I went into this one with very low expectations. The book isn’t great but there was something here that kept me reading. Fair warning, even I am not really sure what the appeal was for me. I guess you could compare reading this book to watching a trashy tv movie. You know there's better options out there but yet sometimes you want to just stick around until the end. (By the way, I heard this book is being made into a tv series. I don't think the material is HBO worthy but maybe it will find a home on the CW network.)
When Jill Newman was a freshman at Long Island's exclusive Gold Coast Prep, her best friend was Shaila. Tragically, Shaila died and her boyfriend, Graham, confessed to the killing. Three years later, Jill is a senior and this should be the time of her life. As a member of The Players, the school's secret society, she is on the top of the high school popularity pyramid. But now there is talk of Graham possibly being innocent and Jill doesn't know what to think. As Jill digs for the truth about who killed her best friend, her life is going to be super messy and complicated this school year.
The story bounces back and forth between the present day story and freshman year when Jill was going through the initiation process of becoming a Player. The transitions are sloppy and disjointed and at times confusing. Normally I don't have a problem with keeping track of past and current storylines but it was not executed very well in this book.
The Players has a cheesy and dated feel to it like the story would have fit better in the 1980s time period rather than now. It's over the top but on some level it worked enough to keep my interest. With so much wild and crazy behavior going on, I wasn't compelled to like any of the characters, including Jill. I was curious though to see if the author was going to come up with some spectacular conclusion in regards to the mystery surrounding Shaila's death. Unfortunately it was unimaginative and therefore a disappointment. The author did try to throw in some substance when wrapping everything up but it was too little, too late.
My 3 stars is probably a tad generous as this isn't a book I would go out of my way to recommend.
When Jill Newman was a freshman at Long Island's exclusive Gold Coast Prep, her best friend was Shaila. Tragically, Shaila died and her boyfriend, Graham, confessed to the killing. Three years later, Jill is a senior and this should be the time of her life. As a member of The Players, the school's secret society, she is on the top of the high school popularity pyramid. But now there is talk of Graham possibly being innocent and Jill doesn't know what to think. As Jill digs for the truth about who killed her best friend, her life is going to be super messy and complicated this school year.
The story bounces back and forth between the present day story and freshman year when Jill was going through the initiation process of becoming a Player. The transitions are sloppy and disjointed and at times confusing. Normally I don't have a problem with keeping track of past and current storylines but it was not executed very well in this book.
The Players has a cheesy and dated feel to it like the story would have fit better in the 1980s time period rather than now. It's over the top but on some level it worked enough to keep my interest. With so much wild and crazy behavior going on, I wasn't compelled to like any of the characters, including Jill. I was curious though to see if the author was going to come up with some spectacular conclusion in regards to the mystery surrounding Shaila's death. Unfortunately it was unimaginative and therefore a disappointment. The author did try to throw in some substance when wrapping everything up but it was too little, too late.
My 3 stars is probably a tad generous as this isn't a book I would go out of my way to recommend.