The Pretty App

Gr 9 Up—Blake Dawkins is a stereotypical queen bee: beautiful, privileged, with deep-seated insecurities that make her lash out at less popular students and have caused her to lose friends. Blake and other teens across the country are excited when the Pretty App is released, which combines a beauty pageant with a photo-sharing app. Blake is soon voted the prettiest at her school and is then chosen as one of a dozen girls to take part in The Pretty App Live, a three-day reality TV show. The plot moves along with lightning speed-much like the pace of online life and reality television. Blake's father is a major investor in the app and Blake suspects he may be rigging the voting in her favor. A mysterious transfer student shows up at Blake's high school, woos her, then disappears just as she wins the contest. A subplot about Blake's sister coming out seems to exist solely to give Blake anxiety. There are many references to the events of "last year," the plot of Sise's previous novel, The Boyfriend App (HarperCollins, 2013), but readers of that book will not have much on folks who are new to the series. This is a frothy title with a protagonist who is not always likable but who garners sympathy because of her first-person perspective. Teens who read and enjoyed the first book may enjoy seeing Harrison High School from a mean girl's perspective, and for teens who are hooked on apps like Snapchat, Whisper, and YikYak, this may feel familiar.—Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT