January Book Of The Month: The A-List

The A-List by Zoey Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My January book of the month was The A-List, which only took me a couple of days to read. I could not put this book down, but I also found a few problems with it as well. The plot is addictive though and I am sure to be borrowing more from Danielle (already scored the second book!). I am trying to read two books a month with two reviews on my blog a month as well. I want to go back to my roots for the New Year. I used to only do book reviews. I don’t have as much free time as I used to, so I think this is very ambitious.

Disclaimer:

I promise to be brutally honest with my opinion, but it should not be taken as fact. Any reader should read it for themselves, before they decide if this book has any merit or not. Do not judge this book biased solely on my opinion. If you do, you might miss out on a great read. You never know. It could happen. My review may contain spoilers, but I really strive to be spoiler-free. I borrowed this book from my local library. This book was not suggested to me by the author. I have no affiliation with the author or his/her publisher.

Strong Main Character:

Anna is a bit weak in the beginning, but she undergoes a lot of character development. I love beginning inside of her mind and listening in on her inner turmoil. I love seeing her transcend above the other petty girls. I really feel like this book is all about Anna. I hope the series continues to focus mostly on Anna, although I do not mind reading about the other girls as well. I just feel like Anna steals the show with this one.
5 out of 5 stars

Evil Antagonist:

There really isn’t any evil character just mean, petty, and misleading ones. I really wish that there was some driving evil force, but there just wasn’t. I guess, this just isn’t that type of novel. I feel that fluffy romances could still have a truly evil character. Everyone is three dimensional not one. I’m not going to fault this book for it though. That is truly amazing that all characters are that developed.
5 out of 5 stars

Strong Minor Characters:

I feel like I cared about all of the characters in this book. With all the different POVs, I feel like I got to know every character a bit better and I understood their motivations. I just don’t quite understand Cammie yet and I don’t really care to. I didn’t label her as evil, because all her “evil” plans fell through every time in a matter of paragraphs. If the author wanted her to truly be evil, she should drag out the drama a bit more than she did.
4 out of 5 stars

The Plot:

I admire Dean for the story she weaved together so flawlessly with so many vital characters. It isn’t your typical East Coast girl goes to Cali to reinvent herself as the It Girl. Fate just happens to hand her It Girl status and the group of devious girls that come with it. I like that the main character stays true to herself throughout the novel and never gives into being part of the In Crowd. This seems like the perfect gateway series into Gossip Girl, which I found a bit dry. I might be tempted to try it again after reading these.
5 out of 5 stars

The Setting:

Where was it, seriously? The only descriptions in this book was what everyone was wearing. Otherwise, everything else was glossed over with little to no descriptive details. Describing the opulence of the mansions and how the parties were set up would have gone a long way into capturing my attention even more. I felt like the setting was largely ignored or “forgotten” for the most part.
1 out of 5 stars

The Dialogue:

Dean stayed very true to real teenage language. She didn’t use a lot of slang and while the teens are largely sex obsessed, they talked pretty true to real first world problems that teens would discuss. I thought that at the same time of being relationship crazy, the characters were mature and “worldly”. Simply put, her characters seemed like actual people: an amazing feat for any author.
5 out of 5 star

Engaging Surprises:

There were so many twists and turns that I don’t know exactly where to start. Some of the plot turns do not make much sense to me, which I think is very off putting to the reader. Others were easily understandable and gasp worthy. I also found myself laughing at certain points over how ridiculous some of the surprises were. Some were definitely not believable, but provided solid entertainment to be sure.
3 out of 5 stars

The Climax:

I will reiterate, what climax? Seriously, there were no gosh moment big enough t have been deemed the climax. There were many small moments, but they didn’t leave to any big reveal, unless you thought what Dee revealed the climax. She could have easily been lying though and for me, the moment just wasn’t big enough to be The climax to the whole point of the book. I just didn’t come across one reading the book.
1 out of 5 stars

Emotional Response:

Like I mentioned earlier, this caused a few laughs and giggles as well as gasps. Beyond that, I didn’t feel a real connection with the novel, but I did care about the characters in it and I am very interested/fascinated by them. This is a good light, fluffy read.
2 out of 5 stars

The Ending:

I thought the ending was a bit of a copout and very hurried through. If the book would have ended with Cassie’s warning, then it would have been fine. It ended with the scene with Ben though and I have to agree with Anna. His story does not make sense unless it was his sister with a Hannah Montana life. Otherwise, I do not see that happening with him at all. I also feel like Ben’s character isn’t all that charming or worthy of anyone in the story. He is supposed to be this dreamy Hollywood It Boy, but I fail to see that in him. He really has the bad habit of alienating people he supposedly cared about: a serious red flag in any relationship.
1 out of 5 stars

The Writing:

Overall, I really love Dean’s writing style, which is what makes her novel so addicting to me. I just eat the pages up with my ravenous eyes and want more. I do see a few plot problems with random bits of information that contradicts the story, but maybe they are supposed to be there to create the seeds of doubt? I do not know, but it makes the novel a bit confusing at some points. I wish Dean was a bit consistent with sticking with the characters’ stories and not follow up a character revelation with information or an event that contradicts that development. It’s like going backwards or nowhere at all.
3 out of 5 stars

The Artwork:

yawn It isn’t the most exciting, but at least it included a picture of whom I assume would be Sam.
2 out of 5 stars

Genre:

Fluffy chick lit all the way. I do not feel like the back blurb does this book any justice. It is much more than the blurb leads on. I am fully addicted.
4 out of 5 stars

Title:

It is a catchy title and it is what drew me to the book in the first place. I love popularity books. I am fascinated with them, probably because I never was popular myself and I want to know what I missed. People would argue with me that I was really popular at my last job at Kmart, but I never was in high school…just at basically every place after.
5 out of 5 stars

Overall, this novel gets a 3.28 or a 3 out of 5 stars. It was an enjoyable, light read, but it wasn’t really substantial or anything. I think that if you have spare time and you want to read this, it is a good book. If you want to read something similar to this but better, read The Clique Series or The Ivy Series, depending upon your age respectively. I enjoy reading all kinds of books and for me to keep reading a series, it has to at least get 3 stars from me.

I take book recommendations as well. If you want me to read a certain book and review it, let me know. If you have a book you want me to read and a list of questions to ask me instead of (or with) a review, let me know as well. I’m open to most anything. Any suggestions that I do read, I will name in my blog post and have a link back to your blog.

I am thinking about what to read next and I have it narrowed down to four: Elixir by Hilary Duff, LA Candy by Lauren Conrad, The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, or The Last Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book. Help me pick or suggest a totally different book. Thank you for helping a girl out. I can never decide on my own, just ask whoever shops with me.

With Love,

View all my reviews

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