Review: These are like potato chips!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2013
Review:I am a sap for over the top melodrama, and Georgetown Academy has that in spades.  Everyone is having trouble dealing with living life under a microscope, where poor decisions and lapses in judgment have painful, negative consequences on their high-powered parents, as well as themselves.  Growing up the child of movers and shakers has its drawbacks, and Ellie is learning first hand that everything she does is scrutinized.  When an illicit kiss with Gabe makes the news, casting mother in a bad light and jeopardizing her career, Ellie has to deal with not only the blowback from Hunter, her boyfriend, but also the bitter disappointment from her mother.  Gabe's father and Ellie's mother have been at odds for years, and Ellie's behavior comes across as a betrayal to her mother.  So, it seems that even the kids of the high and mighty are not immune to the pressures and stresses of life, where even rumors and the most innocent action can cause the scandal of the century.I think I enjoy this series so much because it is so readable.  Events tick along at a frantic pace, jumping from one of the four main protagonists to the next in rapid succession.  I have mixed feelings about some of them; Brinley is my least favorite.  She is such a smug, pompous hag that she's hard to like.  When bad things happen to her, I'm usually not too upset about it.  I want to see her hit rock bottom, just to see if she has the mettle to drag herself back up again.  Evan is my favorite of the four, because her humble background is closer to mine.  She is caught up in a charade, pretending to be the girlfriend of Luke, her best friend, who is terrified that his big secret will crawl out of the closet and destroy his father's career.  Luke needs to grow a backbone and be honest about his sexuality, instead of lassoing Evan into a masquerade that is destroying any chance of her catching the boy of her dreams.  It's unfair of Luke, and it's unfair of his family to expect her blindly go along with their plans for their political security. Ugh.I like Taryn, too.  After feeling sorry for herself for becoming a social outcast, thanks to a rumor that Brinley started, she pulls herself together and gets back at her rival. How? By being herself and not letting the stifling confines of G.A. hem her in.  She's not going to let anyone squeeze her into a mold, and she's going to blaze a trail for herself in her new school.  Fitting in is no longer a goal.  Striking back and making an impression is.  Taryn is like a shooting star; she's bright and she's burning a path for herself, because she doesn't want to be like anyone else.  I love how important being herself is to her, and how being true to herself has given her back the confidence she had lost.  I'm so curious to see if anything happens between her and Brooks, Brinley's brother, because that would be the ultimate f you to Brin. lolI don't know if I should feel sorry for Ellie, or tell her to get a life.  She dumped her best friend for Brinley, for goodness sake!  Brinley!  After the unpleasant revelation about Brinley's father, something that she can never share with Ellie, I wonder how much longer they will be friends.  And her back and forth between Hunter and Gabe?  Ugh!  She's jerking both of them around, though it seems like some of that is going to come back around to bite her in the behind.  Ouch!Another thing I like about this series - it's immediately accessible, even to new readers.  Enough background information is peppered throughout the narrative so that you understand all of the relationships between the characters.  I don't think someone picking this up without reading the first book in the series would be confused.  They would miss out on the all the fun drama, but they could easily get up to speed with the story.  One thing I don't like?  The inability to add bookmarks or make notes.  It drives me nuts, in fact, because I'm so used to a regular Kindle book.  Tapping the middle of the screen propels you to the next page, and going in any direction but forward is a tedious, frustrating process.  And you can't tell how much further you have until the end, or even what page you are on.  Sigh.  Georgetown Academy is turning out to be a very fun series!Grade: B+