#23: The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz
Eliza Thompson used to be one of High Society’s It girls until her parents lost everything. When Ryan, one of her few old friends who knows of her circumstances, tells her that his parents are looking for au pairs to watch his younger siblings in the Hamptons over the summer, she assumes (wrongly) that the job offer is a token to soothe her pride, and that she won’t be expected to work. Mara Waters, the quintessential Good Girl who is saving up for college and a car is also hired, and is Jacarei “Jacqui” Velasco, a South American beauty who is looking for a boy she fell in love with who told her he vacationed in the Hamptons.
There’s so much name and label dropping in the first fifty or so pages that a person could go blind in self-defense, but that thankfully lessens as the book continues. The book has some irritating typecasting, particularly when it comes to Jacqui (though she does thankfully eventually say “Screw you!” to the typecasting) and I grit my teeth at some choices the characters make (such as Mara sticking with her loser boyfriend and Eliza trying to cling to her old friends, and most of Jacqui’s choices in general) but the characters are enjoyable, if not original. Each girl has a romance of her own (though not, despite cover implications, with each other) and like the characters themselves, they’re enjoyable if not original, though only Mara’s really seems to have enough development, and one seems to come a bit out of nowhere at the end. But then, I’m pretty sure it was supposed to.
Nothing unique or groundbreaking on any level, but largely enjoyable fluff.
There’s so much name and label dropping in the first fifty or so pages that a person could go blind in self-defense, but that thankfully lessens as the book continues. The book has some irritating typecasting, particularly when it comes to Jacqui (though she does thankfully eventually say “Screw you!” to the typecasting) and I grit my teeth at some choices the characters make (such as Mara sticking with her loser boyfriend and Eliza trying to cling to her old friends, and most of Jacqui’s choices in general) but the characters are enjoyable, if not original. Each girl has a romance of her own (though not, despite cover implications, with each other) and like the characters themselves, they’re enjoyable if not original, though only Mara’s really seems to have enough development, and one seems to come a bit out of nowhere at the end. But then, I’m pretty sure it was supposed to.
Nothing unique or groundbreaking on any level, but largely enjoyable fluff.