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3.5Stars

Sera and Ariel were once best friends till Ariel betrayed Sera and turned the whole school against her. Sera’s father however treats this as a ‘small tiff between friends’ and forces her to go to Ariel’s birthday bash – ‘the’ party in town. With Hudson Winters band performing and whole school invited, Sera has something to look forward to and something to dread about. But as she has absolutely no say in it, she arrives at the party hoping to just get it over with. Soon things spin out of control unexpectedly and they find themselves in hostage situation. Will the two girls hold on to their grudges or call on the friendship that they had shared earlier?

Let me get the not so ‘good’ things out of the way first. I got this ARC through Netgalley and my version of it has lots of mistakes in it. Hopefully the book will be going through another round at the editors table before its release in mid-december. The other thing that I didn’t enjoy as much is the way the teenagers get out of the hostage situation. Without giving out any spoilers, let’s just say Macaulay Culkin had far better tricks up his sleeve in Home Alone 1 to deal with the thieves. And, that’s about it!

The plot isn’t something out of this world, but I did enjoy it. The start was a bit slow but it soon picked up its pace and during the last few chapters, they were literally turning itself! Written from the point of view of both Ariel & Sera, the book gives us complete knowledge of what’s exactly going on. The characters were interesting and developed throughout the story. Especially, Ariel and Sera. They start off as this rich, spoilt hot-headed girl and the sensitive and shy girl. But by the end, they were so much more. Author’s writing style is simple, making it easier to get into the story. She has given just enough description about the surroundings for the reader to picturise the different situations.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read that kept me interested throughout.