Samantha is a stereo-typical popular girl: pretty, mean, and determined to stay on top. She’s not always happy with her hunky boyfriend or her best friend, but she remembers what it was like to be at the bottom of the social circle, and she’s not going back. However, when tragedy strikes, Samantha gradually discovers things about her friends and herself that she’s ignored for too long.

Oliver doesn’t hid her heroine’s faults, but she still manages to make Samantha a sympathetic character whose transformation is easy to believe. One of the most interesting aspect of the novel is Samantha’s rediscovery of her childhood friend Kent whom she’s long avoided both because he isn’t cool and because she fears her friends would be cruel to him.

Shelved in Young Adult, suggested for readers ages 14 and up

Reviewed by Melendra