The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by e. Lockhart

Frankie attends Alabaster Preparatory, an elite school for both old and new money alike. She begins dating Matthew Livingston, one of the most popular senior boys, her sophomore year. Matthew is a member of the school's most secret male society and Frankie wants in. Underestimated by the boys and tired of being "adorable," she makes it her mission to become the brains behind the brawn.

I've reviewed Frankie Landau-Banks before.  But I had the urge to listen to it again while waiting for the next Bloody Jack book to come in.  It's been about 2 years since I first listened to it.  I found Matthew to be a very frustrating character.  The way that he doesn't even noticed Frankie for who she really is and, even when she tries to express her feelings, he doesn't get it.  Maybe that is the product of being a teenage boy.  But his constant refrain of "Don't be mad" and "You are adorable" are the wrong approach to someone like Frankie and it does reduce her to only being a little girl in the exact same way her family calls her "Bunny Rabbit."  It's a serious underestimation of Frankie.  But like Alpha says it would be hard to overestimate Frankie.  I don't want to boil down Frankie's ambitions to her liking Alpha, but I think her need for him to notice her and respect her is part of what drives her taking over the Bassets.  If he had acknowledged her when they first meet in school, maybe things would have been different.  Alpha proves himself to be the better counterpart in the end, much more so than Matthew who is really just a follower, not a leader.  Frankie and Alpha are both leaders.

And so, once again, this book gave me a lot to think about.  I can say this is truly one of the best books to read and I'm sure this is not my last time with Frankie.

 

6 hours

Tanya Eby is the narrator and I love her voice for Frankie.  She doesn't really do voices for the rest of the characters but it's still easy to tell them apart.  She really reads Frankie with the right tone and speed. 

Whisper in My Ear

Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart

In this last installment (*sniff*) of the Ruby Oliver series, Ruby is once again experiencing boy troubles when Noel suddenly withdraws from their relationship.  Ruby is at a loss to explain what happened.  But as she tried to figure out what happened to her real live boyfriend, she realizes how her own behavior is affecting her life.

But you have to like him and he has to like you -  and everyone has to know you're together.
He's your real live boyfriend! p.2

First, let me say that I love, love the Ruby Oliver series.  It is one of the few series that I have read multiple times and now that it is complete I will have to do a complete read through once again.  They are some beautiful, sweet complex books and I love Ruby and all her heartbreak and the unfairness of it all. 

And this book perfectly completes the series.  Do I wish there was more?  Well, yes.  Because I really will miss Ruby.  But I am happy with how the story turned out.  It was a great ending for Ruby.  I'm glad that she finally came to terms with herself and I love with whom she ended up.  And I am often a sucker for footnotes (if they are done right. *cough Bartimaeus*) so I love the lists and the footnotes.  Really there is nothing else to say. A great end to a great series. 


Hogwarts: Muggle Studies

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Audio)

Frankie attends Alabaster Preparatory, an elite school for both old and new money alike. She begins dating Matthew Livingston, one of the most popular senior boys, her sophomore year. Matthew is a member of the school's most secret male society and Frankie wants in. Underestimated by the boys and tired of being "adorable," she makes it her mission to become the brains behind the brawn.

I've now read everything by E. Lockhart with the exception of Fly on the Wall. And I've enjoyed everything I've read. She writes such smart, witty, and real girls. Frankie is an amazing girl even I felt like smacking her now and then. She lives in a world of privilege but doesn't want to accept the status quo and won't let herself become regulate to being one of the girlfriends or just a cute girl. She wants to be powerful and recognized for her intelligence. I admire the way she went about getting what she wanted and recognize that ambition in myself. Not to the point of Frankie, but still that need to be the one in charge, to be the controller. The boys I recognize from school and from friends, boys who just are without needing to try. The way they effortlessly exist while the girls have to watch what they say or how they act lest someone assign a label to them. I think that is what Frankie is looking for, to be herself without being labeled.

Tanya Eby is the narrator and she does an excellent job. At first I thought that she read too quickly, but later realized it was tailored to the scence. Her voice is pleasant and she makes everything Frankie does seem natural and intelligent.

The Treasure Map of Boys

Ruby Oliver is back and just can't stay out of trouble. After last year's disaster where she is branded the school slut and lost all of her friends, Ruby is trying to live her life without upsetting everyone. But her crush on Noel is complicated by her friend Nora's own crush and suddenly all of Ruby's old boyfriends (or whatever) are popping up. Ruby is still in therapy and still having trouble coping with situations in her life.


I will say that I may be biased towards this book. I love love the others in this series, The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, so I was really looking forward to this book. Thankfully, it lived up to my expectations. I love Ruby and I feel so bad for her. I just want her to make the right decisions and quit worrying about how people feel about her. But at the same time I can still remember that need that teenagers have to be like (frankly, everyone has that need) and I understood her devastation when her friends completely dropped her in the first book even though she wasn't the only one at fault. I do like how Ruby stands up for herself and others and wants to do the right thing and tries to do the right thing, but doesn't always succeed in doing the right thing. That is generally how things go.

Anyway, I'm completely in love with this book and the whole series. I'm going to have to do a series re-read now. It's just that good.

*ARC from publisher