BOOK TITLE: POSEUR
AUTHOR: RACHEL MAUDE
GENRE: CONTEMPORARY, FICTION
PUBLISHED: 2008
SERIES: POSEUR
SERIES SEQUENCE NUMBER: 1
RATINGS: 4 Stars
Poseur (n): A person who pretends to be what he/she is not. Charlotte Beverhill, Janie Farrish, Melissa Moon and Petra Greene attend exclusive Winston Prep in the Hollywood Hills. But hang out together? They rather be hanged. Borrow one another’s clothes? They’d sooner borrow a zit. So when these four sophomores are forced into a class to create their own fashion label, they Clash with a capital C. Janie thinks Melissa and Charlotte are Beverley Hills brats. They dismiss Janie as a Valley rat in sheep’s clothing. And Petra…Petra couldn’t care less. Can a cool coquette, a shy punk, a hippie goddess and a ghettoglam egomaniac make beautiful couture together? At Winston Prep, survival of the fittest come down to, who fits in and what fits.
I don’t normally do book reviews but seeing I have about 300 books in my TBR, mostly ebooks and I have no one to talk about any of them with. My younger sister doesn’t have my time, the teenage genes are kicking it. My friend Sil, has travelled to Kaduna for the holidays (a state in the northern part of Nigeria), so its pretty lonely. Hence the reason for this blog post.
When I read the synopsis of this book, it had three things that made me drop every other book on my “still reading shelf” to read this; Elite school, Rich kids and Fashion. Besides I was tired of reading books of dire and doom and the fate of the world being in someone’s hands, I needed something fresh. I must say, it was a great idea because I enjoyed the book. I read it in one sitting and it kept me captivated till the end.
What I Love ?
I love this book. I love the story line. Most of all, I love that the plot wasn’t dragged, no unnecessary drama and every scene counted.
I like Rachel Maude’s style of writing. It’s simple. It was well written. There was a lot of fashion and high class with teen drama, of course. There was a fair degree of romance in it but on a high school scale.
***teaser*** (no spoilers)
I refuse to go in there,” she informed the other girls.
“What?” Melissa snapped. For Melissa, the world was pretty much divided between two drives: sex and Rodeo. But while sex drive referred to the overriding impulse to bonk (an urge Melissa couldn’t, for the life of her, understand), Rodeo Drive referred to the overriding impulse to spend (an urge Melissa lived for.) So far, Petra’s low level Rodeo was serious cause for concern. Melissa wondered if she was some kind of pervert. Petra paused to do a quick tally in her head. “Do you realize that
mannequin is wearing a total of FIVE animals on her body?”
“Pet, darling,” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “ That’s why they call it the Rodeo.”
“It’s disgusting and it’s cruel!”
“You wanna know disgusting and cruel?” Melissa slapped her notebook to her knee. “Keeping us out in eight hundred degree heat, when we could be enjoying ourselves in something called airconditioning.” In addition to air conditioning, Barneys carried a wraparound Ella Moss dress in a purple and black leopard print that Melissa had to have
“I’m goin’ in,” she announced.
“Go ahead,” Petra folded her arms. “Shop until you drop dead. Like one of those poor, innocent animals.”
“I can not believe you just said that.” Melissa cringed, her hand on the brass door handle. “We are not shopping. We’re researching.
“Well, I’m with Petra,” Janie interrupted from her seat on a nearby marble fountain.
“Sorry” — Melissa knit her eyebrows together — “was someone talkin’ to you?”
Imagine their surprise when, instead of the repentant whisper, Janie launched into a full fledged rant.
“We’re about to throw some huge launch party for a label that exists why?” she bounded to her feet. “Because we say it does? Do you realize how incredibly lame that is?! It’s like NASA announcing the launch of a space shuttle and then everyone shows up and they like, fly a paper airplane! Except, wait. We don’t even have a paper airplane. We don’t have anything!”
The three girls stared at Janie with a mixture of awe and disbelief.
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It was interesting to read about these four girls with different personalities working together to form a fashion label that started up as a special class – as well as dealing with their personal drama – and a friendship.
There are three other books in the series and my hands are already on them.
Final note: If you have read Kelvin Kwan’s Crazy rich Asians and you enjoyed it (I did) or the former tv series, Jane by Design, then you will love this book.
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This is my first time of doing something like this. I won’t exactly call it a review, it’s more of me just talking about one of my many likes.
Anyways, feel free to rate me.
Just being Nessa 