Pretenders (Pretenders: Book 1)

Pretenders (Pretenders: Book 1) by Lisi Harrison

281 Pages

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Poppy

Release Date: October 15, 2013

Fiction, Children’s Fiction, Teens, Young Adult, Secrets, High School, Peer Pressure

The book is centered around the first year of high school for five teenagers – three girls and two boys. The school is very exclusive and there are high expectations for the students. A teacher asks her class to keep a journal for the whole school year. She said it is private and she will not read them. She just wants them to feel comfortable recording their year.

The book has a slow choppy pace because it is written as journal entries by each of the five students. Sometimes I confused the girls’ entries. What I liked about the story was the real emotions of fitting in and being different. All the characters have flaws, and the reader sees their struggles. The book was okay, but the ending was nonexistent. It just ended abruptly. I see now there is a second book so maybe there is closure in the next book.