Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove

author: Lauren Kate
published: November 12th 2009
publisher: Penguin Books
format: paperback
pages: 235

The following synopsis comes from the back of the book!

What she wanted:
Natalie Hargrove wants one thing and one thing only- to be her high school's Palmetto Princess. Among the Southern Belles, a.k.a. Bambies, competing for the crown, she's by far the most beautiful, and the most deserving. Or so she thinks.

The catch:
Her boyfriend, Mike King, is on the brink of losing Palmetto Prince to Nat's nasty nemesis Justin Balmer. And let's just say Natalie and Justin have a history so shady it could wither flowers. Sure, Natalie could share the throne with Justin-over her dead body.

The trick:
So Nat convinces Mike to help her play a naughty little prank on Justin . . . just to make him look bad. Little do they know, their plan is about to go terribly, terribly wrong.

The fatal flaw:
Natalie and Mike desperately try to cover up what happened to Justin. But blackmail and buried desire, dark secrets and even darker deeds slowly begin to tear them apart. Because as it turns out, fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove.

My Thoughts:
The Cover:
This time, the cover is not what caught my interest. I had read Fallen by Lauren Kate and when I saw on her website that she had another novel, I decided to read it. The cover did not make me want to read it, but the synopsis did. The cover is not the type of cover I would pick out in a store and want to read, although it does make me wonder what the story is about. And then the title, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove definitely piqued my interest. The text on the cover looks really nice. I really like that the cover people used the two different fonts.

The Book:
Natalie Hargrove is the type of girl that I hate. She seems to have everything. The hot boyfriend, looks, popularity, and money, among other things. But she also has that, higher than thou attitude. She KNOWS that she's gorgeous and popular and she uses that and she treats people badly because she feels that she can. I usually don't even like to READ about this kind of girl. But Lauren Kate's writing of this story put me on Natalie's side. I was routing for her throughout the novel.

The prologue and epilogue are written as if they are talking to YOU. I love that, I think it helps the reader understand Nat more.

This story is nothing like I've ever experienced. As far as I am aware, my high school was not like this at all! It was fun to see into a society like that of Palmetto, especially through the eyes of the character Natalie. She was not always a part of this group and that could be a contributing factor to why I don't hate her completely. I think Natalie is a character that I hate to love. She puts so much into how her other people perceive her. Appearance and popularity are the most important things to her, which I, personally, just don't get.

It was really fun to see into this type of world, a world I will never belong in! But by reading it from Nat's point of view, I did belong, if only for a little while.

It was definitely worth reading.

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