153. Birthday Vicious by Melissa de la Cruz...

About the book:

Ashley Spencer considers her birthday to be the most important event next to...well, ok, it's just the most important event, period. Hello.

So when the invite list is cast and the custom embossed invitations are sent, it's a who's-who list of San Francisco's best tweens. If people don't yet know whether they are in or out, this party is sure to draw the lines of coolness in the most permanent of inks. Ashley intends to prove that there's a reason she's been at the top of the social food chain her entire life, and she's not about to be unseated by some lame website ranking. She's also like to solve the problem of losing her boyfriend. Will all her birthday wishes come true? Or is it more like it's her party and she'll freak if she wants to?

drey's thoughts:
Okay... I thought these girls were just a tad too bratty in the last installment, Jealous? But nothing really prepares you for the over-the-top extravaganza that is Ashley Spencer's birthday party. Or for Ashley's all-me-all-the-time attitude. If she were mine, she'd be grounded till she's 25. Or maybe 45.

Then again, it's just a book. About a bunch of over-privileged girls who can't imagine not being the center of attention. And the lengths to which they'll go, so that it's not a possibility, ever.

The intricacies of tween friendships are touched upon--who do you trust? Who is "your" friend vs. someone else's? Who defines who's in and who's out? How long before one of the Ashleys decides that she's not going to get pushed around anymore?

I'm waiting for the girls to grow up a little. Yes, they're tweens. But that doesn't give them a license to be brats. Lip Gloss Jungle is up next!

Title: Birthday Vicious (Ashleys #3)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
ISBN-10: 1416934081
ISBN-13: 978-1416934080
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2008

Challenges: 100+, Support Your Local Library, Series