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Best Frenemies Forever
From mega-bestselling author Megan McCafferty―author of the beloved Jessica Darling series that The Wall Street Journal called “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker”―comes a hilarious love letter to the magic and heartache of middle school friendship. Sophie Dailey is NOT looking forward to starting middle school. For one thing, she doesn’t look like other kids. Instead of trendy tank tops, she wears high tech shirts that block UV rays. (Sun protection is serious business!) And she definitely doesn’t sound like other kids either. (She can’t say “holla” or “hot take” without making a weird face.) Needless to say, this is probably why her best friend, Ella, ditched her for Queen Bee Morgan. Sophie is comfortable with who she is and doesn’t want to change. But she’s also pretty lonely without Ella. Even worse, Morgan seems intent on making seventh grade miserable for Sophie, and Ella doesn’t bat an eye at the bullying. Then a new girl moves in next door to Sophie. Kaytee Ray is everything Sophie is fashionable and super-confident. Sophie can’t believe Kaytee wants to spend the last days of summer with her. Determined to keep Kaytee as a friend, Sophie lies about her social status, claiming to be besties with Morgan and Ella. As long as Kaytee attends Villa Academy―a private school on the other side of town―she’ll never find out her first friend in New Jersey is a loser. But can any friendship built on lies survive seventh grade?
- GenresFriendshipMiddle Grade
320 pages, Hardcover
Published May 17, 2022
7 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Megan McCafferty
27 books2,537 followersMegan McCafferty writes fiction for tweens, teens and teens-at-heart of all ages. The author of twelve novels, she’s best known for SLOPPY FIRSTS and four more sequels in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series--available throughout 2021 in updated 20th anniversary editions. She published two new books in 2020: TRUE TO YOUR SELFIE (MG, Scholastic) and THE MALL (YA, Wednesday Books). Described in her first review as “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker” (Wall Street Journal), she’s been trying to live up to that high standard ever since.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 7, 2022
Haters are classic plastic,
Hard and fake fake fake.
Our friendship is fantastic elastic.
We can't break break break.
This frenemy tale about Sophie and Kaytee is more than just "dumb girl drama." The complexities under the surface are brought to light as we watch Sophie and Kaytee begin 7th grade. I really appreciated that McCafferty clearly shows that both girls (and others in the book) had struggles and did things that are wrong at times. Sophie's mother is a social worker and has lots of experience with dealing with people who get off track. Her father is an academic who scorns the trappings of capitalism. Sophie thinks she needs to "be the right girl." With the help of a good friend and some great DIY projects, Sophie learns a ton about being herself and the joys of being twelve.
Thank you to Scholastic Press and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Hard and fake fake fake.
Our friendship is fantastic elastic.
We can't break break break.
This frenemy tale about Sophie and Kaytee is more than just "dumb girl drama." The complexities under the surface are brought to light as we watch Sophie and Kaytee begin 7th grade. I really appreciated that McCafferty clearly shows that both girls (and others in the book) had struggles and did things that are wrong at times. Sophie's mother is a social worker and has lots of experience with dealing with people who get off track. Her father is an academic who scorns the trappings of capitalism. Sophie thinks she needs to "be the right girl." With the help of a good friend and some great DIY projects, Sophie learns a ton about being herself and the joys of being twelve.
