Willa Fox is the new girl in town and is going to Valley Prep, the school for rich kids (how could it not be, with a name like that?). Willa’s mom has recently made a really, really really good sale on her art (do painters actually make money?), so Willa is now one of the rich kids, too. She notices that the scholarship kids are treated like dirt, decides someone should do something about the social injustice, and goes about stealing from her so-called friends, the “Glitterati,” and giving to the scholarship kids. Of course, the moral complexities start to get…pretty complicated. She meets a rich boy named Aiden who has a different way of rebelling against the social order. She starts lying to her mom, and realizing her mom might be keeping a few secrets of her own. The drama!

I really liked this story, but it’s not for everyone. It’s very formulaic with few surprises if you have any experience in this genre, but the formula is well-done and entertaining. Willa has really good intentions, which makes her sympathetic even when she makes foolish choices. She can be a little annoying though, so again, maybe not for everyone. But, if you're going to only read one book with this kind of plot, this is a pretty good choice.

The characters are intriguing and layered. Willa, and therefore the reader, gets certain first impressions from all of them, but then through the story they all get layers (like onions), which I appreciated. Aiden, the Glitterati, the scholarship kids, etc, are not completely as they appear, and are fleshed out really well. I look forward to more of these characters in future books.

Pretty Crooked is the beginning of a series, so I was pleased to see that there’s a good full story arc with Willa, while still leaving a few loose ends that makes me want to continue reading. I’m especially curious about what’s going on with her mom.

(also posted at my blog, bahnree.blogspot.com) ( )

Willa Fox is the new girl in town and is going to Valley Prep, the school for rich kids (how could it not be, with a name like that?). Willa’s mom has recently made a really, really really good sale on her art (do painters actually make money?), so Willa is now one of the rich kids, too. She notices that the scholarship kids are treated like dirt, decides someone should do something about the social injustice, and goes about stealing from her so-called friends, the “Glitterati,” and giving to the scholarship kids. Of course, the moral complexities start to get…pretty complicated. She meets a rich boy named Aiden who has a different way of rebelling against the social order. She starts lying to her mom, and realizing her mom might be keeping a few secrets of her own. The drama!

I really liked this story, but it’s not for everyone. It’s very formulaic with few surprises if you have any experience in this genre, but the formula is well-done and entertaining. Willa has really good intentions, which makes her sympathetic even when she makes foolish choices. She can be a little annoying though, so again, maybe not for everyone. But, if you're going to only read one book with this kind of plot, this is a pretty good choice.

The characters are intriguing and layered. Willa, and therefore the reader, gets certain first impressions from all of them, but then through the story they all get layers (like onions), which I appreciated. Aiden, the Glitterati, the scholarship kids, etc, are not completely as they appear, and are fleshed out really well. I look forward to more of these characters in future books.

Pretty Crooked is the beginning of a series, so I was pleased to see that there’s a good full story arc with Willa, while still leaving a few loose ends that makes me want to continue reading. I’m especially curious about what’s going on with her mom.

(also posted at my blog, bahnree.blogspot.com) ( )

*Part of the DAC 2012 ARC Tour, hosted by Tara; received ARC for review; book published March 13, 2012*

From Goodreads: Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

This is going to be a hard review for me to write.

There were elements of this book that I did like, and I'll go into those at the end so we're all left with happy thoughts. I'll get the 'meh' bits over with first.

First of all, I don't know that some elements were extremely believable. It's mentioned that Willa heads to a mall 12 miles away to make her purchases ON A BIKE. In Phoenix? In the early fall? Doubtful. Also doubtful because Willa is a teenager. How many teenagers do you know who are going to bike a nice round trip of 24 miles out of the goodness of their hearts? Exactly. None. So that didn't gel.

Also, very minor detail, but no one in Phoenix wears windbreakers in the fall. It's bloody hot there and absolutely impractical to wear a jacket. Unless, of course, one has a severe medical condition that causes extreme coldness, but there was no mention of that. And it was the PE teacher, so I'm ruling out medical issues.

Also, along with this, my sister-in-law is from the Phoenix/Mesa area, and when I told her about this, she looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently, the schools like Valley Prep would ALL have indoor gyms with a/c cranked up. You would NEVER find a teacher making the students push for an 8-minute mile in the Phoenix heat. It's asking (no, begging!) for a lawsuit.

