Birthday Vicious

Ashley Spencer is about to turn thirteen, so it's time to start planning her super-birthday bash that will leave the uninvited bawling in their tracks. But, as it turns out, it seems that her parents don't exactly have the same plans. Unfortunately, A.A., Lili, and Lauren all have their own problems to worry about. A.A. has to deal with the guy who broke her heart while dating someone else, Lili is lying to her parents and everyone else for the guy she likes, and Lauren has to deal with juggling not just one, but two boyfriends. What's a girl to do? Contrary to the title and jacket cover, BIRTHDAY VICIOUS, book three in THE ASHLEYS series, is not all about Ashley Spencer's party. There's much more going on than that, mostly relating to all of the girls' lovelifes and family. However, unlike THE CLIQUE and other rich-girl books, the characters in this book continue to develop as the series goes on, making it extremely enjoyable and not just for tweens, either. This is definitely recommended to all fans of the previous books, and if you haven't read those yet, I suggest you do so before picking this one up. Reviewed by: Harmony

This book could be a fun read for a young girl if her name is Ashley. The book is about some girls in their own elite clique. An Ashley clique. Their names are Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, and Lauren. Ashley Spencer goes by "Ashley"; Ashley Li goes by "Lili"; Ashley Alioto goes by "A.A.". The original friends - all Ashleys - allowed a Lauren to join their group of Ashleys. At the beginning of the book, I didn't think I would like it. It seemed to be a book about rich, arrogant, materialistic snots. I definitely couldn't relate to them, as I am the opposite: humble, modest, conservative country girl. But as I read on, I realized I liked the book. I like reading about young people's friendships and fun times. At first I had to keep reminding myself that these girls are twelve years old, and not twenty-two. The way they act, the things they do, their language, the things they have: I feel their lifestyle outages them. Can you imagine being so extremely rich and powerful that you can have the whole world at your fingertips? Just call up a hairdress for the rich and famous in New York and have him immediately fly to you in California to be at your personal service. (And you're only twelve years old!) Just have your dad bring home an elephant from the zoo (the only thing stopping him is some type of city laws). I enjoyed their friendships, their fun, their boyfriends, their social life. This particular book ia about Ashley's upcoming Sweet Thirteen birthday party. She is having an unbelievably extravagant party. The party was fun just reading about it. I recommend this book only to mature young people - those who understand that not all people can be this rich and powerful. I would not recommend this book to be on a school reading list or reading program or even in a school library. It can be a fun, five-star book to those young people who realize that reading takes the reader to different situations, different worlds, and different lifestyles - and we cannot always make our world like theirs.

I had really enjoyed the first two Ashleys books, so I couldn't wait to dig into this latest. I'm 29, but I love reading teen books for pure relaxation and fun, and this didn't disappoint. Ashley's 13th birthday is coming up and it is going to be the event of the season - that is, if Ashley's Mom doesn't ruin it all by insisting (after puking on the wedding planner!) she tone down the preparations. How can she? Her awesome, circus-themed party to be is already the talk of the school and beyond. One other small problem: everyone else seems to have a boyfriend but her. When she meets a mysterious hottie on the dock and invites him to her party, it becomes even more important that her party will knock everyone's socks off. And Lauren? Her old pal Sadie Graham is back, but doesn't yet realize that Lauren is an Ashley now. Lauren's trying to convert the babyish Sadie into an Ashley so that they can all be friends (while keeping her and Sadie's friendship under wraps from the Ashleys so they don't ban her, Lauren!), but Sadie's shockingly resistant. Why won't she just dress nicely and act reasonable? Doesn't everyone want to be an Ashley? Lots of drama and new revelations in this book, and if you enjoyed the last two, you'll love this one even more. I'm waiting eagerly for the next one.

Having not read any of the other books in the series, I was worried that I would be completely lost when starting this book. I have read the author's other series, The Au Pairs, and I figured I knew the style of writing that was going to take place. Also I have read several other teen fiction series dealing with the same type of characters. Well, after starting the book I was totally confused at keeping track of who was who. The clique is named The Ashleys due to 3 of the members sharing the same name. Two of them end up with nicknames so not to confuse each other, but to this reader I had trouble keeping track of which was which Ashley. After a while I got it, but it probably would have helped to read the past two books as several events from the past kept getting mentioned. The biggest is probably the entire of reason of why Lauren is in the clique to begin with. Also the way these parents let their kids rule their lives is despicable. I mean, your mother is deadly sick and you're angry at her because she doesn't want you to ride in on a Vespa at a circus party? However, I actually favored this book as compared to other popular tween offering that is out there, The Clique series. While once again, these girls are living over-extravagant lifestyles with constant label dropping, it's not as annoying. They don't speak in the coded, annoying "Eh my gawd!!!" slang that is on every page in The Clique. What is also refreshing about having younger teens, is that there is no talk about sex. Yes, girls like guys but since they are only 12-13, no one's having sex. Heck, you can't even tell if these girls have even hit puberty yet. Also of noted interest is the diversity of the main characters. The presence of minorities in the main cast is dutifully noted, yet it is cliched that the leader of the pack is blond and blue eyed. This is pretty much like a Mean Girls scenario with a younger set. If you have a tween, and you want them to stay away from Gossip Girl or the It Girl for the time being, these books are recommended for them. I, myself, might have to go back and find the other two books to catch up on what has happened before.

Ashley Spencer is every young girls' nightmare and dream of being. Rich, pretty, and powerful this is one young lady that will not take no for an answer in any situation. Ashley is about to have a birthday and of course Ashley will have the most expensive and top-notch party her school has ever seen, or will she? It appears things are not running as smoothly for Ashley as they have in the past. After all, how could she ever tell her friends that her boyfriend dumped her, her mom just revealed some terrible news (at least for Ashley it is), and her party may be canceled? Horrors upon horrors. To top it off someone had started a terrible blog trying to pit her best friend against her? Surely no one could take Ashley's place as the most popular, prettiest girl in town, could they? You get the picture I'm sure. In this work young readers will see, hopefully how life doesn't always play out the way we want it to. The author weaves in problems, even in this have it all young girl's life. Perhaps Ashley has learned some important life lessons, but I'm not totally sure of that. We will have to see. This was a good book that young girls will enjoy. It is written on their level and gives some insight into situations they may well have to handle. It also shows how some people are not able to handle popularity and how it actually brings out the worse in them instead of making them better. All in all this was a very enjoyable read.