Book Review: "The A-List"

Having just embarked on the start of a new journey in reading the A-List series by Zoey Dean, I have quite a few things I feel like I need to say about just what I've seen so far in this first book.

It style it's written in is very, very dry. Perhaps this is because of our main character, Anna, being such a goody-goody that this is to reflect her prim and proper upbringing, and perhaps as the series progresses, maybe this will change. Or maybe not. Regardless, it took a while for me to really start feeling 'into' this book, and I have a feeling that this style is why, since the subject matter should have been interesting.

Oh. I should also mention that this thing reads like a trashy reality show. You know the type... The ones with the over-pampered, over-privileged Hollywood princesses acting like spoiled brats just because they can. There's gratuitous sex (well, it's not actually written out, but it's referenced many, many times....but still in that dry, sterile sense that the whole book is), there's cattiness, there's backstabbing, there's drama, you name it. This shit may as well be aired on whatever channel airs Real Housewives of wherever. (I've never actually watched any of those shows, but just from what I've observed from and outsider's point of view, it fits right in with that.) Sure, the catty drama is delicious, but at the same time, it's not very satisfying when you finish the book and go "...that's it?"

The whole story takes place over the course of 3 or 4 days, what's that tell you? (Ironically, I finished the book in just as many.) And yet, there's enough shit-slinging to fill cover-to-cover. Fights over boys. Daddy issues. Abandonment. Dead parents. Celebrity parents. Teen pregnancy. Cheating. Lying. Deceit. It's all here. I'm actually shocked that this book hasn't become a movie or a TV show. It's nothing particularly original, so as a film or show, it would probably tank hard, but that never stopped people like Gossip Girl. (Oh yes, I went there.) I don't know, I wasn't very impressed by this. It's not the most awful book I've ever read, but I can't in good conscience call it good by any stretch. I'm hoping that the rest of the series is better, since I'm going to be reading them anyway. I'm rating this one a 3 out of 5 stars. Fairly mediocre.