The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Don't be fooled by the long and wordy title; this book is a fast paced adventure that will keep you hooked. The setting is at a fancy boarding school where secret societies lurk undetected by most students. It is here that the main protagonist, Frankie Landau-Banks, decides to take matters into her own scheming hands. When her popular senior boyfriend begins to cancel all of their plans to hang out with his friends, Frankie gets suspicious.

After following him and remembering stories from her alum father, she finds out about the all-male society called The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Sounds puerile, doesn't it? Well, it is. There really isn't any point to the Order, as far as I could tell. Their whole purpose was basically just to see how many rules they could break doing stupid things such as painting the statue in front of the school. Although there were a few confusing parts, the whole idea was mildly entertaining.

Frankie gets annoyed at the lack of girl power in the Order. So, she hatches an evil plan that essentially allows her to get unknowing control over the society. I had to admire Frankie's intelligence, even though I didn't like her annoyingly critical self. Long story short, things didn't work out the way she wanted, but I'm not going to spoil the rather unexpected ending.

Want a full review? This review gives a more in depth summary of the book. I agree with the author of the review that the novel is mainly about how Frankie's only crime is outsmarting boys. The author, E. Lockhart, outdid herself with a book brimming with all the possible potential that a girl could have. Guys may not find that appealing in a book, but the pranks and witty commentary are enough to grab anyone's interest. All in all, I'd give it a four out of five stars.