Title: The Elite (Elite #1)
Author: Jennifer Banash
Rating: 4 Stars

From the top, you can see everything . . . except yourself.

When Casey McCloy steps into the elegant Bramford building, she’s overwhelmed. Fresh from the Midwest, she’s moved to New York’s Upper East Side to live with her grandmother and attend the prestigious Meadowlark Academy. Here all that matters is who you know. The girl to know is Madison Macallister: popular, pretty, platinumblond. She’s not just Casey’s new classmate and neighbor; she’s an icon. So Casey aims to get in with Madison and her gorgeous gal-pals from the start. As the reigning queen of coolness, Madison is capable of destroying reputations with one welltimed whisper. Better to be on her good side.

But after a city-haute makeover from her new frenemy Madison, Casey is wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and meeting the right people-including Drew, the boy-about-town who Madison thinks belongs to her and her alone.

So overall I thought this book was a really good read. I loved how Jennifer Banash managed to incorporate real teenage problems into this book all about rich girls and the high life. So Casey McCloy is the new girl in town and on her first day she meets the three most popular girls in her new school, Madison, Phoebe, and Sophie. All she really wants to do is to fit in with them and Sophie and Phoebe seem like they have no problem with that, but Madison does. Madison is the mean girl of her school. She has to have what she wants, when she wants it. Casey seems to get in her way when Madison’s sometimes boyfriend starts paying a little too much attention to Casey, and not enough to Madison.

Phoebe and Sophie are Madison’s two best friends. They are gorgeous and rich, just like Madison but unlike Madison they seem to be truly nice people, even when they aren’t exactly having very nice home lives. Phoebe is worried about her parents fighting all the time and the possibility that they might get divorced. Sophie feels like the outcast in her family, like she will never truly fit in with her tan, dark haired parents and brother, when she herself is pale and blonde. She takes out her frustration on herself in the form of self-mutilation.

Jennifer Banash has managed to create a great story about misfits, love, and high school drama. She has also managed to include some very real problems that are evident in today’s teens. I loved this book and would recommend it for any fans of series such as Private or Gossip Girl.