Notorious

The second book in the It Girl Series (a Gossip Girl spinoff featuring Dan’s younger sister Jenny), this brings Tinsley into the mix, so far she’s a villain with pretty much no redeeming value that I could find, but if you like a character who seemingly just lives to stir things up you might enjoy her addition to the story.

I tended to prefer Jenny, Brett, and Callie, as they seem to have a bit more dimension to them. I do wish this had gotten into someone’s eating disorder more and not played off inappropriate relationships with a teacher as casually as this does, but I get that it wouldn’t really fit the tone to do that, this isn’t where you look for serious exploration of serious things.

I could do without the thousand and show more one mentions of Jenny’s breasts and I spent every secret society meeting wondering what the point of it was for the girls when the only person seemingly reaping any benefits from it was a “chosen” boy. I just didn’t see the appeal of that for the girls in the secret society or the appeal for what I imagine is the prominently female audience for this book series, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to have something that seemed more male fantasy fulfillment than female fantasy fulfillment.

As I’m sure you’d guess, the writing here isn’t attempting to be anything to wax poetic over, it is very simplistic but it does the job well enough, the pacing zips along, and there’s enough scheming, romantic entanglements, frenemy drama to keep things interesting. Plenty of readers will abhor the brand-name dropping that’s done with zeal here, sometimes I feel that way, too, here though, it seemed to fit that the characters would be concerned about those things and if you’re a reader who’s into fashion and beauty, the specifics of what lip gloss shade or designer label a character is wearing does sort of add another descriptor of their personality type.

This is a way, way heightened world of very wealthy teenagers at a boarding school that I doubt will feel realistic or reflective of most people’s teenage years, which isn’t a bad thing if you’re in the mood for escapist entertainment that doesn’t need you to think too hard, just kick back and enjoy the backstabbing. show less

Reviewed by Allison M. Rotonda for TeensReadToo.com

NOTORIOUS contains more scandalous activity than a grocery store tabloid and is a far better read. Tinsley, Callie, and Brett were all best friends in room 303, living life at the top of the social food chain at Waverly Academy, until Tinsley is expelled and is replaced with another roommate, Jenny. Somehow Tinsley manages to gain re-admittance and quickly springs back into action, stirring things up with the new girl--and everyone else for that matter.

Jenny desperately wants to gain Tinsley's acceptance and finally be a part of the popular crowd, but along the way she begins to wonder what price she will have to pay for the life she dreamed of. To make matters worse she falls, hard, show more for Callie's estranged boyfriend, Easy, and is forced to choose between the boy she thinks she loves and her new friends.

The Waverly student body dresses in a wardrobe that will have every Sex in the City fan aching with jealousy and behaves in ways that would make Paris Hilton proud! Everything is described in perfect detail, and while some of the situations may seem a little far-fetched to the average reader, the thoughts and dialogue in the book are perfect. Although it is the second book in the series, you can quickly pick up where the story left off, and the characters are developed so completely that it feels as though you know their pasts already... or do you? The story ends in a way that will leave readers dying for the next book in the series and yet ties up most of the story lines contained in NOTORIOUS. Be prepared, though, because this is a hard book to put down! show less

This was just a little too much for me, too much of a world I never had any interest in living in even when I was young enough. Nonetheless, there are some good characters and it had some interesting moments.

This is definitely a great sequel to the It Girl, like the first, it was funny, gripping and full of pretty much anything you could imagine. This series is going surprisingly strong compared to its predecessor, Gossip Girl.

Romance

i need more jenny!!

good story. lots of drama