Perfect Mistake [Paperback]

Ariana Osgood, now known as Briana Leigh Covington ("Ana" to her friends), finally has the life she has carefully constructed. She's attending Atherton-Pryce, an elite boarding school, moving into the most coveted dorm on campus and her crush has just broken up with his long-time girlfriend. Now he's available to date her! What more could Ariana ask for? Just as things are starting to fall into place for her, her nemesis, Kaitlynn, is now a student at Atherton-Pryce. Will Kaitlynn reveal Ariana's secret?

Ariana Osgood is a character most readers would love to hate. Actually, I don't. I admit I have a strong dislike for people who cheat, lie, manipulate or do whatever it takes to get what they want. Ariana is guilty of all three and she even killed her namesake to steal her life (and money). Despite knowing these things, there's still a part of me that just likes Ariana.

In the first two books of the series, we learn more about Ariana's reasoning for wanting revenge (which actually started to develop during the Private series with Reed). In Perfect Mistake, Ariana struggles against resorting to her old behavior now that she finally belongs. But Kaitlynn's return makes it quite difficult for her.

Kaitlynn is ruthless. Actually, that's putting it mildly. What's worse than ruthless? EVIL?!? She's the type of girl who will stab you in the back (literally) and then go on a shopping spree as if nothing happened. Kaitlynn's one goal is to make Ariana's life miserable and naturally she succeeds. She threatens to harm Ariana's friends if Ariana does not submit to her demands. Fed up, Ariana tries to take matters into her own hands, however Kaitlynn is always one step ahead of her and foils her plans.

To make matters worse, both girls have been tapped for the secret society on campus. Problem is there are four openings and five girls. Kaitlynn wants Ariana to make sure she is one of the chosen or else. Ariana feels she has no choice but to given in to Kaitlynn.

Honestly, it must be hard to be Ariana. She's trying to maintain her 4.0 GPA, plot and scheme to get her enemy off her back, hook up her best friend with a new guy so she can date her former boyfriend and maintain her deadly secret. Whew! How exhausted she must feel. Would her exhaustion be her downfall? Only time will tell.

True to Ms. Brian's style, Perfect Mistake ends with a cliffhanger. One that made me want to immediately pick up the fourth book. Unfortunately I will have to wait until June 8th to find out what happens, when Sweet Deceit is released.

Fans of the Privilege series will not be disappointment with this third installment.

You thought the tension had drained out. Everything Ariana wanted, Ariana got - money, a spot at the elite boarding school Atherton-Pryce Hall, a new identity, and closure on her old life. Of course Kate Brian had to throw some more complications into the mix, and throw them she did! If you finished Privilege, you know what I'm talking about.

First and foremost, you cannot read this book without reading Privilege. I know that may seem self-explanatory, but there are some series that you can kind of jump into the middle and kind of get what's going because they explain it to you. Kate Brian does not really do that - there is a little explanation, a little summary, but for the most part she literally starts the next book where she left off in the last. I love it because it means if you are following along with the series, there are no wasted pages resummarizing the events of the last couple of books in every book - you get right to the meat. But for all those considering this, go back and find Privilege first, and read it.

That said, the one thing I am continually surprised that Kate Brian can do is make you sympathize with a character as sociopathic as Ariana. You know what she's done (although if you haven't read Private you don't know the full magnitude of what she's done - but considering all the stuff she pulled in the first book, you already know what she's capable of). You know that she has ridiculous rationalizations. You know she's a scheming, manipulative, conniving you-know-what. And yet...you find yourself rooting for her ANYWAY! Even if you've read the Private series and you love Reed Brennan, somehow you can love Ariana Osgood too - and even though you might hate Ariana when you're reading the Private books, that feeling switches to sympathy and identification when reading Privilege novels. What the heck?!

And another thing. I know some long running series - especially long-running YA fiction series, and particularly ones that are targeted towards women and girls and become extremely popular - tend to degenerate over the books, so by the time you get to the fourth or fifth book in the series, they become pedestrian and filled with a lot of unnecessary exposition that doesn't move the story along - or worse, they just drop a designer name brand every couple seconds to hope you get distracted. Gossip Girl, I feel, fell to this trap. This series (and it's mother Private) doesn't do that. In the last 3.5 weeks I've read 8 of the Private novels and 3 of the Privilege novels, and each one is as much of a page-turner as the last. So rest-assured, the second book in the series is just as interesting as the last. Kate Brian has found a way to keep the drama going at high levels in each book.

But if you're looking at this book you've already read Privilege and you know that you HAVE to find out what happens to Ariana! So buy it!

It was a great follow-up to the story, and a fun, quick read.
Keep your eye out for the 4th book, Sweet deceit coming June 2010!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars