Populazzi by Elise Allen

Source: Publisher
Cara has never been one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and always ready with the perfect thing to say. A girl at the very top of the popularity tower. One of the Populazzi.
Now, junior year could change everything. Cara’s moving to a new school, and her best friend urges her to seize the moment—with the help of the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and if Cara transforms into the perfect girlfriend for guys ever-higher on the tower, she’ll reach the ultimate goal: Supreme Populazzi.
The Ladder seems like a lighthearted social experiment, a straight climb up, but it quickly becomes gnarled and twisted. And when everything goes wrong, only the most audacious act Cara can think of has a chance of setting things even a little bit right.
Cara is a really unique and realistic teen girl. She was down to earth and sweet. She reminded me of myself when I was her age. I found Archer to be really nice and adorable. At times, I found Claudia to be annoying. Cara's mom and Stepfather Karl were so infuriating. It reminded me of one of my friend's parents and I couldn't like them after that. It is horrid to think that someone would do that to their stepdaughter or daughter. The cliques in this book didn't seem over done and I think that it was really accurate. I really liked the plot. It was fun and full of drama. I really enjoyed seeing Cara as she went through the other groups. Allen's writing is amazing. Even though this book is almost 400 pages, I enjoyed every moment. My only complaint is that I didn't get to see Archer enough. I recommend this book to fans of Sarah Dessen and Stephanie Perkins. It was an amazing debut with great characters.