Finally, Amy ends up kissing the boy I've liked all along! Pure beachy fun, I'd give to fans of the first. ( )

If you've been reading my reviews for the last week or so, you know all about Diana Peterfreund's Ivy League series. Rites of Spring (Break) is book 3 in the series, and it's all I've got until May! The last book will not be published until then, and I must tell you that I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

In Rites of Spring (Break), we catch up with our indefatigable heroine Amy Haskell, as she navigates her way through her senior year at the country's prestigious Eli University. As a member of the university's most distinguished secret society, the Order of the Rose & Grave, Amy's senior year should be full of opportunity and prestige. Unfortunately as part of the first tap class to include women in the order, Amy's membership has been pretty much all work and no play. She's spent the last two books being ostracized by important society patriarchs, losing important job offers, and being betrayed by her fellow "Diggers".

As her class is poised for their first real caper - breaking into the house of the Dragon's Head society and stealing back one of their statues - Amy is caught on camera, and becomes an official enemy of the rival secret society. The attacks on her begin, and Amy can't wait for Spring Break, when she will escape campus and spend a week on the societies private island. A few days before departure, Amy is devastated when she learns the real reason she has been targeted (and I can't tell you more without giving it away!) Suffice it to say that once on the island the mayhem continues and Amy's life is in constant danger. Lucky for her, the most unlikely of her society brothers is aware of the problem, and will do everything in his power to make her safe again.

Rites of Spring (Break) is the best yet in the series. The plot continued to be excellent, with lots of twists and turns that had me alternately gasping and laughing out loud. The characters have grown so much in the past three books, and I can't wait to see what happens as they prepare for graduation in book 4, Tap and Gown. ( )

Amy Haskel has survived several attempts by patriarchs to oust her and the other females in her tap class from the Rose and Grave society. When Spring Break rolls around, she is more than ready for a vacation, and she's eager to spend some time sunbathing on the society's private island. Her vacation is anything but restful, however, when problems continue to plague the society, and they become far more dangerous in nature. In addition to the society's problems, Amy unexpectedly begins a romance with a society patriarch.

One of the best things about this novel is that most of the infighting between members of Amy's tap class seems to have been laid to rest, and they finally seem to learn how to work together. However, they continue to have problems relating to the patriarchs, something I suspect will come to a head in the fourth and final novel. Fans of the first two won't be disappointed with this one. ( )

I adore this series and can’t begin to tell you how excited I was when I received the email telling me that it was available for pre-order as an ebook. Think squeeing fangirl. Which paled in comparison to my reaction when, on completing my pre-order, found that actually the file was already available for download (excited, much?)… There was speed reading of my last quarter of my “in progress” novel JUST to reach this one. There was a very early to bed so I could read, uninterrupted. So my expectations were pretty high.

Within that context it’s perhaps not surprising that the initial few chapters were a let down. I don’t like Amy in “competitive I want the guy because that’s the way I win” mode (hate THOSE girls), so the first few chapters hit a few of my personal bug bears pretty hard.

That said, once we moved on to the main plot, I had a much better time. The mystery/whodunit was easy to spot but then, I don’t read these books to be intrigued. These are pure escapist magic; smart, romantic and funny – like Gilmore Girls (the later years) with out the speed-talking and creepy-intense mother/daughter relationship. Love, love, love. I’ll be JUST as super excited when the last instalment is released this time next year. ( )