Book Review: Pretenders by Lisi Harrison

Pretenders
Pretenders #1
Author: Lisi Harrison
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
Released: October 1st 2013
Review Source: Poppy

Three girls, two guys, five secret journals.

The five most popular students at Noble High have secrets to hide; secrets they wrote down in their journals. Now one of their own exposes the private entries...

I am leaking these because I'm tired and I know you are too. The success bar is too high and pretending has become the only way to reach it. Instagrams are filtered, Facebook profiles are embellished, photos are shopped, reality TV is scripted, body parts get upgraded like software, and even professional athletes are cheating. The things we believe in aren't real.

We are pretenders.

The Phoenix Five are the top dogs at school. The five most outstanding freshman. WHY are they The Phoenix Five? Someone suspects they aren't as put together as they appear. The book starts off with a mysterious letter from a student explaining that at the end of each school year, The Phoenix Five are chosen. Attached to the letter is something big. The journals from each of the five freshmen that they kept as an assignment from their English teacher the previous year! Journals that were never meant to be read or seen by anyone are out now in full display for every ones eyes. Do The Phoenix Five really have it all together?

Immediately I was excited to read this book because it's in journal form. I. Love. Journal form! And I have to say, that's probably the main reason why I finished reading the book. Don't get me wrong, it was a good book. It was just too juvenile for me. Not to mention the fact that it's more like a prequel. Still, the characters were easy to like and the story was easy to follow.

I felt for all five of these kids. When a book is set up to have the top five students secrets spill, we know it will be interesting. We also know, not everyone is perfect and so these five kids most likely won't have everything together. I'm curious to know what happens next. And if it's in journal form again, which I'm sure it will be, I'll keep following the series!