The Education of Hailey Kendrick by Eileen Cook

Goodreads Description: "Hailey Kendrick always does exactly what's expected of her. She has the right friends, dates the perfect boy, gets good grades, and follows all the rules. But one night, Hailey risks everything by breaking a very big rule in a very public way...and with a very unexpected partner in crime. Hailey gets caught, but her accomplice does not, and Hailey takes the fall for both of them.

Suddenly, Hailey's perfect life--and her reputation--are blowing up in her face. Her friends are all avoiding her. Her teachers don't trust her. Her boyfriend won't even speak to her for long enough to tell her that she's been dumped.

They say honesty is the best policy--but some secrets are worth keeping, no matter the cost. Or are they?"

My Review: This was a nice, if somewhat cliche, book. (Maybe I'm just a sucker for stories set at rich boarding schools?)The nice parts: Hailey was, in my opinion, a winning character. She was popular, but not in a cheesy way. She was nice, but not TOO nice. Sassy, but not TOO sassy. I liked her. I liked how she was wealthy---because in most books like this, the main character is the poor scholarship kid, and has to overcome living with a bunch of rich kids---but this wasn't Hailey's issue. I also really liked her background story, with her mom and dad; it made her will to be perfect seem believable. I also really liked how Tristan, her perfect boyfriend, was actually kind of human and nice. In most chick-lit, the perfect guy the girl's dating in the beginning drops her like a hot potato the second she messes up, and then acts like a total jerk. Tristan DID drop her...but he wasn't really a jerk, in the end. And rebel-without-a-cause Drew was just hilarious, in my mind. The cliche? Hailey's transition from perfect, careful caterpillar in a cocoon to daring and brave butterfly. The whole change was kind of tired, in my opinion; girl is perfect, girl messes up, girl learns to be daring and real, girl realizes her life being messed up wasn't such a bad thing after all. HOWEVER---this was still a good book. It was a good, fast read and the interesting characters more than made up for the cliched storyline.

Cover: The cover is just okay. It's cute and all, I suppose---pretty girl blowing a bubble against a blue sky...but I'm not sure how it has any relevance to the book. Actually, it has NO relevance to the book. So it's just plain okay.

Overall Grade: A-