Published June 28th 2016 by Harper Teen
Whoever said being nice would get you to the top?
Certainly not Alexandra Miles. She isn’t nice, but she’s more than skilled at playing the part. She floats through the halls of Spencer High, effortlessly orchestrating the actions of everyone around her, making people bend to her whim without even noticing they’re doing it. She is the queen of Spencer High—and it’s time to make it official.
Alexandra has a goal, you see—Homecoming Queen. Her ambitions are far grander than her small town will allow, but homecoming is just the first step to achieving total domination. So when peppy, popular Erin Hewett moves to town and seems to have a real shot at the crown, Alexandra has to take action.
With the help of her trusted friend Sam, she devises her most devious plot yet. She’ll introduce an unexpected third competitor in the mix, one whose meteoric rise—and devastating fall—will destroy Erin’s chances once and for all. Alexandra can run a scheme like this in her sleep. What could possibly go wrong?
I’m not actually sure I know where to start with this book. It was good in a I’m – scared – of – overachieving – girls kinda way. I felt like I was reading Mean Girls, but about Homecoming…. Anyone who lives in America, can you please enlighten me as to whether your schools are really like they are portrayed? If they are, I’m so glad I grew up in England!!
Alexandra Miles is our Grade A Psycho Girl who uses and abuses people to stay at the top. She tries to hide her horrible ways behind a sickly sweet demeanour of being nice to people … but obviously no one buys it! Everyone knows exactly who and what she is! Girls like this actually genuinely scare me! AS a reader, I was hoping that she would see the error of her ways and actually change by the end of the book… however, it was not meant to be!
I felt really sorry for her best friend Sam! I mean, she is her own worst enemy because she was best friends with such a psycho, but the way she was treated was horrible!! I was happy that, by the end of the book, she really does change and we see someone who is liable in general rather than the best friend of the schools queen bee! I really liked her as a character and I felt sorry for her throughout most of the book! I’m glad she found her ending the way that she did!!
I think the character that went through the most change was Ivy! Sure, Alexandra helped to make her the person that she was, but she still remained true to herself! she didn’t turn into queen wannabe and she became a stronger person because of that! She got a push in the right direction from Alexandra and then she stood on her own two feet and defended herself when she needed to! Which is something she would never have done at the beginning of the book! Way to go Ivy! I felt like a proud mother with her!
The ending of the book definitely left it open for a sequel – however, whether one has been planned or not, I don’t know. We could easily revisit this high school where it left off and watch the girls go for another round. I think it would be interesting to see where the author takes these characters if she does decide to do a sequel!
There were times when I had to push myself through this book a little bit because I thought the pacing was a little iffy. For me, the high school drama – whilst fun to read ever now and then – it can get a little same old same old, especially because every one of us lives through some sort of school drama at some point in our lives!! I did enjoy this book, but sometimes it felt like a little too much and I just kinda wanted to roll my eyes and put the book back down again!
All in all, I mostly enjoyed this book and the characters within it! I would definitely read a sequel to this book because I would be interested to know where the author takes these characters and just how far some of them are willing to go to remain on top! I gave this book 3/5 stars!
Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? Would you read this book, if you haven’t already?
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Lauren's Page Turners 
This sounds like an interesting book, I haven’t read it myself but based on your review and your description of the characters if schools in America are anything like this in real life I’m glad I went to school in England as well! 🙂
Honestly the development of the characters sound quite well done, I may have to add this book to my to-read list as well!
Great review Lauren! 🙂
It would definitely creep me out, especially because I would have been at the bottom of the food chain! I hope you enjoy it when you get to it 🙂
I would have been the bottom of the food chain as well, but maybe that would have enabled us to escape the notice of the really popular characters!
Thanks Lauren! 😀