Beautiful Americans by Lucy Silag

[description from B&N]

Secrets-

PJ's deep blue eyes and angelic long blond hair conceal a truth that's anything but. Will her dark past stay where it belongs in the backwoods of Vermont, or haunt her in the city of light?

Passion-
Always the good girl, Olivia plans to twirl her way to the top of the Parisian ballet scene. But that's not supposed to include dancing on a table all night . . . or stumbling into the arms of the wrong boy.

Lies-
With his emo-trendy bedhead, hilarious comebacks and Southern drawl, Zack could win over anyone. Too bad he's after the only one who's forbidden . . .

Scandal-
All Alex wants from Paris is to nab that berry-red Dior coat and seduce the perfect penny-loafer-wearing boy - and Alex always gets what she wants. But will her scheming pay off? Or is she risking more than she knows . . . ?

Alex, Olivia, Zack and PJ are spending a year at the prestigious Lycée de Monceau in the sparkling city of Paris. This is their chance to sip cafe au lait in Le Marais, throw secret parties in their host families' Versailles-size apartments, and have the time of their lives. But when the secrets they thought they left behind come out, everything could be ruined . . .

Review:

Going into this, I really didn't know what to expect. I never heard of it until an awesome publicist (Thanks, Jillian!) offered it. I accepted, of course, because it has a pretty cover. And then when I read the summary, I thought it sounded pretty good. I mean, copious amounts of drama in another country? Sign me up. And then when I finished it, I quite enjoyed it. Yay.

What I thought I'd do for this review is make it kind of like the above summary: talk about it character by character. So here we go:

PJ: I think she's more of a mystery than a character. Not much of her background is given and she narrates the least, so I didn't get to know her as well as the other. I just know that she's desperate to stay an enigma. And so far, I think she's succeeding.

Olivia: Her story was my favorite. She had one that kept me guessing and I really appreciated that her family story was included. She had a lot going on, but it wasn't very confusing.

Zack: I think he's an idiot for ever befriending Alex. I enjoyed his story the second most though. He was funny because of his worry of being outed, and I loved reading about his quest for a boyfriend. (Not a spoiler. Other summaries reveal that he's gay, and it's told in the beginning of the book.)

Alex: DIE DIE DIE. She annoyed me to no end. She's spoiled and rotten and her quest for a boyfriend was irritating, unlike Zack's. That's all she did: want a boyfriend. No, that's a lie. She shopped and talked about how she practically is a French person too. Her ending made me very happy though.

Other stuff: The alternating narration got a little confusing at times. I wasn't sure if some things were happening simultaneously or at different times. The final ending was a definite cliffhanger. WANT SEQUEL. Loved the writing style: very descriptive, but not too descriptive to where it slowed things down, and it flowed well.

That is all! And this book's release date is today, so be sure to pick it up. It's worth it, I think.

8/10