Teen Fiction - School, Teen Fiction - Mysteries & Thrillers
Available on Bookshop
Write a review
Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
Tradition, Honor, Excellence...and secrets so dark they're almost invisible
Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship to Easton Academy — the golden ticket away from her pill-popping mother and run-of-the-mill suburban life. But when she arrives on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton, everyone is just a bit more sophisticated, a bit more gorgeous, and a lot wealthier than she ever thought possible. Reed realizes that even though she has been accepted to Easton, Easton has not accepted her. She feels like she's on the outside, looking in.
Until she meets the Billings Girls.
They are the most beautiful, intelligent, and intensely confident girls on campus. And they know it. They hold all the power in a world where power is fleeting but means everything. Reed vows to do whatever it takes to be accepted into their inner circle.
Reed uses every part of herself — the good, the bad, the beautiful — to get closer to the Billings Girls. She quickly discovers that inside their secret parties and mountains of attitude, hanging in their designer clothing-packed closets the Billings Girls have skeletons. And they'll do anything to keep their secrets private.
Synopsis
The first title in Brian's red-hot series about a co-ed boarding school wherenothing is as perfect as it seems.
Publishers Weekly
When Reed leaves her troubled Pennsylvania home and begins posh Easton Academy as a scholarship student, she immediately attracts the attention of cute senior Thomas Pearson. She also quickly comes to the attention of the popular Billings Girls, who can be nice, mean or indifferent towards her, depending on the day. Reed puts up with their behavior knowing that if she "could just enter that inner sanctum, every door at Easton would open up to me." Keeping up academically proves a challenge, but Reed also faces other tests, such as stealing an exam for the Billings Girls or figuring out why they warn her about her now-boyfriend, Thomas, who has his own connections to their circle. The set-up seems scripted and the Billings Girls themselves are stereotypical (Noelle is the Alpha girl, Taylor is the brain, etc.), but Reed is more complex than most of this genre's narrators. She has an abusive mother "who likes pills with her bourbon," and admits that her connection to Thomas, the son of alcoholics, is partly due to finding "someone who understood." Of course, when Thomas accuses her of using him to get to the Billings Girls, he is somewhat right about that, too. The conclusion leaves plenty of questions including where Thomas has disappeared to. Readers will no doubt eagerly await the next installment in Brian's (The Virginity Club) Private series, Invitation Only, due out this fall. Ages 14-up. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
In the lexicon of boarding schools, there is a difference between "getting accepted" and "being accepted." At prestigious Easton Academy, Reed Brennan learns that crucial distinction in the most personal way. After a painful initiation, she scents triumph when her brains and good looks gain her admission to exclusive Billings Hall; but before long, she realizes that beneath all the Prada and Gucci and Juicy Couture, the Billings girls are hiding some very dark secrets.Publishers Weekly
When Reed leaves her troubled Pennsylvania home and begins posh Easton Academy as a scholarship student, she immediately attracts the attention of cute senior Thomas Pearson. She also quickly comes to the attention of the popular Billings Girls, who can be nice, mean or indifferent towards her, depending on the day. Reed puts up with their behavior knowing that if she "could just enter that inner sanctum, every door at Easton would open up to me." Keeping up academically proves a challenge, but Reed also faces other tests, such as stealing an exam for the Billings Girls or figuring out why they warn her about her now-boyfriend, Thomas, who has his own connections to their circle. The set-up seems scripted and the Billings Girls themselves are stereotypical (Noelle is the Alpha girl, Taylor is the brain, etc.), but Reed is more complex than most of this genre's narrators. She has an abusive mother "who likes pills with her bourbon," and admits that her connection to Thomas, the son of alcoholics, is partly due to finding "someone who understood." Of course, when Thomas accuses her of using him to get to the Billings Girls, he is somewhat right about that, too. The conclusion leaves plenty of questions including where Thomas has disappeared to. Readers will no doubt eagerly await the next installment in Brian's (The Virginity Club) Private series, Invitation Only, due out this fall. Ages 14-up. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
