Monday, September 13, 2010

The Julian Game by Adele Griffin


All new girl Raye Archer wants is a way into the in crowd, so when ice-queen Ella Parker picks her to get back at her ex, the gorgeous Julian Kilgarry, Raye is more than game. Even if it means creating a fake Facebook identity so she can learn enough about Julian to sabotage him. It's a fun and dangerous thrill at first, but Raye hadn't counted on falling for Julian herself and igniting Ella's rage. As Raye works to reconcile the temptress Elizabeth with her real-life self, Ella serves up her own revenge, creating an online smear campaign of nasty rumors and trashy photographs. Suddenly notorious, Raye has to find a way out of the web of deceit that she's helped to build, and back to the relationships that matter. Adele Griffin's riveting novel explores the issues of generation Facebook: the desire to be someone else, real versus online friends, and the pitfalls and fallouts of posting your personal life online for all the world to judge


After I read what this book is about, I wasn’t sure if I would like it. Even when I was 20 pages in, I wasn’t sure if I would like it. Adele Griffin knows how to write fluidly and uses quirky dialogue that you just can’t help but like. The Julian Game was a fast paced book that I’m sure many people will enjoy. I like the fact that this book is so in tune with social networking and how it is in this day in age. Online bullying is becoming more and more common and The Julian Game tells a story about just one of the ways it can occur.
Something that was kind of unfortunate about this book was that the characters were stereotypical. Raye is the unpopular girl who will do anything to be in the popular crowd. She even goes as far as to pull a brutal prank on someone she likes. The friendship between Raye and her best friend Natalya is the sort of stereotypical friendship that everyone hopes for. Don’t get me wrong, people in real life have these sort of friendships. Even though Raye kept blowing Natalya off for the popular girl that Natalya had warned her about, Natalya still completely forgives Raye. If it were me, I would at least be a bit hesitant when forgiving someone who had betrayed me in a way. Ella is just… gross. She is the typical mean girl that everybody wants to be despite that nobody really likes her.
I read this book in a day, and loved it. It was addicting and I like how it is something that can relate to teens today.

FTC- Received for review.