The secret rites of social butterflies by Lizabeth Zindel

[Gina]

What if the most powerful girls in school knew your
deepest, darkest secrets?

Maggie has to start her new life and senior year at the privileged all-girls Berkeley Prep after her parents' horrible divorce. Although Maggie's once active mother had spent most of the day mopping around the new apartment on Broadway, Maggie had found moving away from her old life a new chance at rebirth. Walking into the crowd of girls in Berkeley Prep, Maggie realised that these girls are not only smart but also a part that Maggie herself would never belong in. Fighting hard to get into the popular crowd of girls led by the rich and sassy Victoria, Maggie was miraculously accepted by the group to be one of their kind.

After joining Victoria and the rest of the popular crowd, Maggie gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join their secret society, the Revelers. However, with all the good comes the bad. Even though Maggie gets to enjoy her new-found life with the Revelers and gets help with snagging the apple of her eye, they also have a secret cause. The Revelers collects secrets of their schoolmates in Berkeley Prep so the next generation can learn from the past, and they don't think mercy when it comes to digging the sordid details of every gossip that might spells the truth. When Maggie gradually found that the line between gossip and truth was blurred, she finds that getting out of the Revelers is even harder than staying in. Could Maggie fight for her freedom and do what's right, or to lose everything that she have?

The secret rites of social butterflies is a daunting plot of how joining a secret society without thinking ahead would be like. Maggie is just like any other screwed-up teenager that has family problems and doesn't think before she acts. However, Maggie's character had evolved throughout the process of joining the Revelers and fighting her way to get out. Readers would neverthelessly root for Maggie to attain her own freedom and to watch Victoria get what she deserved.

I felt that Lizabeth Zindel had done a great job at comparing Maggie's life as that of a caterpillar gradually morphing into a butterfly. Readers would also find fun in learning about the metamorphorsis of a butterfly when it comes out of their cacoon. Books about secret societies in High School is increasing and reluctant readers might want to give this exciting book a good try.

Official site: http://www.lizabethzindel.com/

Rating: 9.5 out of 10