Flawless by Sara Shepard.
Title: Flawless.
Author: Sara Shepard.
Genre: Fiction, teen fiction, mystery.
Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 2007.
Summary: Spencer stole her sister's boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya... as much more than a friend. Hanna's obsessions with looking flawless is making her sick. And their most horrible secret yet is so scandalous that the truth would ruin them forever. And someone is out to tell - with every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message, the mysterious A has got enough dirt to bury them alive.
My rating: 5/10
My review:
♥ They'd all keep the secret forever... and it would bond their friendship into eternity. That night, when they zipped themselves into their five-girl tent, J. Crew cashmere hoodies up around their heads, Ali gave each of then a brightly colored string bracelet to symbolize the bond. She tied the bracelets on each of their wrists and told them to repeat after her: "I promise not to tell, until the day I die."
They went around in a circle, Spencer to Hanna to Emily to Aria, saying exactly that. Ali tied on her bracelet last. "Until the day I die," she whispered after making the knot, her hands clasped over her heart. Each of the girls squeezed hands. Despite the dreadfulness of the situation, they felt lucky to have each other.
The girls wore their bracelets through showers, spring break trips to D.C. and Colonial Williamsburg-or, in Spencer's case, to Bermuda-through grubby hockey practices and messy bouts with the flu. Ali managed to keep her bracelet the cleanest of everyone's, as if getting it dirty would cloud its purpose. Sometimes, they would touch their fingers to the bracelet and whisper, "Until the day I die," to remind themselves of how close they all were. It became their code; they all knew what it meant. In fact, Ali said it less than a year later, the very last day of seventh grade, as the girls were starting their summer-kickoff sleepover. No one knew that in just a few short hours, Ali would disappear.
Or that it would be the day she died.
♥ An uneasy feeling nagged at her. Mona was her best friend, but there were tons of things Hanna wasn't telling her right now. Like about A's messages. Or how she'd gotten arrested Saturday morning for stealing Mr. Ackard's car. Or that Sean dumped her, and not the other way around. Sean was so diplomatic, he'd only told his friends they'd "decided to see other people." Hanna figured she could work the story to her advantage so no one would ever know the truth.
But if she told Mona any of that, it would show her that Hanna's life was spiraling out of control. Hanna and Mona had re-created themselves together, and the rule was that as co-divas of the school, they had to be perfect. That meant staying swizzle-stick thin, getting skinny Paige jeans before anyone else, and never losing control. Any cracks in their armor could send them back to unfashionable dorkdom, and they never wanted to go back there. Ever. So Hanna had to pretend none of the horror of the past week had happened, even though it definitely had.
♥ Emily knew she should feel happy-things were back to normal. Except she felt like she'd already irrevocably changed.
♥ But Wren was the right person. She knew she was passing the Point of No Return-if her parents found out, they'd never pay for anything ever, ever, ever again. Or pay attention to her. Or send her to college. Or feed her, possibly. So what? Wren made her feel safe.
♥ "I have a secret for you before you go," Maya said.
Emily came closer and Maya leaned into Emily's ear. Her lips didn't touch it, but they were so close. Tingles shot up Emily's back, and she heard herself breathe in sharply. It wasn't right to respond this way, but she just... couldn't... help it.
Go to the one you really love.
"I'll wait for you," Maya whispered, her voice a little sad and a lot sexy. "However long it takes."
♥ When Hanna looked around, she saw that a group of kids had gathered. The ones who were always invited to the parties, the ones who were interchangeably hooking up. The girls who weren't quite cool enough, the overweight boys everyone kept around only because they were funny, the rich kids who spend oodles of money on everyone because they were cute or interesting or manipulative. They were hungrily eating this up. The whispers had already started.
♥ "You guys were such a clique, back then. You really let people have it. Me... my sister..."
"We didn't mean to," Emily said, on instinct.
"Emily." Toby shrugged. "You did. And why not? You were the most popular girls in school. You could." His voice was sharply sarcastic.