Vicious Little Darlings by Katherine Easer
pages: 320
released: June 2011
publisher: Bloomsbury
cover love: ♥♥

Sarah Weaver wasn’t looking forward to starting at an all-girls school. But that was before she met Maddy. Maddy and her best friend, Agnes, are fun and rich and interesting-and for some reason, they seem to really like Sarah. Before long, Maddy and Agnes have moved Sarah into a big house off campus, where they cook together, buy each other presents, and share each other’s secrets. So why does Sarah feel like something’s bizarrely wrong? As more and more cracks start to show in Maddy’s and Agnes’s perfect veneers, Sarah notices some strange and disturbing things: Maddy’s compulsive lying, Agnes’s obsession with Maddy, and the deterioration of their friendship. And just when Sarah begins to question her own sanity, things turns deadly. (Goodreads)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 11/14/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET

Review:

I was really excited about reading this book when I added it GoodReads. It was recommended to fans of PLL so I figured this would be like Pretty Little Liars, the R-Rated College version. Jesus, was I mislead.

Sarah Weaver is forced to attend an all-girls college on the east coast by her grandmother/guardian and when she meets her new roommate, Madison and her best friend, Agnes, their lives and creepy friendship take over Sarah’s life and sanity. She doesn’t know which girl to trust, they both seem to be hiding something and playing her off against one another. Vicious Little Darlings is probably the wrong title for this book. These girls aren’t as much vicious as they are cracked. Sarah is the slutty one who sleeps around, Agnes is the clingy, OCD, control freak and Maddy is the superstitious, pathological liar. All sounds promising for a great story but not in this case.

First, there was the deer scene…this was overkill. If you hit a deer and by some strange fate only the foot was damaged, would you take it back to your dorm room to keep as a pet? In fact, how did you get it there without someone seeing it or how would you contain the smell without other students becoming suspicious? What really had me baffled was when Agnes and Maddy went to stay at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. With the deer. And this didn’t alert the staff…? When it comes to reading, on some level, you have to have suspension of disbelief. Trust me, I know this. But come on, are you serious?

Then, there’s the characters. These girls were hot messes. Agnes is basically Maddy’s sugar mama, she buys everything for her and is obsessed with her every move. Maddy is an ungrateful liar and both of them together just act like spoiled rich brats. But they don’t compare to Sarah. Sarah suffers from Dumb Girl Syndrome. After knowing these girls for a couple of weeks, she moves off campus with them. After repeatedly mentioning how stupid and what a player Maddy’s boyfriend is, she sleeps with him. After seeing what a twisted sick puppy Maddy is turning into, she continues to live with her and even agrees to help plan Agnes’s murder. All the while acting like she’s smart enough to know better. This book made no sense to me. I feel like the author had the characters doing unrealistic things and gave them unrealistic motives just to suit her story and it didn’t work.

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