BLISS

Three friends make a pact to follow their bliss wherever it may lead them—and mostly find trouble—in this debut by ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars star Mitchell and her best friend, Blaney.

Jet-setting from Vancouver to Thailand, London, and Hollywood, the ladies have an enviable itinerary, but when you’re young and aimless, bliss is hard to define. The only person with real ambition at the outset is Sophia, an aspiring actress whose dreams of stardom may come true when she's called to audition for a new TV series in Los Angeles. Demi has to redefine her goals when she catches her live-in boyfriend with another woman, sending her on a downward spiral that ultimately awakens her passion for cooking. (Recipes are included.) Only gold-digging Leandra sticks to her original plan: using her looks to get what she wants. Desperate for cash, Leandra latches on to a rich man in Bangkok—the first of many cringe-inducing moments in which she cons adoring men out of their money. Typical 20-something experiences—first jobs, broken hearts, and grabby men in bars—turn into worst-case scenarios faster than the girls can reapply their lip gloss. If not for the pearls of self-help wisdom that precede each chapter—“Sometimes the most important life lessons are the ones we have to learn the hard way”—the theme of finding one’s bliss might be lost in the fray.

A steamy and scandalous read.