cover image SO SUPER STARRY

SO SUPER STARRY

Rose Wilkins, . . Dial, $16.99 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8037-3049-6

Octavia, the narrator of this entertaining debut novel, is the daughter of a director and a sitcom star and attends an elite school in London "crammed" with celebrities' kids "with the kind of names guaranteed to make the vicar stutter over the baptismal font." She's an outsider there, and "take[s] pride in the fact." But when India Withers, the most popular girl in class, invites Octavia to her 16th birthday party (really, so India can meet Octavia's father), Octavia is surprised that she feels excited. At the party Octavia meets—and kisses—handsome Alexis (aka "Alex"), whom she soon learns is India's older brother. Readers will be intrigued by the novel's premise and will likely get as swept up as Octavia does in her suddenly much-more-glamorous life: chic clothes, late-nights out and a famous boyfriend (a picture of her with Alex even shows up in a celebrity magazine). But India is mean and manipulative, and Alex sends Octavia mixed messages ("Is that what you think I am? Just another spoiled rich kid?" he asks her during one conversation, while soon after he acts exactly like that, being extremely rude to their "long suffering waiter"). Ultimately, Octavia must decide what kind of life she wants to lead. The outcome may be fairly obvious and melodramatic, but overall readers will enjoy watching India and other snobs get their comeuppance. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)