Revelation [Paperback]

Life couldn't possibly get any worse for Reed Brennan, could it?

Welcome to book eight of the PRIVATE series by Kate Brian.

When we left the Girls of Billings in AMBITION, Reed had just pulled of the coup of the year with the fundraiser to save the school, only to have her reputation smeared across campus via the technology of cell phones. Someone had caught her 5-minute make-out session with Dash McCafferty, Noelle Lange's on-again/off-again boyfriend.

Reed has just returned to Easton Academy after Thanksgiving break, and her first night back, she receives the shocking news that the Girls of Billing have voted her out. It wasn't a unanimous vote, but still, majority rules, and the only home she's ever wanted at Easton is no longer hers. She now knows how far Noelle will go to get back at anyone that crosses her.

So Reed finds herself in a disgustingly ugly small single in, dare she think it, Pemberly? But Reed packs her stuff and, with the help of her few remaining friends from Billings, moves. But it gets even worse. For her next-door neighbor is none other than her ex-boyfriend Josh Hollis' new girlfriend, Ivy Slade. But Reed isn't beaten yet. She's bound and determined to get back into Billings and clear her name of everything. Granted, she can't undo the error with Dash, but she can find out who is responsible for Cheyenne's death and who's been stalking her.

Yes, even with moving into Pemberly, Reed is still finding mysterious items of Cheyenne's in her room. Things keep appearing but Reed refuses to think she could possibly have anything to do with it. She keeps telling everyone that she had nothing to gain by murdering Cheyenne. Cromwell was already expelling her, so there was no reason to make it worse on Cheyenne.

REVELATION will let the reader finally know the truth of Cheyenne's death. As Reed investigates and gets closer to the truth, people that she thought she couldn't count on come to her aid. And those she thought were the ones she could always count on may turn out to be the ones she should've been watching out for all along.

Readers have to wait until February 2009 to find out the continuation of Reed and the aftereffects of the Easton Academy Holiday Dinner. However, those needing their fix of Easton Academy have the LAST CHRISTMAS: THE PRIVATE PREQUEL to look forward to on October 7, 2008. And the new series with Ariana Osgood (isn't she locked up?) is due out on December 30, 2008.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Sixteen-year-old Reed Brennan has lost everything she had obtained since entering Easton Academy and the much coveted Billings House. She's lost the presidency at Billings after everyone sees her making out with Dash, Noelle's on-again-off-again boyfriend, through a stream video message. Her ex-boyfriend Josh is seeing another girl. And of course she loses Noelle's friendship -- and, as a result, her spot at the Billings house. Now Reed is in one of the single rooms in a lesser-known dorm. But if that wasn't bad enough, Ivy, Josh's new girlfriend and bane of Reed's existence, is her new neighbor. She is a social pariah now. Her life as she'd known it is over. But that is not the worst of it. Reed is informed that Cheyenne's death wasn't a suicide. She is still getting those creepy e-mails that began right after Cheyenne's death, and now she is getting strange messages in her dorm room. All Reed knows is that someone is doing this to her. Someone very close. Is it Ivy, or is it the girl who has taken Reed's place at the Billings house? There are rumors that Ariana has escaped from the mental institution she's locked into for murdering Thomas Pearson. Could -- oh horror of horrors -- she be behind all this? In order for Reed to find out, she has to win back Noelle at all cost. But how could she do that when Noelle won't let her get close? It seems that Noelle wants everyone to believe Reed is Cheyenne's murderer, which has alienated her from almost everyone at the campus, all except for Constance, Sabine and a few others. But Reed will not give up. Not only will she win back her spot at the Billings house, but she will also clean up her name, win back her friends (and make some new ones in the process) AND find out who her tormentor is. The revelation will truly shock you...

This is the best and most revealing installment in the Private series since Confessions. What makes this one so great is that many questions and loose ends are answered. You also get a lot of new scattered pieces to this intriguing puzzle. Various characters are developed in this book and you get a bigger picture and stronger sense of who they are and what roles they play in Reed's life. The cliffhanger is also extremely shocking, not to mention frustrating, for the next book, Paradise Lost, won't come out until February. For now, I will have to settle with digesting this book and Last Christmas -- the prequel to Private that centers on Ariana Osgood and Thomas Pearson -- and wait for the release of Privilege, the spinoff to Private, also centered on Ariana. The Private series isn't the typical YA book series centered on rich private school kids boyfriend-hopping, backstabbing and partying. It is so much more than that. Better than Gossip Girl and It Girl, in my opinion. Kate Brian has a wonderful imagination. The one bad thing about this is this: how did the police find out that Cheyenne's death wasn't a suicide? Anyway, read this, but not before reading the other books in order. You won't regret it!

Loved this latest installment - finally we get some answers - though not nearly enough! (no spoilers)

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars