Populazzi by Elise Allen

Populazzi by Elise Allen
Release Date: August 1, 2011
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Rating: Enjoyable

Cara has never been one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and always ready with the perfect thing to say. A girl at the very top of the popularity tower. One of the Populazzi.

Now, junior year could change everything. Cara’s moving to a new school, and her best friend urges her to seize the moment—with the help of the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and if Cara transforms into the perfect girlfriend for guys ever-higher on the tower, she’ll reach the ultimate goal: Supreme Populazzi.

The Ladder seems like a lighthearted social experiment, a straight climb up, but it quickly becomes gnarled and twisted. And when everything goes wrong, only the most audacious act Cara can think of has a chance of setting things even a little bit right. - Goodreads

I read this while I was on my contemporary binge, and I really enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun. Straight of the bat, we know that Cara trying to climb the high school social ladder is not a good idea and it wasn't going to end well, but that was part of the fun!

Some of the scenes were simply hilarious and had me laughing out loud. I really liked Elise Allen's writing style, and it worked well with this type of book.

Cara, the main character, was also pretty awesome. I felt a real connection to her as she tried to change herself to fit in with different crowds, and when she lost friends because of this silly project.

Populazzi is a big book, but it didn't take me long to finish it and it didn't drag at all. It was a light and easy read that covered some pretty serious issues and I loved it. Definitely check this out if you're into contemporary novels set in high school!