Madeline Echols has been voted Most Popular ever since returning transformed from a trip abroad. In Italy, she watched people and learned about fashion and returned to Freeport, Maine, a different girl. Before she left, no one noticed her. She was invisible. Once she came back, the hottest guy in school wanted to be her boyfriend and a small clique of popular chicks made her their friend.
But then Madeline's world is rocked. Her hot boyfriend of two years moves to California. She wants to visit him, but she can't afford the plane ticket. She's worried that she'll lose him and her popularity if she can't see him. Her parents are just getting by as dairy farmers, so they can't help her financially.
Suddenly, it seems as if all of Madeline's problems are solved when a group of the losers on the "Not-Most List" offer to pay Madeline for fashion and popularity-coaching. Madeline is torn, but decides to take on three of the school's most notorious pariahs to earn some cash. But, the experience of tutoring these "losers" changes Madeline in ways that she never saw coming. Can she maintain her popularity and her relationships with the other Mosts if she's surrounded by nobodies?
This is a super light, easy read. I read it while sunbathing this afternoon. It was fun, just a little deep, slightly predictable, but not in a bad way. I'll be happy to put it on my free reading shelves for my students in the fall. It's one of those universal tales about humanity being stronger and more important than popularity. And it takes place in Maine, which always fascinates my students!
Thanks to Random House for this ARC.
