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YA book review The Ashleys

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Book Review: The Ashleys (by Melissa de la Cruz)

I encountered YA highschool drama novels like Gossip Girl in libraries and bookshops all the time but never felt the urge to read them. Still, since I'd read Miss de la Cruz's vampire fantasy series Blue Bloods and like it, so I figured that it wouldn't be bad to read more of her other YA series. Let's see what I'd found out:

The Story:
Meet the Ashleys, the three princesses of Miss Gamble's Preparatory School For Girls, who happened to share the same name: Ashley Spencer (Ashley), who would do anything to make sure she and she alone was on the top of the food-chain; Ashley Li (a.k.a Lili), Ashley's sidekick who was tired of her status as the second best; Ashley Ailoto (a.k.a A.A), the tomboy in the group, who was currently obsessed with her online boyfriend. Cool, pretty, fashionable and came from rich families, the Ashleys ruled the social life in Miss Gamble's, they decided who is worthy enough to join the 'in-group' and who is 'zero' / loser.

Enters Lauren Page, a student from a far humbler background, was doomed to be a zero even since kindergarten. But everything changed when Lauren's father hit it big with the online video website (a fictional mock version of Youtube I guess?) he had invented, sending the Page family through a rags-to-super-riches transformation. Armed with US$600 hairdo, endless supply of expensive designer outfits and a new-found confidence, Lauren swore to join the Ashleys in-group, only to destroy them after she succeed. However, would the road from nobody to somebody be as smooth to travel as Lauren had hoped?

The Comment:
The Ashleys is a page-turner, also a funny, easy ride to enjoy; and more importantly, it's not annoying like some other highschool dramas. Like Blue Bloods, The Ashleys set its background on the social scene of high-end society. But instead of the New York setting in Blue Bloods, The Ashleys took place in San Fransisco and the characters were narrowed down to a group of pre-teens within an all-girl school.

As in other de la Cruz's YA novels, the author made sure that you know what the main characters were wearing and what brands those pretty outfits came from for most of the scenes; not to mention, teenager fashion magazines like CosmoGirl, etc and other teen's pop culture reference are no stranger to the main characters. Plus there're many detail of how the riches and the super-riches lived their lives. All these detail came along with  the bitchy, highly competitive school girls' drama between the Ashleys and Lauren. Still the story comes to me as a bit of a culture shock when I found out the main characters were 12 years old seventh-graders. What? 12 years old little girls? I though they were teenagers in their 14 to 16 years at the very beginning of the story! Since when did 12 years old allow to shop on their own, buying Gucci and Chanel like it's nothing with credit cards issued by their parents? Maybe these practices are common in American upper society but to me, that kind of things are pretty much unheard of.

The war between the Ashleys trio and Lauren, as funny as it can get sometime, is still in fact pretty vain and small-minded no matter how you look at it. Take the main character Lauren for example, she is interesting enough, but she is not a character we can easily sympathize with. When reading the book, I want to slap her "Foolish girl! You're a rich girl now and can take whatever life has to offer, so why bothers plotting to join those silly spoiled-bitch bullies!? For the love of goodness, have some respect for yourself damnit!" For many times when I was leading toward sympathy, Lauren would become an Ashleys-wannabe that made me feel quite frustrated. Ah, I so hope the girl would grow a backbone, become more mature and care less about what other people think in the latter books of the series.

It's not an exaggeration to call the Ashleys trio 'spoiled-bitch bullies', the cruel tricks they had played upon Lauren and their better-than-you attitude toward less popular students made them very well fitted for the title. However, Miss de la Cruz managed to describe the complicated love-hate relationship among girls well, and let the difference among the three Ashleys show as the story develops, instead of simply painted them as the irredeemable bitches who bullied the all-innocent heroine like some wicked stepsisters in fairy-tales.

A. A was the kindest soul in the group but she wasn't above letting Ashley do what she see fit. Caught between loyalty to her best friend and jealousy, Lili struggled to come out of Ashley's shadow and failed many times. Ashley Spencer, the leader of the trio was probably the most unlikable yet vivid character in the book. She very much reminds me of Mimi Force from Blue Bloods, both are the Queen Bee type but even Mimi's meanness paled in front of Ashley's bitchiness.

The ending is an welcomed surprise, and the author are clever enough not to offer us any good-triumphs-over-evil type of traditional ending. A few of the things are left to the sequel. Will Lauren succeed in overturning the Ashleys, or will she outgrow her jealousy and find a different way to make people like her? I hope to find out more in the sequel: Jealous?

Suggestion: it's a fun read, try it out if you like school girl's drama which manages to keep itself from being stupid, annoying and one dimensional.

See also: Blue Bloods book 1 review vampirekiki.deviantart.com/art…
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Laura-Mellark's avatar
Buying zgucci and Prada when you're twelve? I know people who do it. Usually they're annoyingly snooty about it.