The one thing that Reed Brennan wants most in the world is to get away from her drug addicted mother. She gets that chance when she is offered a half scholarship at a private school in Easton, Connecticut. Easton is everything she dreams it could be, offering her every opportunity to make her life better. On her first night there, instead of joining with the other girls living on her floor, she stays alone in her room and watches a group of girls greet each other in the dorm next door. After that night, Reed's greatest ambition is to join the Billings Girls. Unfortunately, girls assigned to the Billings dorm are the best scholars and athletes, neither of which applies to Reed. Instead of working on her grades and becoming socialized in the school, Reed allows the Billings Girls to bully and intimidate her into doing what they want her to do. Each time the Billings Girls ask her to do something for them, no matter how wrong it is, Reed caves to their demands. It is obvious that Reed knows that what they are asking her to do is wrong, and each time it seems as if she will do the right thing, but she never stands up to them. The novel is a very easy read, broken up into small chapters that allow the quick pace to carry the reader through. It is very disappointing how Reed squanders each opportunity to become a strong person and instead becomes the worst sort of teenager. Hopefully, a sequel will show Reed becoming a stronger person who is not controlled by the popular crowd. 2006, Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, Ages 13 to 16.—Danielle Williams
KLIATT
Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan manages to earn a scholarship to Easton Academy, a posh co-ed boarding school where the motto is "Tradition, Honor, Excellence." There she hopes to finally escape her pill-popping mom and oh-so-boring suburban life. But blind desperation to fit in and to be invited to the secret parties of the super-cool and confident Billings Girls reduces Reed to their slave as she carries out their orders without fully understanding her role in their schemes. A flirtation with ultimate cool guy Thomas Pearson culminates in sex, yet Reed remains clueless as to who he really is and why the Billings Girls snub him. Are the Billings Girls Reed's friends or her foes? The slightly surreal ending leaves readers with as many questions as answers about these shadowy characters. But, despite its flaws, girls who enjoyed Brian's The Virginity Club and her other novels will love the sheer drama and mystery of it all. KLIATT Codes: S--Recommended for senior high school students. 2006, Simon & Schuster, 227p., $8.99.. Ages 15 to 18.—Jessica Swaim
VOYA
Reed Brennan escapes her pill-dependent, alcoholic mother during her sophomore year by entering an elite private school where the well-to-do students have experiences and own things that she could never afford. Although she was an outstanding student in her public high school, she feels unprepared academically and has problems with her new teachers. She wants to fit in with the legendary Billings Girls, an ultra-elite group that controls much of the social and academic lives of everyone on campus but is not very nice to others in the process. Reed does not deal with the reasons she left home, and when she does not allow her parents to visit for parents' weekend, they acquiesce. She wants to be a Billings Girl, so she does whatever dirty tasks they want her to do-break up with boyfriends, buy food in the lunch line, steal copies of tests-and she becomes a Billings Girl. She wants to date Thomas, and she does, having sex and then considering breaking up with him because he is a drug dealer. The book ends with a candlelight ceremony for the Billings girls with the issues of Reed's parents, boyfriend, and roommate still unresolved. A tinge of evil is associated with the Billings Girls, reminiscent of Lauren Myracle's Rhymes with Witches (Amulet Books/Harry N. Abrams, 2005/VOYA August 2005). The plot is engaging even though many of the problems are solved too easily, have no consequences for the decisions Reed makes, or are left unsolved. Even with these faults, it will be a popular book for teen girls. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P J S (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2006, Simon Pulse/S & S,240p., Trade pb. Ages 12 to 18.—Cindy Faughnan
VOYA -
This book was extremely shallow. Although the story had "good moral" potential, the entire plot was about a superficial girl who tries to climb the social ladder at her new boarding school. Reed uses everything and anything to try to "get in" with the Billings Girls, the most popular girls in school. In addition to the lack of respect that Reed has for herself, the ending had holes that left big gaps and unanswered questions.VOYA -
Private is full of typical mean-girl clique initiation rituals but lacks any reasoning that might be behind them. The main character, Reed, is the only one with any morals, and even she tends to ignore them, striving instead to become part of the infamous A-List group of girls who hold the real power in the student body. It is a melodramatic, pink novel with an entertaining story line but no real feeling.VOYA -