Thank you to Scholastic Press and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
October 30, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this sequel to Be True to Your Selfie, we follow the story of Sophie, who was cruelly dropped by best friend since birth Ella when Ella joined forces with the evil Morgan. Sophie is getting ready to start Mercer Middle School, and is spending her summer alone, working through the activities in The Book of Awesome for Awesome Girls to occupy her time. Her therapist mother and college professor father encourage her to make friends with the new neighbor girl, even though the parents have built a larger, new house after tearing down the one they bought. Kaytee is a bubbly, enthusiastic girl, which is a big constrast to Sophie's guarded, cautious personality, and seems to know how to be the kind of girl that everyone likes. She is going to a private school, so Sophie makes her think that she is still friends with Morgan and Ella, even though Morgan calls her "Ickface" at school and makes fun of everything Sophie wears. Sophie tells Kaytee that the group had a rift when Sophie invited Kaytee to a beach house for her birthday instead of Morgan and Ella. Kaytee has some secrets in her own past, and her brother Alex knows them. When Kaytee decides to come to Mercer Middle School, she gets assigned to the "cool group" that Sophie isn't in, and Sophie finds that her lies are going to work against her. Will she be able to make peace with Kaytee, even after all of the deception?
Strengths: So many middle grade books cover friendship breakups, but few continue to discuss how these former friends are still influencing each other. It's interesting to see Sophie's perspective, and to understand how traumatic Ella's actions were to her. This definitely is in tune with modern children and the way they process things; I had a friend ghost me at the end of 7th grade, and never thought to talk to her about it-- I just moved on. There are other good details about dealing with boredom, feeling out boundaries with parents (going to the mall alone for the first time was HUGE!), and making new friends. I rather enjoyed all of the Awesome Activities that Sophie did. Building her own rain barrel is certainly a better way to spend her time than doing social media postings with Ella and Morgan. Oh. Now I sound as judgey as Sophie's parents!
Weaknesses: Sophie's parents are really horrible and judgey, and it's scary to see their thoughts in Sophie's head throughout the book. Despite the mother's therapy background, they've managed to contribute a bit to Sophie's intensive self doubt. That was just hard to read; younger readers won't be as disturbed by it.
What I really think: While I'm glad that the changed the cover style, Be True to Your Selfie doesn't circulate as well as I hoped it would. Debating purchasing this; friend drama is always popular, and this cover will probably entice readers. This could be read as a stand alone, as Ella and Morgan are explained as much as is needed for this story.
In this sequel to Be True to Your Selfie, we follow the story of Sophie, who was cruelly dropped by best friend since birth Ella when Ella joined forces with the evil Morgan. Sophie is getting ready to start Mercer Middle School, and is spending her summer alone, working through the activities in The Book of Awesome for Awesome Girls to occupy her time. Her therapist mother and college professor father encourage her to make friends with the new neighbor girl, even though the parents have built a larger, new house after tearing down the one they bought. Kaytee is a bubbly, enthusiastic girl, which is a big constrast to Sophie's guarded, cautious personality, and seems to know how to be the kind of girl that everyone likes. She is going to a private school, so Sophie makes her think that she is still friends with Morgan and Ella, even though Morgan calls her "Ickface" at school and makes fun of everything Sophie wears. Sophie tells Kaytee that the group had a rift when Sophie invited Kaytee to a beach house for her birthday instead of Morgan and Ella. Kaytee has some secrets in her own past, and her brother Alex knows them. When Kaytee decides to come to Mercer Middle School, she gets assigned to the "cool group" that Sophie isn't in, and Sophie finds that her lies are going to work against her. Will she be able to make peace with Kaytee, even after all of the deception?
Strengths: So many middle grade books cover friendship breakups, but few continue to discuss how these former friends are still influencing each other. It's interesting to see Sophie's perspective, and to understand how traumatic Ella's actions were to her. This definitely is in tune with modern children and the way they process things; I had a friend ghost me at the end of 7th grade, and never thought to talk to her about it-- I just moved on. There are other good details about dealing with boredom, feeling out boundaries with parents (going to the mall alone for the first time was HUGE!), and making new friends. I rather enjoyed all of the Awesome Activities that Sophie did. Building her own rain barrel is certainly a better way to spend her time than doing social media postings with Ella and Morgan. Oh. Now I sound as judgey as Sophie's parents!
Weaknesses: Sophie's parents are really horrible and judgey, and it's scary to see their thoughts in Sophie's head throughout the book. Despite the mother's therapy background, they've managed to contribute a bit to Sophie's intensive self doubt. That was just hard to read; younger readers won't be as disturbed by it.
