!:)~

Summary (Goodreads):
Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Review: 

The entire book was very light and fluffy, a general chick- lit book.   Nothing special or particularly squeal inducing. It took a while for Willa to start stealing and doing her Robin Hood-esque routine.  Her logic in becoming Robin Hood was very random.  I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to, ya know, just give them money instead of stealing stuff for them?  I understand there was a revenge aspect to stealing and giving, but because she wasn’t doing all this from the goodness of her heart,  I wasn’t entirely rooting for her every time she “helped” the poorer students out.  I also thought it was weird- and creepy- how Willa was able to find the addresses of the students by Googling it.  That was a tad unrealistic and way too easy.  (I know you can find ANYTHING on the Internet these days- so that MIGHT pass- but googling a person and looking up their address? It has a creep factor of a sparkly vampire secretly watching over you while you sleep.)  Willa is an okay character- nothing amazing.  She’s no Mary Sue, but she’s very… general and not really engaging or interesting. 

The plot was very predictable too.  It was pretty obvious from the beginning who was writing the Buzz, a gossip site for the school, and whether or not Willa was going to get caught. (She does.  The girl was taking lessons from a former “criminal”…) But I didn’t mind that the entire story was very farfetched because it IS chick lit after all.  (It was just that Googling thing that made me raise an eyebrow.)  The villains in the story- the Glitterati- were very shallow and one dimensional.  They weren’t developed at all, just side characters to get the story moving.  If there was anything resembling an actual personality among the Glitterati, it was Cherise.   She was very wishy- washy- but, when the truth was exposed, she turned on Willa, ultimately choosing popularity over friendship (WHAT?)-  but hey, at least she had a character, shallow (Pun totally intended) as it might be.   

It was very obvious that this book was a part of series, as a lot of questions- who was that mysterious man that her mother met? How did Aiden get kicked out?- were unanswered.  But frankly, I don’t think I’ll stick around for the next book.   

Oh! I almost forgot the romance- if you can call it that.  About two-thirds of the book was Aiden chasing Willa and Willa saying, “Noooo I’m totes not in love with you, but you’re so adorable and kinda hot!”, and then the last one-third of the book was made up of Willa and Aiden kissing once and hanging out while volunteering for their crimes (I guess they’re dating now?).  That was pretty much it in a nutshell.  From the VERY misleading summary, I thought Aiden would have more to do with the story (I totally think Tre was wronged for not being included in the description; not because he seems like a potential love interest sorta maybe, but because he did more stuff in the book than Aiden), but he was just a love interest added into the story just because.  (I also sense a potential love triangle coming up…. But eh.  Not interested enough to pick up the second book.)

Overall? It was a very forgettable book and an okay filler to read if you were/are recovering from a VERY light book hangover.  For more intense book hangovers, I recommend a Janette Rallison or Stephanie Perkins book. 
Happy readings!:)

Rating: 2 out of 5