There's something going on with Willa's mom too, and I never got a sense of closure. By the end, things are completely different between them, and her mom is just like 'oh, we're not going to talk about me' and Willa is okay with that. With the relationship between them that Ludwig set up in the beginning, I have a very hard time buying this. A person you love does a dramatic 180* and you're just like 'cool man, now let me get back to my show'. I don't think so. Not when you're all each other has.

I was also under the impression that this was going to be a stand-alone at first, so I was disappointed with the amount of questions still running through my head. I did find out that it's part of a series, so that does make more sense, though I don't see where this can go next to be honest. New town, new caper? Who knows. I do know that I likely will not be going along for the ride.

Finally, and the biggest thing, I just can't get behind the treatment of the bullying.

This is such a serious topic, and to miss an opportunity to take a stand is unfortunate. We all know that cyber bullying is probably the lowest and most despicable form. It's so easy to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet, and kids have killed themselves over it. It's a huge deal and one that should never be taken lightly, in my opinion. Now, don't get all crabby pants on me and tell me that this is just for fun, because I'm not expecting Ludwig to make a huge, giant statement and be all BULLYING IS BAD with her book. Books don't have to always be a platform. I get that.

BUT

Willa's "solution" to the bullying problem, which is incredibly severe, is to throw designer clothes at the targets. It's incredibly naive and superficial. Designer clothes do not rid the world of evil bullies. So, not only is she kind of making light of the situation with her solution (the solution really IS out of the goodness of her heart, and I'll talk about that in a minute), but she's giving the bullies another platform. "Oh, we see that you're now trying to dress like us. Proves that we were right about you and that you weren't ever good enough as yourself because now you're trying to be just like us because we're better than you."

I just think it sends the wrong message, is all. It's a tragic missed opportunity.

Willa's criminal mentor is also one of the few people of color in the story, and I felt like that was really quite stereotyped. Bad boy from Detroit, OF COURSE HE'LL KNOW HOW TO STEAL. I may have actually gone along with the whole thing if someone like Drew had been the coach, because I quite liked Tre. I thought he was solid and a well-written character and he deserved better than to be made the token Black criminal guy.

Also, the kids who are picked on are Hispanic, at least the ones we know about.

Come on. Aren't we done with this kind of thing? Please, can we be?

I felt like Ludwig's writing was witty and relaxed, while being technically sound. Hooray for that! It was easy to read and not mired down in the grammatical errors that drive me batty. She's got amazing potential as an author, and I think she's going to go great places. I just don't think this is that book, at least for me.

I think Willa tried to have a heart of gold. With her upbringing, it doesn't surprise me that she's incredibly naive about the way things work. When you think that tossing designer clothes onto a problem will make a unicorn out of a donkey, well, that's naivety at its finest. BUT, she's sincere in wanting to help these girls. She just doesn't quite know how to go about doing it.

I'm glad that she wants to take a stand, because she was actually quite likable, and the people she's stealing from really aren't. (Not that it makes it okay to steal from them, just so you know where I stand on that.)

Overall, while I really quite liked Ludwig's writing style, I just couldn't get behind the book in its entirety. The things I didn't like unfortunately greatly outweighed the things I did. While I didn't hate the book by any means (it was entertaining on the surface), I also couldn't like it. In the end, it was a 'meh' for me.


Content Advisory:
Lanuage: Moderate
Sexuality: Mild
Violence: Mild
Mature Themes: theft, Robin Hood complex, bullying, parental disconnect

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Rating 7/10

This was a fun and exciting novel. I could hardly put it down and I was drawn in from the first page.

What I like is the fact that there is a whole range of diverse characters, Willa the carefree individual that just wants to fit in, Willa’s mother the artists, Tre the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, Aidan the bad boy that cares and a whole host of bitchy, friendly and snarky girls! So what else would you need?

But I’m not only gushing about the characters, the writing was smooth and a pleasure to read. It was funny and quirky and not to mention the fun twist on the Robin Hood tale. There are also tons of laugh out load moments. Willa is hilarious and witty!

Sure this novel has some really questionable morals. Willa was trying to help, but did she really succeed? Couldn’t she just have stood up for them? Made friends with them?– That was my only concern/gripe with this novel. I don’t think anyone reading this book will get the wrong message and go out and steal for the better good, but you never know.

Either way I can’t wait to find out what happens next! And I will definitely get a paperback copy of this for my collection! ( )

I'm kind of on the fence about how I feel about this book. If she wanted to actually help people, she could have befriended them or tried to get more people to accept them. Instead, she did something incredibly stupid and completely illegal in an effort to "help," and instead, only made things worse. I just don't approve of any of the things she did in this book. ( )