Private (Book 1)

Reader reviewed by Bookluver-Carol

Tradition, Honor, Excellence...and secrets so dark they're almost invisible

Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship to Easton Academy -- the golden ticket away from her pill-popping mother and run-of-the-mill suburban life. But when she arrives on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton, everyone is just a bit more sophisticated, a bit more gorgeous, and a lot wealthier than she ever thought possible. Reed realizes that even though she has been accepted to Easton, Easton has not accepted her. She feels like she's on the outside, looking in.

Until she meets the Billings Girls.

They are the most beautiful, intelligent, and intensely confident girls on campus. And they know it. They hold all the power in a world where power is fleeting but means everything. Reed vows to do whatever it takes to be accepted into their inner circle.

Reed uses every part of herself -- the good, the bad, the beautiful -- to get closer to the Billings Girls. She quickly discovers that inside their secret parties and mountains of attitude, hanging in their designer clothing-packed closets the Billings Girls have skeletons. And they'll do anything to keep their secrets private.

I kind of liked this book. Reed's family isn't rich.Of course, Reed feels like she must fit in and she tries to do whatever possible trying to. She is even humiliated in some occasions.I liked the book but I didn't feel like I needed to finish it in one sitting. I didn't like that when Reed loses her virginity she doesn't feel anything, she's emotionless. If you love the Gossip Girl series then you might like this series.I'm not saying it's a must read but if you have nothing better to do then you can pass the time by reading these books.Kate Brian's writing used to be so much better before she started writing this series.

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

PRIVATE is the first in a series about a bunch of teenagers attending a posh private school in New England. It doesnt sound like a particularly smart or original book, and that first impression would be, for the most part, correct. Its not as fun to read as I would have expected, either, but it did get me hooked on the series--enough so that Ill probably read INVITATION ONLY, book number two!

Reed Brennan is a scholarship student at Easton Academy eager to leave her dull suburban life, drug addicted mother, and complete lack of a social life behind in Croton, Pennsylvania, and Easton Academy looks like her ticket out. Reed will do anything to fit in with her overprivileged classmates, especially when the Billings Girls take notice of her. Theyre the most popular and powerful clique on campus, and, being the new girl, joining their ranks seems, to Reed, like the perfect way to finally find her place at Easton Academy.

No part of this book is exceptionally wonderful, but its all good enough to pass a few hours reading it. None of it is exceptionally bad, either. The characters are rather flat but not terribly so, and the story itself is rather unoriginal but not horrible. The writing, too, is decent but not wonderful. I expected more from Kate Brian after reading her wonderful book MEGAN MEADES GUIDE TO THE MCGOWAN BOYS, but this book serves its purpose--its enough to get readers hooked on the series!

Reader reviewed by K. H.

This book is very much like "Prep." Too much in fact. I think the writer was trying to hard to write like Gossip Girl & Prep combined with a bit of the Clique thrown in. It's an ok book, but why must all boarding school books throw some creepiness into the mix? They all hint that all girls' schools invite the girls to experiment w/being gay, and that scholarship students might as well be invisible outcasts.

I liked the drug dealing boyfriend in the book, because that to me was very real-the rich guy trying to rebel. I saw a lot of that where I went to school, but their relationship didn't feel real to me. also, I kept wondering if she'd worry about getting pregnant & that didn't happen, which seemed odd since she was bascially taken advantage of.

All in all, a good read, but too much like so many other books on the market for it to stand alone.

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

A new series emerges out of a world already full of Gossip Girls, A-lists, and Cliques. Sophomore Reed Brennan has been accepted into the prestigious Easton Academy on scholarship. Getting out of her depressing hometown and her emotionally abusive mothers grasp is liberating for Reed, but it is not too long before she once again feels like retreating into her usual antisocial loner shell. The only bright spot in her life is the bad boy Thomas Pearsontotally wrong but dangerously attractive and attentive to her.

Then she meets the Billings girls. They are beautiful, brilliant, and the best...and there are only four of them who really matter: Noelle, Ariana, Kiran, and Taylor. Reed thinks that shell be set if she can only become one of them, and so takes every opportunity to suck up to them. Sure, some of the things they make her do, such as stealing a test, make her think twice, but Reed knows that without the Billings girls, shed simply be another sophomore nobody at Easton.

However, the Billings girls and Thomas dont get along. In the meantime, Thomas has secrets of his own, too, and Reed fluctuates from desperately wanting to be part of the Billings girls to hating them for having a sickening power over everyone. Can Reed love Thomas, please the Billings girls, AND stay true to herself all at once? That seems like an impossible mountain to climb.

There is really nothing that has already been written in Private. Thomas is the stereotypical guy we hate to love, and Noelle is your average two-faced perfect villainess. There will certainly be room in this world for Private and its fans, though.