I remembered this from when I read it as a tween. I remembered broad strokes as an adult, but all the details were off. The purity club the kids start, begins on page seventy-five of the edition I read. A rich woman died and had the kids of the town compete to earn a college scholarship that would give them forty thousand dollars per year if they remained virgins and wrote essays of two thousand words about it, among other things. This book has four girls in it, all of whom have boyfriends and varying levels of experience. They go to an old folks' home for some reason to talk about the purity club, which all residents find hilarious.

This book was melodramatic, boring, had abrupt POV switches with no labeling, and had tropes I hate. The girls were all jealous of one another. The writing was boring. I skimmed a bunch, I'll admit. There was both slut-shaming AND virgin-shaming. There was casual homophobia ("he hasn't gone for me so he MUST be gay"); and casual racism towards Andres, the one Latinx character who is also a walking, talking predatory frat boy stereotype. At least one girls' parents are controlling, but others are overly permissive. Andres' presence was just stupid and the way he was treated was gross. Make him a foreign exchange student, not family friend who ~just so happens~ to t~E~m~P~t the girl when some eccentric dead rich lady wants her to be a virgin. Make them make bad decisions -on the page-, not two years prior. The boring writing of this book even makes the consequences for Mandy's dad's tax evasion uninteresting.

I haaaate love triangles. Guess what this book has as a massive plot point? UGH. "I have a crush on him but never told my friends because they'd have encouraged me to give it a shot, and now I'm devastated that one of my BFFs is going for him." AAAGH. This seems to happen a lot in teen stories. You do not -own- your crushes. They are people. They will date who they want. Yeah, it absolutely is crushing to have a friend of yours go out with your crush. Doesn't mean you can do what you're doing.

The creepy dead rich lady wasn't called out for her creepiness about teen sex until page 268 of the edition I read. Too little, too late. And on page 278, ten pages later, one of the girls gets engaged? I knew several girls in my high school who did this, and were even given rings. One girl's boyfriend turned her down when she asked, even. So it does exist. In this book it's soooo melodramatic. There were tons more cliches, especially about college acceptance. The ending was fucking stupid. This would fit better if it took place in the 1950s and was considered a soap opera in book form, but it was written and took place fifty years later. Eugh.

THERE WAS SO MUCH ROOM FOR GENUINE DRAMA IN THIS BOOK THAT THE AUTHOR DID NOT PULL OFF. The effort was there, it really was. It just fell massively, massively flat. ( )

Cute high school story, but nothing special. ( )

i thought this was a great take on the idea of purity in school. Many books that are centered around this concept become preachy and demeaning, yet this story was more so an average high school put into book form. I found it very relatable and touching ( )

A scholarship with the dubious criteria of “purity” pits four high school senior friends against one another. Shy Eva believes she has no chance at winning the scholarship she so desperately wants and no chance to be with the man of her dreams, fellow classmate Riley Marx, whose straight-edged beliefs are at odds with the macho-man behaviors of his friends.

Debbie can think of nothing better than being accepted to the Fashion Institute of Technology, but her father insists that she go into the sciences at nearby Penn State. She’s also realizing how bad her reputation as a slut is—even though, technically, she’s never had sex—and hopes that her latest prospect Riley can see through that.

Mandy is perfect: she’s got the grades, looks, money, and boyfriend Eric. Little does everyone—including her friends—know that she’s hiding a terrible family secret that could ruin her life. And new girl Kai, she with a secret in her past, needs more padding in her resume and so runs for president of the Virginity Club that Mandy formed to uphold the “purity” aspect of the scholarship criteria—which is clearly referring to virginity, of course.

But how important is virginity and everything else related if it threatens to tear the four girls apart?

This is a charming discussion of subject that can be rather touchy. It’s a great light read. ( )

This book really shows the different, yet similar pressures that happen during High school to teenagers. ( )