I know I’ve read Spoiled but I really didn’t remember it when I started on its sequel. Luckily Messy has a lot of recapping so it’s easy to pick up without having read the first novel, or picking it up with very little memory of the first one.
Max is a high school student who is trying to save money for a writer’s program at NYU. Her best friend, Molly, is the long lost daughter of movie star Brick Berlin whose other daughter, Brooke, is in need of a ghost writer for her blog. It’s a convenient plot; Max ends up getting paid handsomely to write as Brooke who in turn gets a lot of publicity for not just being pretty but for being smart! With all the praise being lauded on Brooke, Max begins to lose her sense of self; there is also a love triangle because this is YA.
I got a little annoyed with some of the try-hard name dropping but the characters are supposed to be vapid so it gets pass. Everything is wrapped up in a tidy bow by the end of the story but that’s not such a bad thing. You can get this one finished in an evening; it’s fun but you won’t remember its plot by the time the third one comes out.
