****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Kaitlin Burke is an exemplary teenager: she is unfailingly courteous, kind and considerate of the feelings of others. It is hard not to be a little bit cynical about that, though. This is a girl who has been featured in a popular and long-running television series since she was a toddler. She has had big-screen success, and she is well-respected by her peers. She lives a largely programmed and sheltered existence, and she is restless for opportunities to experience new things. She is loved by her family, but it is also true that they tend to exploit her and sometimes treat her as a commodity. It just seems unrealistic that she is so lacking in vanity and arrogance.Still, I had no problem overlooking this quibble and accepting the proposition that Kaitlin has overcome the traps of temptation that have destroyed so many that live privileged existences. In addition to an innate decency, she has the benefit of a small group of intensely loyal friends who never engage in cheap flattery. The reader will like those friends, and, like them, he or she will like Kaitlin.Kaitlin wishes to live life as a "normal" teenage girl for a short time, and she concocts a plan to enroll in the high school attended by her only non-celeb friend, Liz. She completely disguises herself and establishes a false identity as a recent immigrant from Britain. The bulk of the book comprises her adventures in high school and the important life lessons that she learns. The reader will probably anticipate the climactic highlight of her experiment before she does, but that recognition in no way lessens the pleasure of reading it.When I finished, I was somewhat surprised to realize how much I had enjoyed the book. The plot is entertaining, the characters are delightful, and the writing is clever and breezy. I am going to read the remaining books in the series.
