Although sixteen-year-old Lori is accustomed to competing with her beautiful but spoiled cousin Danielle, she fears that her romance with football star Nick Hobart is doomed when Danielle decides to take him for herself.
This breezy book made me crave a soft pretzel and yearn for the days when malls were multiple levels, complete with every kind of store imaginable.
The silliest part of the book was when the gang of friends took turns sending a small child scurrying around the mall with a note that kept getting edited and dropped.
Piggybacking off the success of Sweet Valley High, we are introduced to Merivale Mall...except I wanted MORE MALL 😆 Several of the characters work at stores in the aforementioned mall, but I really wanted to SEE the arcade...the fountain...the food court! We don't get a lot of that exposition, sadly!
Random thoughts:
- The rich bitch of the book is Danielle, who is essentially Lila Fowler from Sweet Valley High 😆 Scheming, conniving, and trying to charm and buy her way into whatever she wants 😈 Meanwhile her cousin Lori is akin to Elizabeth Wakefield...sweet and studious and basic 🤣
- Just a wee bit dated in a few respects...like the fat shaming. The chubby girl (named PATSY, FOR CHRIST SAKES) is belittled and made to go on a diet, on which she exclaims, "NO CHIPS WILL TOUCH THESE LIPS" LMAOOOOOOO
- Fat Shaming part 2: Patsy is given a makeover and declares, "The only kind of mousse I used to think I needed was chocolate!" CRINGGGGGGE
- Lori works at Tio's Tacos in the mall, and is forced to wear an "authentic" Mexican costume for a promotion. I....I don't even have to tell you about this part 😩
A light, fluffy, decent-enough read, which was a total 180 departure from the previous horror novel I read. 3 out of 5 shopping bags for this book...I would've bought more stuff, but none of the mall stores really interested me 🤪🛍