The reviews on this book (especially amongst my friends) are so mixed, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I liked it a lot. I went to a high school like Fairfield -- we didn't have north and south though, we had east and west. We had gangs and fighting and more people in my high school spoke Spanish than English. It wasn't uncommon to see that kind of thing, so I liked being able to see their situation as I saw my own back then. Brittany annoyed me at first with her need for the superficial layer of perfection she keeps herself under, but eventually, she grew on me. I saw what was underneath after the interactions with her sister. I really did grow to like her in the end, because she sacrificed that to get what she wanted and to save Alex's life. And Alex... oh, Alex. Dios mio... The bad boy gang member on a motorcycle. Yeah, it shouldn't be appealing--but it completely was. He was a sweetheart underneath the hard ass and he just needed someone to bring it out of him. What bothered me was the image of him with the bandana on his head--for all the gang members I've known in my life, very few of them have ever done this, so every time it was described, I had to giggle. At least give the guy some dignity and let him hang it from his pocket!I know now there are two companion books to this one, but I definitely won't be reading. I like the story where it ended and I have a feeling that reading more would ruin this one for me.
