The cover looked fun, but the story was dumb.

Tomboyish Cynthia Gene Silverman moves to a wealthy suburb, reinvents herself as CG, and find herself promptly absorbed into the ruling class of her new high school. Convinced that she has to stand out to fit in, CG constructs a tower of lies atop a foundation of poor decisions that will inevitably crush her. That’s pretty much it for plot.

This book is not even worth the energy I have already spent reviewing it. It reads as though written by a high-schooler and falls dully short of the melange of Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars it was aiming for. CG is somehow desperate for approval from her peers even as she feels superior to them. She claims to be a nice person who has changed a lot into the lying, scornful, manipulative hussy we see by mid-novel, but since we meet her as CG and not Cynthia Gene there is no evidence that she was ever a decent person other than her own word. The dialogue is flat, the attempts to build tension fall limp, and it all seems more than a little far fetched. If the author had gone in a campy direction it might have worked, but she plays it straight while incorporating ridiculous plot elements like a fifteen-year old (who by all accounts has yet to “blossom”) being mistaken for a woman in her mid-20s in both online conversation and after face time in lingerie and a masquerade mask with a teacher she sees on a daily basis.

It is pure fantasy. The fantasy of a nigh-unlikable girl who sees the world as beneath her even as she would like to plunder its riches. Her friends range from shabbily veiled tropes to cartoon villainesses, and despite CG’s (universally acknowledged) average-to-plain looks and hideous personality she has her choice of every male character with a name in the book. ( )

Though it's not the best book I've ever read, I did find myself enjoying the mess that main character CG makes for herself as she is trying to fit in to the popular crowd at her new school. Convinced that they won't accept her as she is, CG creates a new version of Truth or Dare and finds the dares getting her deeper and deeper into trouble. Then to top that off, she just can't seem to stop lying about - or hiding - the true CG (or Cindy as she was known at her old school). The trouble continues to mount for her until everything just comes unraveled and she finds herself in a heap of trouble with her friends, her parents and a teacher at school. I think the things that happen are pretty typical teen things. There is some strong language, but not like some books I've read. There's talk of sex, but no actual sex occurs in the story and there is one party where they spike some punch and one of the girls gets drunk, but for the most part, it's tame compared to other YA titles I've read recently. A fun read for teenage girls. ( )

I feel like I've read this story a million times. Mean girls, Gossip Girl, or anything written about teen girls in high school. Granted this was original in some places but overall it was very predictable. I'm sure it will appeal to girls of a certain age. It's not a bad read just overdone. Great cover though. ( )

It's very good and very funny, with a lot of lies and drama. A college guy and a sophmore in highschool. Online dating with a teacher. Need I say more?
4Q, 4P; Cover Art: Okay.
This book was best suited for highschoolers.
It was selected because it sound interesting, and the title was catchy.
Grade (of reviewer): 12th
(AM-AHS-NC)

My first reaction as I am reading this book is that it is a lot like Mean Girls. I don't know if that is because ABC Family is always talking about Mean Girls being on Sunday night ( I Think) or if this story is honestly a lot like Mean Girls. Then the more and more I read it the more and more I thought it. So it is a lot like Mean Girls with slightly different characters and a slightly different ending.

CG wants a fresh new start at her new school. I understand that and makes for the perfect story line for her to lie and be somebody who she isn't. This gets her in trouble. A lot like Lindsay Lohan, however Lindsay in Mean Girls had somebody encouraging her to do the things she does that is where it is a little different CG is her own enemy.

I also don't think it started with a dare like the title says. I think it started all back when she broke her best friends Alex's heart. She manages to in a couple of months become popular, hook up with the hottest guy, start a flirty conversations over the internet that could possibly ruin a teachers career and in then looses everything.

See what I mean about it being almost like mean girls. However, different things happen the plot is the same. The ending is different. Her family loves her again, she gets her birthday wish and two of her friends are her friends again. And there are still Cliques and the other two girls she befriends stays in the top. That is probably the only thing different.

However, I like CG and I did chuckle. I just feel like I have seen this story before a little to many times.

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