Sasha would do anything to help her best friend, Xavier, and in the month following his seventeenth birthday, she does. After having his heart broken by Ivy, a volatile, sexy, commanding, former ballerina, Sasha has almost gotten sweet Xavier back on his feet, and she is almost ready to tell him how she really feels about him. Then Ivy pulls Xavier back to her, and Sasha is dead set on proving to Xavier that Ivy hasn't reformed her cheating ways. Sasha's alcohol-fueled online snooping quickly morphs into catfishing. She soon realizes that not only is she right about Ivy but she's in too deep to turn back, and if she wants her relationship with Xavier to survive, she needs to take desperate measures. This stylish, edgy novel of mistaken identity told in three voices takes a dark, lurid turn, with the second part ricocheting into psychological suspense with devastating consequences. Readers will revel in the twists and turns as the characters attempt to gather the pieces of their shattered lives.

A love triangle takes a turn for the dark. There never seems to be a good time for Sasha to tell her best friend, Xavier, that she is desperately in love with him—not while he's depressed after Ivy dumps him, not when Ivy decides she wants him back, not even when Sasha comes up with a beastly plan to entrap Ivy into revealing her selfish and cheating ways. Ivy is "a tornado, unpredictable and cracklingly alive." Sasha tells herself that she has Xavier's best intentions at heart when she uploads a picture of a hot guy with a "muscular bicep" and sends Ivy an Instagram follow request. Ivy takes the bait and starts a text flirtation, but she continues to lure Xavier deeper into a naughty relationship. "Come to my house," she tells him. "I promise we won't get caught." Sasha goes to extreme lengths to free Xavier from Ivy, and these pretty girls create some very ugly situations. Weingarten draws provocative characters with searingly sharp writing, but underneath the stylishness, the plot twists are abrupt and may leave readers with vertigo. The absence of specific racial or ethnic markers implies a white default. A teen love story that flits through a titillating social scene and wanders into a murky moral swamp. (Fiction. 14-18)

Gr 9 Up-asha is sick of watching Ivy break Xavier's heart again and again, especially because her feelings for him have developed beyond friendship. So when Xavier and Ivy get back together, Sasha decides to take matters into her own hands. She knows that Ivy has cheated on Xavier in the past and she will cheat on him again. Sasha poses as a guy online and starts a flirtation with Ivy to prove to Xavier how bad she is for him. But things do not go as planned; they go horribly, horribly wrong. The story of Xavier, Sasha, and Ivy is told in multiple points of view. Sasha narrates her side of things in first person, while Xavier's chapters are told in third person. There is a third, mysterious first-person narrator, as well as text conversations between Ivy and Jake (Sasha's made-up persona). Together these threads weave a dark, twisted tale of betrayal and lies. Readers will be in high suspense as the juicy details of the drama escalate. Weingarten plays with the good girl/bad girl dichotomy in the female main characters, while Xavier is portrayed as helpless pawn between two desperate young women. The ending will have teens going back to reread everything that happened through new eyes. Hand this psychological thriller to fans of unreliable narrators and those looking for Gone Girl for teens. VERDICT An intoxicating page-turner, this one is sure to be popular.Allison McLean, Elkhart Public Library, IN

Sixteen-year-old Sasha secretly loves her best friend, Xavier. The only problem is his volatile, on-again, off-again girlfriend, Ivy. When Xavier catches Ivy cheating (again), her lack of remorse sends him spiraling into the abyss of depression. After a month of nursing him back to health, Sasha begins to see a glimmer of the old funny, kind, smart, and loyal Xavier. Just when she gains the courage to confess her love, Ivy reappears to claim her territory. Convinced that Ivy is simply toying with his emotions, Sasha decides to create a fake Instagram account posing as “Jake” to catch Ivy in the act of cheating. Instead, the lines between honesty and lies become blurred, and the consequences of deception become deadly. Bad Girls with Perfect Faces incorporates multiple viewpoints to give readers various perspectives of events throughout the novel. Each perspective provides insight into character motives and internal conflicts to help manipulate the plot to create suspense. The novel is dark, with promiscuity, dysfunctional relationships, and alcohol and drug abuse. Each character seems to experience abandonment issues on some level, as well. Themes include trust, friendship, and loyalty. Sasha and Ivy prove multidimensional and realistic, which allows the reader to connect with them. Although Xavier serves as an integral part to the plot, his character remains two flat. Male and female readers can relate to the story and its characters. Educators and librarians seeking an easy-to-read novel with a fast-moving plot will want to add this to their shelves.—Courtney Munday.