Brooke Berlin—accomplished power shopper, prima-donna–in-training and daughter of film megastar Brick Berlin—thought she was an only child. Now she’s appalled to discover that she has a half sister, Molly.
Worse, her father’s not only invited Molly to move in, he intends to introduce her to the world at Brooke’s Sweet 16 party. Arriving from Indiana, shell-shocked by her mother’s recent death, Molly makes an easy victim. Brooke, nursing her own mom issues, gets Molly drunk at the party and makes sure the tabloids notice. So does Brick, whose past films include Tequila Mockingbird and It Takes a Pillage (a Leif Ericson biopic)—he may be self-involved, but he’s still a parent. Brick decrees the girls share a room and attend school together. There Brooke sabotages Molly; Teddy and Max befriend her; and Shelby, Brooke’s nemesis, uses her. Finally, Molly fights back. Followers of the authors’ take-no-prisoners, celebrity-fashion blog will expect the satire. What surprises are moments of emotional depth—Brooke and Molly especially are rounded individuals—in this obsessively readable, smartly subversive take on lifestyles of the rich and narcissistic and their many enablers, from top stars to trashy-tabloid bottom feeders.
Names aren’t so much dropped as smashed; for maximum enjoyment, less-invested readers may require a "who's who" of trashy celebrities. (Fiction. 13 & up)
