Populazzi by Elise Allen

Populazzi by Elise Allen
"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."- summary from Amazon

Wow. This book was a roller coaster ride. Climbing the Ladder is full of so many twists and turns. I really enjoyed this book- it had a clever idea, and it was FUNNY. Humor is the best way to get me to like a book and this novel is full of it. I was laughing at least one thing on almost every page. There doesn't seem to be many humorous books these days, so it's nice to find one that's really good.

I loved a lot of the characters in the book, but I especially enjoyed Cara's interactions with Archer and Robert (Star Wars Guy). Those were usually pretty funny and a joy to read. I will say though that Karl, the stepfather was NOT cool at all and I'm glad Archer set Cara straight on dealing with him. He needs to take some anger management classes or something. I do also wish that his behavior had been addressed and resolved but that didn't happen.

Cara's journey through the social tiers is handled so well and I wondered at how it would all end. Allen did a great job with the ending, and it's the most realistic way it could end. It's a happy ending, but it's not a perfect ending- everything isn't tied up in a bow, but things are looking up. I appreciated that.

Overall, an awesome debut read and one that's perfect to end summer with. So go grab a copy!! I can't wait for more from Allen!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.