Review:It's Not Easy Being Mean by Lisi Harrison

SYNOPSIS:
Massie Block: Getting back into Octavian Country Day was a piece of sugar-free cake, compared to Massie's next goal-finding the key that unlocks an ah-mazing legendary secret room at OCD! Alpha eighth grader Skye Hamilton and her clique have stashed the key in the bedroom of one mystery Briarwood boy, but who? Whoever finds the key gets access to the secret room for an entire year and the prestige that comes along with it. But what happens when LBR Layne seems to be getting closer? This is way more than a matter of life or death, it's a matter of in or out!

Kristen Gregory: Always been a star on the soccer field, but her style gets majorly cramped when her friends are forced to join the team. They better start kicking those soccer balls or Kristen's going to start kicking some . . . !

Alicia Rivera: Uses her skills as a gossip reporter to scheme her way into the rooms of all the Briarwood hotties!

Dylan Marvil: Heard depression makes people lose weight. Is hoping for some sad news soon because she's popping donut holes the way some people pop Tic-Tacs.

Claire Lyons: Being famous isn't all it's cracked up to be! Her agent confiscates her gummies, and forces her to do some very bad things to make her more "edgy." Worst of all, her constant meetings with lawyers and movie execs are eating into her time with the P.C. and with Cam! Is being a Hollywood starlet worth the Gucci-high price tag?


REVIEW:
It's Not Easy Being Mean, by Lisi Harrison, is the seventh novel in the Clique series.The pages turn fast and I found it a pretty goodread.
In this book the Pretty Committee,headed by Massie Block returns to school after having being expelled in the previous book. They are faced by a new challenge-the 8th grade alpha,Skye Hamilton has thrown them a challenge wherein after solving the clues hidden in a verse,they could gain access to the ‘secret room’. This secret room happens to be the paradise of the elite committees of the school. Massie is convinced that she will solve the mystery and find the key. She tries everything in her power to gain the key-she manipulates and maneouvres,but all in vain! Layne,a LBR(Loser Beyond Repair) finds the key before her and now Massie has to do all that is in her power to gain the key for herself!
I quite enjoyed the book.There was a sort of thrill in the search for the key. However,I found the character of Massie extremely annoying! She thinks the hell of herself. She demeans and disparages others meaninglessly. Frankly,her show of power,seemed to me,a way to hide her inner insecurities. Her sudden change in the end was completely incomprehensible-she,who had thrown Claire out of the committee,requests Claire to stay back when Claire decides to leave the town to go to Hollywood permanently! Massie tells Claire that she will miss her!! Such a statement seems uncalled for from a person like Massie. I could only interpret her request as a way to stop Claire to go to Hollywood,lest Claire becomes famous;other than Massie’s jealousy(instances of which are scattered throughout the book),I found no other reason for her ‘feelings’ for Claire. Massie seems a character power-hungry and devoid of any feelings to me.
All-in-all the book was fun. The search for the key,the politics of the clique,the whole school ‘sucking up to’ the PC,the complicacies of high school relationships have been well highlighted by the author. I found the other girls quite lovable and very realistic. Not a bad read after all…

My Rating:4/5