‘How to Be Popular’ was my first Meg Cabot read. I found it extremely hard to put this book down. Every chapter ended in such a way that I was extremely eager to get to the next one.

The premise is pretty simple. It’s basically what a large portion of the contemporary realistic novels that I’ve read have at their cores – someone who wants to be popular but doesn’t quite know how to achieve that goal by herself (or himself). In this case, Steph Landry is the main character who wants to break out of the rut she’s been stuck in since spilling a Super Big Gulp drink on her now arch-enemy, Lauren, five years ago. Due to how trying the past several years have been on Steph since Lauren turned the whole town on her with a mean-spirited catchphrase, she enlists the help of a book found in her soon-to-be step-grandmother’s old stuff, and realizes that the rules of popularity still ring quite true, despite their ringing true to the tune of older times, like when her grandparents were young.

Jason and Becca, Steph’s two best friends, are not quite as intrigued about being popular as Steph is. She doesn’t even tell them about the book. But, whereas Becca just thinks it’s weird and not like Steph, Jason is full-on angry and upset, demeaning Steph for being so set on becoming popular and being nice to the “mean girl” crowd while turning her back on everything he thought she stood for.

Steph, however, is not easily deterred, as she has focused her sights on the most popular boy in school, the high school quarterback, senior Mark Finley. As she comes up with new and unique ideas to cement her popularity, she finds her old friends changing, and realizes that not everything is quite what it seems. Friendships, relationships, and popularity are all at stake in this awesome read that mixes the uncertainties of high school life with the utter realizations of life in general. A must read!

You can find ‘How to Be Popular’ by Meg Cabot here: http://amzn.to/1I3S6IT