Review : Secret Society Girl
Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund
Pages : 293
Genre : YA, fiction
Series : Secret Society Girl, Book 1
My Rating : 
From Goodreads :
Elite Eli University junior Amy Haskel never expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave, the country’s most powerful—and notorious—secret society. She isn’t rich, politically connected, or…well, male.
So when Amy receives the distinctive black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave seal, she’s blown away. Could they really mean her?Whisked off into an initiation rite that’s a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred Hitchcock, Amy awakens the next day to a new reality and a whole new set of “friends”—from the gorgeous son of a conservative governor to an Afrocentric lesbian activist whose society name is Thorndike. And that’s when Amy starts to discover the truth about getting what you wish for. Because Rose & Grave is quickly taking her away from her familiar world of classes and keggers, fueling a feud, and undermining a very promising friendship with benefits. And that’s before Amy finds out that her first duty as a member of Rose & Grave is to take on a conspiracy of money and power that could, quite possibly, ruin her whole life.
This is one book I am glad to have read reviews of ; otherwise, I don’t think I would have picked it up (I’ll give you a hint : I don’t like the cover. I don’t hate it, it just doesn’t grab my attention really).
Amy is a great character; first, she’s a junior in college, so a little older than most YA novels’ characters. College is a different setting than high school, yet I was glad that the author described Amy’s experience as a pretty much regular one, without falling into excesses of alcohol and sex. The book really isn’t about college partying, but more about Amy and her girl friends trying to make their place in their new secret society. Amy is the kind of girl who stands for herself, overthinks everything and likes to make lists. She also studies literature, struggles to get through War and Peace, and has to deal with her various friendships – among which we count Brandon, her friend-with-benefits who would really like to be more than that.
For me there were a few problems though. The interactions between the characters were believable, but I did think there were too many names to keep in mind; especially since all of the characters had real names and society names, which felt a bit too many for me in a novel this length. I enjoyed Peterfreund’s voice, but I did think the story’s pace had a few slow points. It was interesting, but a little forgettable.
I still enjoyed the novel though. Secret Society Girl was a fun novel, and for sure I will be reading the next three in the series.
Series reading order :
- Secret Society Girl
- Under the Rose
- Rites of Spring (Break)
- Tap and Gown
Thank you for the honest review 😀
Thanks for the review. 🙂 I’m unsure of whether I’d want to read this. It sounds good but I’m not sure whether it would be to my taste. (I’m not a fan of the cover too 😉 )
This sounds like a book I would enjoy, even though I don’t like it when there are too many characters in a book.
You MUST continue on. Frankly, for me I liked the first 2, but you just have to keep going so you can get to #3 & 4. They are the genius of this series.
And I hear you on the covers..meh..
Juju : 🙂 I really try to put both positive and negative points in my reviews!
Ceri : It was a fun novel, close to the chicklit genre but with a younger tough, maybe! Also, there are a few literary references (I don’t know if that helps you or not!) But yeah, the cover isn’t really appealing.
Kathy : Too many characters is also something that I don’t like. I started reading book 2 and I’m a little less confused though.
Michelle : Oh, I will, absolutely! I really enjoyed the book, it just didn’t wowed me. But thank you for your comment, now I’m really looking forward to reading the last books too!
I’m not a fan of the cover, either. It does not make this book seem like something I would want to read in the slightest.
That cover would not make me want to read the book either. But it sounds like a really fun series. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the next couple books.
I know what you mean about the front cover – definitely not attention grabbing. Even more, it doesn’t really hint at what the story is really about. I like the idea of a story that takes place in a college setting. That’s definitely a nice change – there are so many young adult/teen novels written in high school, not nearly enough written in college settings (at least, this is my experience thus far).