Rivals

September 6, 2010
Just because a novel is set at Harvard doesn't mean it has to be smart. Freshman Callie Andrews, a California transplant, feels out of place alongside her three
archetypal roommates: religious Dana, worldly Mimi, and edgy Vanessa. After her high school boyfriend, Evan, breaks up with her via e-mail, he reveals a past indiscretion, which Callie is certain would ruin her should anyone find out. The roommates rally around Callie, bringing her to parties and offering shoulders to lean on, but misplaced crushes lead to further betrayals. Interspersed are dispatches from Alexis Thorndike, a snarky columnist for a university magazine Callie desperately wants to write for. First-time novelists Kunze and Onur, who themselves met at Harvard, ratchet up the tension when Callie begins dating Alexis's ex, making her a target for Alexis; a cliffhanger ending sets up the next installment of a planned four-book series. Entertaining but predictable, the authors' portrait of Crimson life is full of benders, hookups, and scandals, making this a guilty pleasure, but also an empty one. Ages 14–up.

February 15, 2012
Callie may be established in Harvard's culture and social scene, but can she keep it up? Things are finally going Callie's way. She has a great boyfriend, is COMPing--effectively a training audition--for the Harvard Crimson (under a COMP director who, unlike Lexi during Callie's try-out for Fifteen Minutes, doesn't hate her), has restored relative peace with her roommates and has full membership in her social society, the Hasty Pudding. But being happily with Clint isn't enough to squash Callie's jealousy when ex-crush Gregory starts dating a transfer student. And while Harvard Crimson managing editor Grace Lee also seems to have some past bad blood with Lexi, Lexi's history as Clint's friend keeps rearing its ugly head, leaving Callie suspicious. Additionally, Grace introduces a new Web feature for the Crimson, The FlyBy blog, which starts with a bang through anonymous posts by "The Ivy Insider" that reveal dirty secrets from the exclusive social clubs. And being on the other end of the punch proceedings--determining whom to invite to prospective member functions for the Hasty Pudding--gives Callie her own look at some of the society's nastiness. Overall, Callie is so overwhelmed that she misses big problem signs--unrelated to her--in close friends, and even some of her own non-romantic troubles. The resulting cliffhanger has the highest stakes yet. Smoothly continuing intrigues from earlier novels, this installment tantalizes with tension and drama. (Fiction. 16 & up)

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