Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig

Title: Pretty Crooked
Author: Elisa Ludwig
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: March 13, 2012
Source: Thanks Netgalley and Katherine Tegen!!
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Summary: Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones. 

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected. 

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her: evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan. 
But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most? 


Review: Pretty Crooked is such a fun book. It's filled with adventure, well mis-adventure, and a dash of Robin Hood. Pretty Crooked turned out to be a hilarious and very well-written debut.


Willa was quite the girl. I wasn't exactly sure what to think of her when I first started the book, but she did end up being great. She's funny and bubbly, I just really liked her. But when she started stealing she started to grate on my nerves a bit. I just really can't glorify stealing. This book doesn't do that at all, just to make that clear, but I just am so uncomfortable with stealing. Especially when I know that Willa, technically, was doing the wrong thing no matter how right it seemed in her mind. 


Don't get me wrong this is a great book-but I was more then a little uncomfortable with the whole stealing aspect. I'm not quite sure why but I couldn't take it in stride and go along with it. 


On the bright side, there are so many more good things going on with this book! I loved the dynamic of Willa's school. Ludwig really nailed it.  You have the poor, sweet girls to the Glitterati, the mean girls and school and most importantly you have Aidan Murphy. I loved Aidan! He actually doesn't get that much face time in Pretty Crooked but when he does he really shines. He and Willa are such a cute couple in the making! 


Pretty Crooked is a fantastic debut. I loved many of the characters and the writing style and even though I was a bit uncomfortable with the stealing aspect I'd definitely recommend this one. 


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