The Naughty List – Suzanne YoungPages: 240
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: 4th February 2010
Everybody knows Tessa Crimson is the perfectly perky captain of the Smitten Kittens cheer squad. What most people don’t know is that the Smitten Kittens double as spies-for-hire. Their mission? Catch cheating boyfriends in the act and bring justice to the girls of Washington High. So far, every suspect on their naughty List has been found 100% guilty!
Thank goodness Tessa’s relationship with basketball captain Aiden is strawberry-smoothie. Or so she thinks.
Inter-kitten communication
Dear Smitten Kittens,
Brace yourselves, girls, for this latest catastrophe - we received the following anonymous alert this morning:Another name for your possible cheater roster: Aiden Wilder. Who would’ve guessed right? Hope the rumours aren’t true!
SOS
Tessa’s about to begin her biggest mission yet: Could her boyfriend be just as naughty as all the rest?
Although I enjoyed The Naughty List, it didn’t quite live up to my rather high expectations.
There was, however, one element of The Naughty List that exceeded them: Tessa’s sayings/ they’ve been praised as cute, funny and charming in nearly every review that I’ve read of this book and I completely agree. They really did make me giggle. Tessa’s exclamations ranged from “strawberry smoothie!” to “Oh, butterscotch!” to my personal favourite, “toasted ravioli!”. Utter genius; I loved them. in fact, they’re probably my favourite part of The Naughty List as I did have a major problem with it.
I didn’t feel Tessa and Aiden’s love. Their relationship was purely physical; they didn’t really talk or listen to each other and they didn’t do anything together, either. At school they were together constantly, playing the perfect couple. But the only other contact they had was hooking up after cheerleading/basketball practice. It seemed really superficial and I found Tessa way too clingy.
The cheater reports and SOS correspondence between chapters was brilliant. It allowed us to see more of the society that didn’t really get much page time. Obviously Tessa’s personal and relationship issues were central to the novel, the SOS, which started most of her problems and that she regularly complained about, weren’t really featured very much at all. I was quite disappointed as it’s such a brilliant idea and I would have loved to have been given more detail into how they managed to pull it off and remain anonymous.
I might read So Many Boys, the next in the series, but I’m in no hurry at all.
For my 2010 Debut Author Challenge, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
You know, I've felt the same way about books that I've read that haven't lived up to my expectations. I rarely read the next one.
ReplyDeleteI know how that is. Sometimes I just don't really want to read the next book that much. I like the cover though...very naughty. ;)
ReplyDeleteI felt exactly the same way, it was far to preppy and two dimensional for my liking. Great Review
ReplyDeleteNice review! I've just finished this book myself, and I have to agree with you, it wasn't as good as I had hoped! None of the characters "made it" for me, they weren't that likeable. I think the book got better in the end though!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this one yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I think. It sounds okay, but I don't like the sound of Tessa's sayings!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you still enjoyed bits of it, though, and thanks for the honest review!