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So sorry I've fallen off the face of the earth. I didn't realize quite how demanding this year would be academically, and while it's sad I've had to choose homework and classes over updating this blog :(

Anyway, this is a really awesome contest to promote Tom Dolby's Secret Society. Enter by the 19th and YOU could win an Ambassador Initiation Kit!

The Teen Ambassador Initiation Kit includes:

• “The Initiates were given what looked like tattoos at the nape of their necks.” A set of 15 temporary ankh tattoos for you and 14 Initiates. Give them out wisely!

• “Anastasia took a sip of her martini, leaving a dark red lipstick print on her glass.” Your ticket to gorgeous lips and cheeks, TheBalm’s Stainiac Beauty Queen tinted gel blush (”a hint of tint for
the lips and cheeks”)! A $15 value! (TheBalm is a fabulous makeup brand launched by my friend Marissa Shipman and sold nationwide at Sephora.)

• “A card was included with the package that simply read, ‘With compliments.’” A one-of-a-kind vintage New York postcard signed by Tom — use it as a bookmark!

• “Patch and Nick used to play this game in class, where they would pass notes.” One beautiful, retro-styled Field Notes mini-notebook, perfect for writing down secrets! At the Bradford Trust, we’re crazy about these little notebooks. Normally, three are $10!

• “Lauren started to open it, but Emily stopped her.” Last, but not least: a secret initiation tool — here’s a hint: it’s sealed with an ankh!

Jacket description:
" Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. . . .

An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.

They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything—even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks. Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.

Tom Dolby makes his teen fiction debut with this riveting novel about a dangerous society so secret that once you get in, you can never get out."

I've heard the good and the not-so-good about this book and I was really expecting to lean more towards the latter. The concept was certainly appealing, but who knew if Dolby would pull it off without making it sound similar to all the other "secret club books filled with rich kids" that you can find on the shelves. I think he was successful, definitely much more successful than I admit I was expecting, and I ended up being completely drawn into the plot.

I really enjoyed the different points of view, as we heard from Lauren, Phoebe, Nick, and Patch, each from a different side of "rich" society. It was refreshing to see each have a passion and lack that snob factor that usually is quite prominent in books like these. I think that particular aspect gave the book that extra little push it needed.

There were some weaker moments in the plot, but the ending made up for it (at least for me...other reviews have disagreed) and there has definitely been an opening made for a sequel. I did find myself halfway through thinking "if this author ends up making these people vampires, I'll be one angry reader." I was safe. :)

I see this being easily marketed to teens and think it would be a popular choice on the library shelves. Not the best book I read this year, but very enjoyable overall.

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Thank you to HarperTeen for the review copy!

Secret Society
Tom Dolby
352 pages
Young Adult
HarperTeen
9780061721625
September 2009