Once Upon a Twilight!: Book Review: Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig + Giveaway

Pretty Crooked
Pretty Crooked #1
Author: Elisa Ludwig
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: March 13th 2012
Review Source: Katherine Tegan Books
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from Amazon) Willa's secret plan seems all too simple.

Take from the rich kids at valley prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa's turn as Robin Hood at her new high school is anything but. Bilking her "friends"—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to break into lockers and Beemers is as hard as she'd thought it would be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are bullied just for being different, is more fun than she'd expected.

The complication Willa didn't expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, VP's most notorious ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her—evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There's no time for flirting, especially with conceited trust-funders like Aidan. But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Elisa Ludwig's Pretty Crooked is the first book in an adventurous teen caper series filled with mystery, humor, and heart.

Can you imagine being wealthy after having nothing? Living from place to place to finally settling in a place no other then Paradise Valley! That’s a dream come true, isn’t it? That’s what happens to Willa. She’s enrolled in a new school yet again and has to make new friends. Instantly she becomes good friends with Cherise who’s part of the Glitterati along with Nikki and Kellie. They are all getting along and doing what friends do, go to the mall and shop till they drop. But too soon Willa realizes the inequality at Prep Valley and the cause behind it. She’s so angry she takes matters into her own hands.

The cover of the book basically gives away a piece of what the story is about but it also helps you visualize who Willa is and in my opinion, that’s the best part.

The characters in the story are very well developed and easily lovable. Especially Aidan. He’s the son of one of Paradise Valley wealthiest families and did I mention he’s gorgeous? Yup! He’s totally sweet, down to earth, not a (I'm good looking and i know it) kind of guy. You instantly fall in love with the relationship that builds between Willa and Aidan. It’s like a love and hate relationship, at least from Willa’s perspective.
Willa is the (MC) and she’s my favorite character of all. I loved Willa and how she knows the difference from right and wrong. She’s a strong independent woman who doesn’t take crap from anyone. I can relate to her character. I would get angry, suspicious, and nervous with her every time in the book. I liked how well developed her character was. Elisa did an amazing job with her. She had an amazing relationship with her mother, who was a painter. I can also relate to that because my mother and I are best of friends. Like I said I enjoyed reading the story particularly because of Willa. What an amazing character. I liked Cherise but was annoyed with her as well. I couldn’t believe that she would not stand up for what she believed in and would just sit back and let it happen. Although, she sometimes spoke up and defended the scholarship girls in Prep Valley it just wasn’t enough. I wish she would have stood up what she believed in and stop sucking up when she did. It just made it worse.

Nikki is one of the wealthiest girls at Prep Valley. She has everything you can dream of but takes advantage of everything and believes that she deserves the world. She’s snotty and impolite and basically runs Prep Valley along with Kellie. She’s not as bad as Kellie but she might as well be. I saw Nikki as a follower. Didn’t like her character too much. But without her character the story just wouldn’t sit right. She developed perfectly but I just hate these kinds of people. Kellie on the other hand is worse character of all. I mean in personality not in development. I just despise people with these mentalities, that think because some one is less fortunate then they are they can blast lies about them all over the Internet. She was the worse of all and I can’t really go into detail about why because them I’ll spoil the entire story.

This story is the perfect example of Internet bulling and how High School which is supposed to be the best 4 years of your life can be the worse at the blink of an eye and just because you don’t own the clothes sold at Neiman Marcus. I think Elisa did an amazing job with this story and although what Willa did is considered doing something wrong, I can picture myself getting as upset as Willa and doing exactly what she did!! This is a perfect read for all high school students and just anyone who likes reading. I highly recommend this book to Everyone!!!

Another great review we felt we should sure its greatness with our readers. Today we have a ARC copy of Pretty Crooked up for grabs. Let us know what you think about our review?

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