Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: August 7, 2012 by St. Martin’s Press
Series: #1 (Capital Girls)
Length: 304 pages
Source: bought (at Barnes & Noble)
“Jackie Whitman, Washington DC’s “It Girl.” She’s drop-dead gorgeous, brilliant and dating the President’s son. Under 24/7 media scrutiny, she never makes a mistake…but there’s a new guy on the scene with all the right moves. Suddenly, being bad has never looked so good.
Taylor Cane, blonde bombshell and wild child extraordinaire. She’s the leader of the pack and the glue that binds the four of them together. Reckless adventure is her specialty, flirting with danger her drug of choice, no matter the consequences.
Lettie Velasquez, she’s all brains and blind ambition. Her goal: Princeton. Though money and privilege elude her, she’s counting on hard work to pay off one of these days. So long as her heart doesn’t lead her astray.
Laura Beth Ballou, poor little rich girl and a real southern belle. She dreams of Julliard and the bright lights of Broadway. She’s sweet as pie…until the new girl in town starts messing with her friends.
Capital Girls forever…But when one of them dies in a mysterious accident, their once impenetrable bond is shaken. And as secrets long kept rise to the surface, the future of their friendship hangs in the balance. One thing’s for certain, though: Washington DC will never be the same again.”
When I first saw the book and read the synopsis, I thought the Capital Girls was going to be about Jackie, Lettie, and Laura going on this adventure to discover what really happened to Taylor, their best friend, who died in a “car accident”. Nope. The real deal in this book is that the girls are still mourning for their friend, Jackie cheating on her boyfriend, Laura backstabbing Jackie, and Whitney (the new girl in D.C. whose mother is a journalist for a gossip column) is befriending the girls only to get the inside scoop for her mother (meaning, she’s a traitor). The only character I liked in this book was Lettie. She’s the only character who wasn’t stupid, or two-faced. Despite on how the characters acted, I actually found this book a bit entertaining. We get to read about what the Capital Girls are going through, whether relationships, friendship, boys (a lot of those), and college. There was a twist in the book which made my jaw dropped, and there was a really suspenseful scene that made me want to keep on reading. I really wish that the book was about the Capital Girls solving the mystery of Taylor’s death though. I bet I would’ve loved this book.
I had a love/hate relationship with Jackie. Sometimes I rooted for her actions, and at times I wanted to smack her. She freaking FORCES her boyfriend, Andrew, to have sex with her. Good thing the guy refuses every time she seduces him. Desperate much? I really liked Andrew’s character, and when you read this book, you should definitely keep your eye on him. I hated Laura the most, and despise her 100%. She’s THE most backstabbing, two-faced, I-want-to-shoot-her character in this book. Enough said. Actually, Whitney too. I don’t know why these girls still kept her around the group even though they didn’t like her. Lettie was the only one with a straight mind. She cares about her future, her family, and I love how boys isn’t her first priority. I hate how some of the characters in this book ALWAYS mentions Paraguay when they’re talking to her just because she’s from there. Like, dude, shut up.
Overall I think this book isn’t for everyone. It’s entertaining with mystery, gossips, two-faced characters, and boys. I recommend it if you’re in for those type of stories and characters. If you think these characters will bother you, I suggest to not read it. It wasn’t a bad book, it’s just that the characters could be so mean! I really do think the next book, Secrets and Lies, will be better because I can feel that tons of secrets will be revealed to us.
