Review: Authors show growth in second installment
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2013
Ellie Walker, the daughter of a single mom and senator, is the subject of media scrutiny after a photo of her kissing the son of her political arch nemesis makes the rounds. Even though she has feelings for Gabe, she can't be with him because of what his father did to her mother's marriage and career several years earlier. Ellie has also just been dumped by her boyfriend of two years, Hunter, and she has little hope he'll accept her apologies and take her back.Brinley Madison has her own set of problems, including an addiction to Adderall. Her brother, Brooks, has caught on to her habit, and Brinley's new enemy Taryn has overheard everything. If Brooks can't convince Taryn not to tell the press, Brinley could become caught up in her own media scandal. Luckily for Brinley, her father is very resourceful-perhaps even more so than Brinley has ever realized.Taryn, the new girl, has a rising star of a father; it's possible he might become the United States' first Hispanic president. Taryn is learning quickly  D.C. is nothing like L.A., and that just to survive, she might have to play dirty just like everyone else.Evan, Ellie's ex-friend, has a promising future in journalism, but in order to go places she's going to have to betray the trust of her friend Luke. Evan, a generally nice girl, tells Luke she's supposed to break the story that he's gay (quite scandalous since Luke is the son of a Utah representative who speaks out fiercely against gays). When they get Luke's father involved, Evan finds herself caught up in their lies. If Evan didn't have pesky feelings for Hunter, she might not mind masquerading as Evan's faux girlfriend.Ellie, Brinley, Taryn, and Evan are the main characters of Georgetown Academy Book Two, and each of them has an equal amount of page time in the book. I'm generally not a fan of mean girls, so I am happiest when Brinley's section are over. Even though she's pretty awful, I actually enjoyed her brother, Brooks, and am interested in seeing how his flirtation with Taryn might progress.If you haven't already read Georgetown Academy Book One, it's a must-read before starting this one. Though it might be pretty easy to follow along if you were to just jump in with this one, the first book offers plenty of back story and introduction to characters that you're either going to love or love to hate.Since this is interactive fiction, you'll also have decisions to make as you read. I've been pretty bummed out with the level of interaction with the Georgetown Academy books; I didn't get to make any choices in this one until the 74% mark, and it only involved deciding which character to follow while she got ready for a school dance. As with the first book, I saw plenty of places where it would have been fun to make decisions on characters' behalf, especially with Evan's and Taryn's story line.As with the first book, I noticed some minor editing issues, but they were nothing too distracting. I had way more concerns about the first book, and breathed a huge sigh of relief that I had a more enjoyable experience with the writing and editing overall in Georgetown Academy Book Two. I'm looking forward to book three, and hope that Coliloquy will offer more exciting interactive decisions for the readers to make.*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*