Reed Brennan escapes her pill-dependent, alcoholic mother during her sophomore year by entering an elite private school where the well-to-do students have experiences and own things that she could never afford. Although she was an outstanding student in her public high school, she feels unprepared academically and has problems with her new teachers. She wants to fit in with the legendary Billings Girls, an ultra-elite group that controls much of the social and academic lives of everyone on campus but is not very nice to others in the process. Reed does not deal with the reasons she left home, and when she does not allow her parents to visit for parents' weekend, they acquiesce. She wants to be a Billings Girl, so she does whatever dirty tasks they want her to do-break up with boyfriends, buy food in the lunch line, steal copies of tests-and she becomes a Billings Girl. She wants to date Thomas, and she does, having sex and then considering breaking up with him because he is a drug dealer. The book ends with a candlelight ceremony for the Billings girls with the issues of Reed's parents, boyfriend, and roommate still unresolved. A tinge of evil is associated with the Billings Girls, reminiscent of Lauren Myracle's Rhymes with Witches (Amulet Books/Harry N. Abrams, 2005/VOYA August 2005). The plot is engaging even though many of the problems are solved too easily, have no consequences for the decisions Reed makes, or are left unsolved. Even with these faults, it will be a popular book for teen girls.Vicki Sherbert
Reed Brennan has won a scholarship to Easton Academy. She has dreamed of this moment when she can escape her gray, suburban life and her alcoholic, prescription drug dependent mother. When her kind, good-hearted father drives their dented Subaru onto the manicured campus, Reed has a moment of misgiving. But seeing this as her only hope, she puts on a brave face and says good-bye. This is the story of a young girl's attempt to escape her painful world and find her place in a privileged one. As Reed tries to break into the inner circle of the most elite group on campus, she finds she must choose between the new love in her life and the hope of becoming one of the Billings Girls. Better suited to high school readers, this first book in a series left me in complete suspense about the choices Reed will make, the disappearance of her boyfriend, and the ceremony that could change her life. Reading the sequel is a must!School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up-Reed Brennan is nervous as she begins her sophomore year as a transfer student at prestigious Easton Academy. All of the other students are richer than she could ever believe, and she immediately finds that she's in way over her head academically. She determines that she'll do anything to keep from flunking out and going back to her dreary home. Reed aspires to be just like the beautiful and brilliant girls who live in the luxurious Billings dorm, but she has little hope of ever being accepted into that elite crowd. Somehow, though, she edges in and barely notices their cruelty because she's so grateful to be tossed the crumbs of their kindness. Although her experiences could have resulted in nine months of insight, the teen doesn't seem to make much progress in understanding herself or the larger world around her. The story has major gaps in plot development and background. Too many elements are left hanging or unexplained, such as why Reed can't empathize at all with her mother's pain-killer addiction following a long-ago accident, her lack of a relationship with her brother, her oddly unemotional loss of virginity, and any sort of character development in the Billings girls. Readers might feel as if they've missed the first 10 minutes of a 30-minute TV show, and the ending is choppy and unsatisfying. Steer readers to Brian's earlier (and better-written) titles.-Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.From the Publisher
"The characters are addictive and Campbell's telling makes it even more fun." —-School Library Journal Audio ReviewSchool Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—The first book (2009) in Kate Brian's popular chick-lit series introduces 15-year-old Reed Brennan who earns a scholarship to the prominent Easton Academy. While she sees this as a way to leave behind her small town and her increasingly distant and pill-addicted mother, she is nervous about leaving her father and how she will fit in with the wealthy students. Reed finds her way, awkwardly becoming friends with the girls (collectively known as the Billings Girls for the name of their dorm) who wield the most power and lands the hottest guy on campus, Thomas Pearson. Cassandra Campbell's distinctive voicing draws listeners into the melodrama surrounding each of the characters as Reed discovers how to relate to their beauty, intellect, and confidence. In Invitation Only (2009, both S & S), Reed is one of the Billings Girls, almost, having moved into their dorm and going through a hazing of sorts as the dorm's "Cinderella." The school is also bustling with news that Thomas has gone missing, Reed finds herself reluctantly attached to the most prominent boy on campus and uses him to get an invite to the most talked about and exclusive party because she is sure Thomas will show up there. The characters are addictive and Campbell's telling makes it even more fun. There are some minor sound inconsistencies, but listeners already drawn into the drama will hardly notice. With much for chick-lit fans to enjoy, libraries that circulate the print versions will want to have these audiobooks as well.—Stephanie A. Squicciarini, Fairport Public Library, NYBook Details
Published
June 1, 2006
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages
240
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781416918738