THE A-LIST

In this fast-paced but uninspired soap opera, 17-year-old Anna Cabot Percy, an elegant, self-contained New York upper-crust WASP, goes to Los Angeles to visit her distant father and cast off her good-girl image. On the plane she meets a handsome, charming, rich Princeton freshman who invites her to be his guest at a movie star’s opulent wedding. But what Anna doesn’t know is that his invitation stirs the ire of the most powerful (and indeed selfish, unhappy, and unpleasant) teens at the wedding, the so-called A-List girls, who aren’t about to let an interloper poach on their turf. As with the Gossip Girl books, adult readers will be struck by how alone these kids are—there is barely a caring adult in sight—while teens will get the thrill of seeing how the super-rich live, coupled with the heartening insight that money doesn’t guarantee happiness. (Fiction. YA)