Sequels can often be a bore but in the case of the second novel in the best-selling Private series by Kate Brian, it's even better than our introduction to Easton. Invitation Only picks up immediately where Private ended and toys with us as we grow more and more captivated to the now-luxurious everyday life of Reed Brennan. Just a bit of time she's spent at her new, ultra-exclusive boarding school, Reed has found herself as the newest member of the campus' most notorious housing department: Billings.
The Billings Girls are everything anyone has ever dreamed to be and certainly the most sought-after dorm throughout the entire school. They're the brightest and most beautiful female students and with her newfound position amongst their ranks, Reed's future seems brighter than ever. If you ignore her missing kind-of-boyfriend Thomas Pearson, the pressure of excellence and the probability of being hazed (what is she, their maid?) by her new dorm mates before officially becoming one of their own.
Just as Reed is finding her way around these speed bumps at her new school, it is obvious that things are just going to keep her on her toes. From the ever present affection from one of the senior boys, who insists on showering her with gifts, and with whom she has no real feelings for but her former roommate Constance does, to becoming Billings unofficial maid, to wondering where the hell Thomas is and if she should move on, to her currently roommate Natasha seemingly blackmailing her--threatening her entire future at Easton--it's obvious to say that Reed has a lot more on her plate than she'd ever expected.
Here were buildings of brick and stone, topped by shingled roofs and spires, tradition and pride oozing from every dated cornerstone. Here were ancient, weathered, arched doorways, thick wooden doors on iron hinges, cobblestone walks lined by neat beds of flowers. Here were pristine playing fields of bright green grass and gleaming white lines. Everything I saw was perfect. Nothing reminded me of home.
With the arrival of autumn and the days to winter growing closer, I tend to get very nostalgic. I repeat: very nostalgic. Back in my early years of high school, I had been obsessed with books in the similar vein as Private--the idea of boarding school life, the juicy drama of Gossip Girl. I remember just wandering the shelves at Barnes & Noble with the lunch money I had saved up (instead of eating school lunch? Yes, please.) and there was this little end cap with the first book in a new series that was so obviously targeted at girls my age. When I read the summary of Kate Brian's latest, I was in it to win it or whatever it is they say.
When I picked up the book the next morning during study hall, instead of doing my French homework, I knew I was a total goner. I haven't really touched the entire series in years but the books have had their place of display on my bookshelf for years and they just felt so appealing. Picking up Private again after so many years felt like coming home--I missed Reed Brennan and her adventures at Easton with the Billings Girls. Kate Brian's writing is just a smooth, fluffy and fast paced as I remembered it.
The Virginity Club by Kate Brian | Rating: ★★★★☆Revised review, originally reviewed in 2008. Originally I gave the novel five stars but I’ve kicked down one star during my reread. Kate Brian is known mostly for her best selling series Private, as well as the spin-offs and prequels to the series, and when I was in middle and high school I owned almost every book she’d ever written. Aside from the Private series, my most read book by her was The Virginity Club.
I can’t tell you what I loved so much about it, perhaps it was the close friendship that was held between the four main characters who start a purity club in order to win a scholarship which requires them to have “purity of the mind and soul” (ugh, I know, right? But they do acknowledge the weirdness of this requirement frequently in the novel) but for one reason or another this novel was one of my most read books in my early-mid teens.
The thing about the main characters in The Virginity Club is that they are all different and lovely in their own right. I liked the diversity in characteristics and race. I liked that each girl fit perfectly with each other and had different struggles, interests and backgrounds and that they had every reason to run in different circles but they didn’t.
The Book of Spells by Kate Brian | Rating: ★★★★☆"Charming girls. Fine breeding. Perfect manners. Black magic."
I’ll start my review by saying this: when I first began to really, really explore reading there were two sorts of things I’d look for in my reading material. Shallow, easy-breezy plots that you could gossip with friends about (see: The Clique, Gossip Girl, The A-List, The Insiders, The Au Pairs, Private, Pretty Little Liars… Get the point?) or, well, witches. And while this novel is enjoyable, I think I’d have much preferred it when I was in my early teens.
Private has always been one of my favorite young adult book series’, especially when looking for some light reading. In fact, Kate Brian’s books have frequented my shelves since I began purchases more and more books for my self. For me, her writing style was always much better than some of the others in her genre and the mystery surrounding plots in Private was always well thought out and just that right level of soapy drama.
Not to mention her characters are often well developed and fascinating. Even if they end up being totally crazy.
So when I caught wind of the path she’d taken in the series, I was intrigued! Witches and Billings Girls?
Be still my heart!
