Review: Sweet Deceit by Kate Brian

CONTEMPORARY TEEN FICTION
To the grave...

Ariana Osgood has been tapped for Stone and Grave, Atherton-Pryce Hall's most exclusive secret society. But so has her arch-nemesis, Kaitlynn. They go head-to-head during Hell Week, but Ariana has worked too hard for her luxe life at APH to give it up without a fight. When the competition turns deadly, only one girl will walk away from it alive...

Wow! Kate Brian bounced back with an amazing novel after the good but not great Perfect Mistake. In fact, it was so good that right after finishing my review for Perfect Mistake, I grabbed Sweet Deceit and pretty much tore through the pages.

First off, I know I've said this in pretty much every review of the Privilege series, but Ariana's character is only getting better and better. In this one, she's depicted as heroic, strong, independent, resilient, and hardworking. And that's the kind of main character I like to see. Of course, all I'm going to say about the suspense in this book is that her murderous tendencies are back in Sweet Deceit...getting you excited, aren't I? Yeah, so even though she's a murderer (twice!) in this book, I'm still getting more and more convinced by this perfectly executed series that Ariana is actually a great main character.

Now, the action in Sweet Deceit was enough to rival any book from the Private series. There isn't so much pressure from Kaitlynn in this book, but that portion is more than made up for by the other conflicts that Ariana has. Just like any normal girl (ha!) she's got a desire to be the best, wants a boyfriend badly...and not so much like other girls, will do anything, including murder, to get what she wants. Yeah, I know that pisses most people off. Trust me--at first, when I started the Privilege series, I was hating myself for even thinking about picking up a book about a crazy murduress who goes around slaughtering people on a whim. But then I really got into the books, and into Ariana's steadily developing character, and I realized I had made the right choice. Yep, I can always count on Kate Brian. And you, my lovely, devoted followers, can as well, because all of her books have either received five stars or four stars (well, the books that I've read, anyway) on The Wordy Wench. Quite an achievement, no?

Now, I don't want to slip up, but this little tidbit that is sure to get devoted followers of the Privilege and Private series both very hyped up is on the tip of my tongue--well, on the tip of my typing fingers, actually--so I'll just go ahead and blurt it out. One of my fave Private characters makes a reappearance in this book! Gasp! Although, I don't quite like what tragedy befalls her. I was actually about to cry when I realized that this innocent character, while drunk out of her mind, is teetering on the edge of pissing fate off. Like, seriously.

Anyhow, now that I've got y'all salivating, let me bring up another good point I've noticed. In the summaries for the Privilege books, the word choice is kinda vague, as if they don't really want you to know what you're in for when you start the book. Sometimes, that's a good thing, and sometimes...not so much. So if summaries leave you hanging and confused rather than excited and ready for a page-turning marathon, reading my reviews would probably be a good idea. They pretty much go in-depth, as far as analyzing and critiquing the plot and characters go. So make sure you stick around for my two cents after you read the italicized summary above.

I can't wait for the next book in the Privilege series! Hopefully, it's just as good as Sweet Deceit--which, by the way, receives a very well-deserved five stars!