The Exile of Gigi Lane

The Exile of Gigi Lane

by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

I'm Gigi Lane and you wish you were me.

Gigi has known since she was seven that she was destined to be popular.  It was just a natural progression for her.  She's got well-off parents, is great with adults, and knows how to look good.

She also knows what everyone else is doing wrong and isn't afraid to tell them.  And now that she's in line to be the next Head Hottie to rule the school, she'll have the perfect platform to be the most popular and share her wealth of knowledge with everyone around her (whether they want her to or not).

But things go horribly wrong at the Founder's Ball when she's called out for being the "mean girl" that she is in front of everyone, and they all agree.  She's sent to Alaska for the summer only to return and find herself in a new role.

Exile.

She's not welcome anywhere at school, but still has to go there.

Can the former mean girl reform herself before her senior year is over?

Final thoughts:  I read it in one day and enjoyed it, but then kept coming back to things.  While Gigi changes, she doesn't really change much.  In the end, she still has her mean girl tendencies and an insane desire to be popular, which, going what she went through, doesn't seem grounded in reality.  But Gigi isn't really grounded in reality.  She's set up her own world in her head based on how she thinks things should be: not how they actually are.  And the whole exile to Alaska just seems placed there to explain why she's out of the loop on the first day of school, not to help her learn anything.  It's nice to see the mean girl get her comeuppance, but it would be better if it were more realistic in the way it's done. 

Rating: 3/5