Bad Girls with Perfect Faces

5 stars!I really didn't think I'd find a YA novel before the new year to give 5 stars to, but I'm pleasantly surprised! Lynn Weingarten's Bad Girls with Perfect Faces is the perfect YA quick-read to pick up this year. Main character, high school student Sasha, has a platonic friendship with fellow student Xavier, but dreams to one day make the next step towards having a romantic relationship with him. Sasha sets the perfect night to reveal her true feelings for Xavier—his birthday celebration. Sasha and Xavier have a low key celebration, partying at the local dive bar, and everything is set in motion, until Xavier's ex-girlfriend Ivy shows up. Ivy is a manipulative, impulsive, and a somewhat sociopathic foil to Sasha's plans. Xavier and Ivy end up rekindling their romance that night—spiraling Sasha to the point of no return.Sasha arrives back at her place and plots her revenge. To prove Ivy's disloyal behavior, Sasha poses as a guy on Instagram and sets up the account perfectly. She plans on catfishing Ivy and showing Xavier exactly what kind of person he is dealing with. That is, until something horribly goes wrong.Guys and gals, it's happened. I fell in love with a YA novel. Bad Girls with Perfect Faces is campy, dark, dramatic, and the ending is CHILLING. Honestly no tea/no shade, but this is everything that There's Someone Inside Your House tried to be and failed. Sure, the level of campiness here may not be suitable for everyone, but it really is a contemporary piece of a dramatic love story that is not only raw, but captivating (who knew?).I really enjoyed that this book didn't carry on for longer than it needed to. At less than 300 pages, Ms. Weingarten covers the entire story, throwing twists that you will not see coming along the way. I was happy that this could be finished in either one or two sittings easily. Now what's my next read by Lynn Weingarten?

"When someone you cherish does something incomprehensible, you will find reasons to decide they are the exception. You will cling to the details, tell yourself, but this is different. But it never is."Bad Girls with Perfect Facesby Lynn WeingartenMy review:Have you ever felt like something.....about to happen? Something ominous?Maybe in a film you saw or in a TV show you watched? Or in the life of someone you knew? Or even your own?There's this feeling....like you are about to be enveloped.....ensnared in DANGER? It is a subtle distant type of danger. A danger you have no idea what it is about or where it is hiding....(maybe in the trees? in the twilight?) You don't know what it's made of, you just know it has shown itself.And it is coming for you. Soon you will know. But for now it is a mood that is omniscient. It is all around you and you just cannot escape it.THAT IS THIS BOOK!!Bad girls with Perfect Faces is a gem. It is startling and dark, moody and tragic....I really liked it. I think you will too.I so do not want to give anything away. I sometimes give plot descriptions. Not for this one though. Not much anyway.I will say that the central plot involves Sasha and Xavier who are best friends. Xavier has been dumped by his girlfriend..Ivy.Ivy is the type of person who gets off on making her lovers as humanly miserable as possible. She has a contempt for goodness and loving her also comes with punishment...because Ivy, on some level, hates herself and she does her best to make her boyfriends hate her as well.So when a chance encounter throws the sweet Xavier and the nasty Ivy back together, Sasha is terribly worried for her best friend Xavier. She knows he barely made it through his LAST breakup with Ivy. She is worried and does not want Ivy to mess with her friend anymore. So she decides she will show him just how awful Ivy is.Until it all goes horribly wrong.OK..I have said to much already. If you like moody YA mysteries you have got to read this. It really pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading until the end. Which I did!There are some excellent plot twists which I doubt you will see coming although you might THINK you do.Now I have to put spoilers up. If you are reading this review and have yet to read this book and want to, please stop reading my review at this point.SPOILERS:I know I often contradict myself. Sometimes I say I like dark endings, sometimes I say I don't. I think it is really different for every book. My only complaint with this one is how tragic the end was. I felt for Sasha although she absolutely acted in some very self destructive ways. But I wish it had ended on a happier note. Part two, Author?Anyway....this one was just what I needed tonight and I do recommend it...it has it all...great characters, an alluring story, deep atmosphere an d excellent plot twists. Four stars for a very well written book.

I ran through this within about a day. I’d rate this 4 Stars. I don’t normally read YA but Bad Girls With Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten was calling my name. I mean, the blurb? Exactly.So what’s it about? Sasha is (secretly) hands down just in love with her BFF, Xavier. They have been best friends for a long time. Sasha has helped him during his lowest point, she would do anything for him. The night Sasha plans to tell Xavier the truth about her feelings they run into his ex, Ivy, and HER BFF, Gwen. Of course Ivy comes crying back to Xavier. Now, Sasha knows she has to stop them. Immediately. She needs a plan. She decides to make a fake Instagram account to prove to Xavier how much of a sketchball Ivy really is. Sure enough, Ivy does respond to “Jake” aka Sasha. They actually text for weeks until... Sasha decides it’s time to meet. Annnnd, I’m stopping there!Xavier was really weak to me. He was needy and kind of pathetic but nice lol. I enjoyed Sasha’s character. She was good for Xavier. Ivy was one of those jealous young girls who gets what she wants.There were a few twists in Bad Girls With Perfect Faces. I was like pretty surprised with them. I saw a few reviews saying that this book is dark but to me it wasn’t at all.

The author plays with point of view and tense in a way I appreciated, and there was a pretty thrilling twist at the end that was satisfying. Quick, fast-paced. Recommended!

Great read!

Interesting book. Bought it for my niece and read it after her. More of a teens book. Recommended!

I didn’t want to put this book down until I could finish it. Definitely a book you will want to devote time too.

Love

Could have been better