What I really think: While I'm glad that the changed the cover style, Be True to Your Selfie doesn't circulate as well as I hoped it would. Debating purchasing this; friend drama is always popular, and this cover will probably entice readers. This could be read as a stand alone, as Ella and Morgan are explained as much as is needed for this story.
December 29, 2025
Keep in mind that this review is for constructive purposes only, I am stating the strengths and improvements that could make it better only. So on to the strengths:
-Compelling drama that makes you want to keep reading: Sophie’s fall out with Ella, the Morganella channel, all of this drama is interesting and ties in. Also there is the drama about Kaytee/Kiera that I honestly found interesting.
- They show us a lot of facts about Sophie and Kaytee that we did not know. Like Sophie’s mom is a therapist and likes making muffins for the neighbors (buying but claiming them as homemade). We also learn about Sophie’s interest in helping the environment and Kaytee’s backstory
-Ella and Sophie both realizing that Morgan is a toxic friend and will not hesitate to cancel you if you don’t follow her orders
- I liked the mild worldbuilding (this is not a fantasy so it isn’t major) but references to made up fandoms like the dragonologist chronicles add some fun to the story. Also the whole Kaytee and Riley fanwar is interesting.
Things I didn’t like as much:
- Sophie was sorta stereotypical: her personality was the classic “not like other girls” outcast personality and it made sense in the plot but the fact that all the other students were just dumb selfie obsessed girls made it sorta trope-ish.
-Speaking of stereotypes, the classic gender roles. Boys are gross and only care about sports (yet the girls still obsess over them) while the girls are drama queens who only like selfies, makeup, and aesthetics. (Except for Sophie since she is an exception…)
All in all, this book was interesting but I would like the stereotypes/tropes to be less, great work Megan Mccafferty!
-Compelling drama that makes you want to keep reading: Sophie’s fall out with Ella, the Morganella channel, all of this drama is interesting and ties in. Also there is the drama about Kaytee/Kiera that I honestly found interesting.
- They show us a lot of facts about Sophie and Kaytee that we did not know. Like Sophie’s mom is a therapist and likes making muffins for the neighbors (buying but claiming them as homemade). We also learn about Sophie’s interest in helping the environment and Kaytee’s backstory
-Ella and Sophie both realizing that Morgan is a toxic friend and will not hesitate to cancel you if you don’t follow her orders
- I liked the mild worldbuilding (this is not a fantasy so it isn’t major) but references to made up fandoms like the dragonologist chronicles add some fun to the story. Also the whole Kaytee and Riley fanwar is interesting.
Things I didn’t like as much:
- Sophie was sorta stereotypical: her personality was the classic “not like other girls” outcast personality and it made sense in the plot but the fact that all the other students were just dumb selfie obsessed girls made it sorta trope-ish.
-Speaking of stereotypes, the classic gender roles. Boys are gross and only care about sports (yet the girls still obsess over them) while the girls are drama queens who only like selfies, makeup, and aesthetics. (Except for Sophie since she is an exception…)
All in all, this book was interesting but I would like the stereotypes/tropes to be less, great work Megan Mccafferty!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2024
McCafferty's book is a fantastic exploration of the challenges of navigating middle school life and the lies we sometimes tell in order to feel acceptance. Sophie and Kaytee have a beautiful friendship but it becomes complicated when Kaytee transfers to Sophie's public school and discovers that Sophie has not been telling her the truth about her friends. Anyone who has ever felt insecure or jealous will relate to the emotions Sophie experiences. This would make an excellent MS book club read.
November 17, 2022
A great book. Truly amazing.
October 15, 2023
I rated it a 5 out of 5. I did that because I usally don't feel like any emotion when I'm reading but this book made me feel emotion. The way the author wrote it is just amazing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews