Sloane Sisters by Anna Carey

Title: Sloane Sisters

Author: Anna Carey
Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: April 20th, 2009

Number of Pages: 208

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Style. Sabotage. Sisterhood.

When Cate and Andie Sloane's Upper East Side dad met Stella and Lola Childs's British-model mom, nobody thought a transatlantic relationship would last. But then their parents drop the M-bomb—marriage—and it looks like Cate, Andie, Stella, and Lola are going to be one big happy family. Well, big anyway. Meet:

Cate Sloane: She dominates the ninth grade at exclusive Ashton Prep. Tantrum-prone and competitive, Cate would rather wear Laura Ashley every day than be second best at anything. Luckily there's not a rival in sight. Yet.

Andie Sloane: Twelve-year-old Andie desperately wants to walk the runway. Her face is flawless, and boys flock to her like love-struck sheep. There's just one leetle problem: She's only 4' 11". But with a new supermodel stepmom, she'll be voguing in no time. Right?

Stella Childs: With her take-charge attitude and a closet full of supermodel swag, Stella was the It Girl at her London middle school. She's determined to rule Ashton Prep—even if that means dethroning the current queen bee. Can you say British Invasion?

Lola Childs: London boys called gawky Lola "Sticks," but she's got a new mission in Manhattan: boyfriend or bust! With the help of her boy-magnet stepsister, Lola sets her sights on supercute Kyle Lewis. Too bad Kyle's only got eyes for . . . Andie.

Alright, alright - you've got me. I've never admitted this on my blog before, but I really like The Clique series, and even though I haven't read it, I'd probably like the Gossip Girl series too. It's not because I like girls calling the B-word behinds each others backs, but it's more because I love reading about all of the predicaments the girls find themselves in, all because they want to be popular and for people to like them. That's probably why I didn't find it hard to pick this book up, but believe me when I say this novel has more to it then it seems.

Sloane Sisters starts off with a very interesting introduction. In interesting, I mean kind of shocking. Anna Carey wrote it so that we get the basic facts we need in a crisp voice that got to the point, but she also wrote it in a way that told us "People, anything can and will happen." And that it did.

I found that, unlike characters from other Gossip Girl type books, the main characters in this novel actually seemed to have a valid reason for doing what they did. Sort of. While Cate and Stella spent most of the book fighting to "rule the school" which I found quite pointless, Lola's urge to find friends and get her crush to notice her felt real and true. Andie's dream of proving her older sister, Cate, wrong by pursuing in modeling did not seem led by jealousy (at least, not much) but it was more . . . inspiring.

In Sloane Sisters the author used lots of neat phrases like, "she finger-combed Lola's wind-knotted waves" and "she gathered her hair together at the nape of her neck in a ponytail" (notice how they're both about hair? *smiles*) that I find people do all the time in real life, but authors rarely put these common tid-bits in books. Well, unless it's just me. But it's not me . . . right?

The point is, Anna Carey's debut novel is an entertaining, quick read that can't hurt to take out from the library. They don't even swear! Yes, the ending does become clear two-thirds into this book, but it's still fun to read all the same. My only complaint? At the very, very end when Carey dedicates a page hinting to what the next book is about, she takes a Gossip Girl approach to the book and, I think, kind of dampens the happy feeling you just got from the ending. Unless it's just me. It seems to be that a lot these days . . . A-