Dirty Laundry - Hardcover

Grade 8–10—Teen actress Carli Gemz is a self-proclaimed dork preparing for a role in Private Nights—a TV show about scandalous boarding school teens—by posing as Sheila Smith at Winchester School of the Arts, the "dirty laundry" of boarding schools. When model senior Darcy Novak goes missing, do-gooder Carli decides to find her. The teen's disappearance is the tip of the iceberg as far as Winchester scandals go. The school is falling apart and desperately needs money, so Headmaster Stanton tolerates abuse from a wealthy donor's son while accepting a "Faustian bargain" from Fellini "Fun" Udall Newport's father (Carli's boss) to keep the boy in school. The catch is that Fun must serve as Carli's assistant. Their prime suspect is Hilton James, aka Nails, Fun's best friend and dormmate, yet the cast of misfit suspects is endless: there's Carli's roommate Miranda, relocated to Winchester for sleeping with her gym teacher; Sarah, a snarky goth DJ/journalist extraordinaire; her sidekick Mary Fishman, an aspiring author who is always with her diary and pen in hands; and Kirk Bishop, Darcy's current boyfriend. Mostly told in alternating chapters between Fun and Carli, the plot does slow in the middle, which causes readers to question its plausibility; nevertheless, this is a fun read, and the clever voices and engaging dialogue are enough to pull most readers through to the end.—Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ
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