[REVIEW] Bad Girls with Perfect Faces

title: Bad Girls with Perfect Faces
author: Lynn Weingarten
genre: young adult, thriller
published: October 31, 2017 by Simon Pulse
format: Hardcover, 320 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

When I looked up, his smile was wide and real. “Ready?” he said. 

I faked a smile back. I had gotten so good at faking things. 

I thought: You brought this on yourself, Sasha. You will have to pretend forever now.
He squeezed my hand again. He couldn’t begin to imagine what this actually was. He had no idea what I’d done. What any of us had.  

When Sasha’s best friend Xavier gets back together with his cheating ex, Ivy, Sasha knows she needs to protect him. So she poses as a guy online to lure Ivy away. 

But Sasha’s plan goes sickeningly wrong. And she soon learns to be careful of who you pretend to be because you might be surprised by who you become…

the question is 'how far?'

I've been hoping to read this since it first came out. The cover easily caught my attention but I wasn't so hyped for this because I wasn't reading my YA lately. But this bored me found out that it was a free read at Riveted Lit. So I grabbed the chance.

Bad Girls with Perfect Faces follows Sasha who wanted to confess her feelings to her best friend Xavier. However, on the same night she was able to muster up the courage to do so, Ivy, Xavier's ex-girlfriend, decided that she wants to get back together. And Sasha knows that Ivy is a girl who cheats and would certainly ruin her "pure" best friend. So she came up with a plan to expose her which involves pretending. pretending until who knows when. But what if things end up getting more twisted that she expected?

To be honest, I probably have a love-hate interest in books involving "bitch" attitude or pretentious teenagers. I hate it but at the same time it also makes an interesting thriller plot. It's a very far-fetched concept that's for sure but characters like this calls for haters and reasons to get into some nasty things like maybe murdered or abducted or get tricked.

This one started quite slow for me because it involves: (1) a "bitch" attitude teenager, (2) a boy who's crazily in love with the said "bitch" teenager, and (3) a girl who's in love with this boy (who's also her best friend) that she wants to protect him at all cost. It's a recipe for disaster. After a few chapters, probably 20-30% in, I got so invested with the events these three characters have put themselves in. The manipulation and pretentiousness of the characters made this an extremely exciting read as I'm always intrigued by what will they do next, what will happen if this did this, what will be the outcome of this thing? I'm so intrigued by the outcome of this whole manipulation business.

In a short 320 pages, this book is quick, well-paced, and still very intriguing. I was honestly quite surprised with the revelation around 70% of the novel. If you're looking so much into things, I bet you're going to see it but if you're like me, just reading through, it will still end up as a well-plotted surprise. There was a good explanation on how things were and why the characters did what they did. It's always like that for me. I like mystery-thriller books if they are explained and justified. The characters don't have to be perfectly written, they just have to have enough reason and development.

OVERALL, Bad Girls with Perfect Faces is a book about manipulation, friendship and the lengths you'll go through for your friend. The characters are flawed and it was shown especially in the end which was wrapped up so well. There were times when I'd get mad at the things they do but also it's what drives the story forward.

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