Georgetown Academy Books 1-3 Review

Title: Georgetown Academy Books 1-3
Author:Jessica Koosed Etting & Alyssa Embree Schwartz
Published: October 2012 & January 2013 from Coliloquy - ebook only - available through NOOK, Kindle and Google Play.
Synopsis of Book 1:

It’s the beginning of a new political administration. That might not mean much at most high schools, but at Georgetown Academy, Washington D.C.’s most elite prep school, January 20th means new alliances, new flings, and new places to party.

While freshmen—nicknamed “interns” for their willingness to jump into bed with anyone higher on the D.C. totem pole—navigate the not-so-friendly halls of GA searching for Algebra and Bio classes, the school’s lifers have other things on their minds.

For self-proclaimed D.C. royalty Brinley Madison (of those Madisons), the first day of school is all about establishing the social hierarchy and playing the part of perfect political wife to her boyfriend, the outgoing Vice President’s son. Too bad he has a wandering eye that puts Bill Clinton’s to shame. Can she keep him, and her own secret vice, in check?

Ellie Walker, Brinley’s best friend, floats through the halls on the arm of golden boy Hunter McKnight (the JFK of GA). But when her ex-boyfriend, Gabe, returns to town and her Senator mother’s political nemesis is reelected, Ellie’s life starts to snowball out of control.

Shy, quiet Evan Hartnett is more into books than beer, and her closet is full of t-shirts and jeans instead of Jason Wu and Jimmy Choo. No one’s ever really noticed her—but she’s been noticing them. When her star rises as an intern at D.C.’s most-watched political news show, she soon finds the two worlds colliding in ways that make her question what’s secret and what’s fair game.

New girl Taryn Reyes is all laid-back, California cool; with a father who’s in line to be the first Hispanic president, she’s ready to dive into the D.C. scene with an open mind. But when her fellow students turn out to be more interested in spreading rumors than making friends, she realizes that forging a drama-free path might be a lot harder than she thinks.

With so many new friends and former flames in the mix, things are bound to get a little heated. And while diplomatic immunity might keep the cops away, there’s not much it can do about the press.

In a town where one teenage misstep can turn into a national scandal, the students at Georgetown Academy will have to be on their best behavior—or, at least, they’ll have to make the world believe that they are.

Because there’s only one rule: whatever you do, don’t get caught.

Check out our interview with Jessica and Alyssa HERE!

Georgetown Academy (GTA) is a series that is just fun to read.  I love finding books that are witty and sassy and full of personality and GTA hits all of those marks.  I was, and still am, a huge fan of the TV show The West Wing, and now of Scandal and Gossip Girl, the GTA books hit a lot of the same chords for me that those shows do.  GTA is full of politics and gossip and fashion and it's one of my new favorite book addictions.

As the synopsis says, Georgetown Academy follows Ellie, Evan, Brinley and Taryn as they traverse the path of being a high profile teen going to an elite school in Washington D.C.  These books a very serialized with each one focusing on a specific moment or event, book 1 starting a new semester with the new students; book 2 dealing with the scandals that broke in book 1 and the Follow the Stars Ball;  & book 3 the annual DC prep-school skiing trip to Vermont, that makes up the main story for that book.  But like any good serial, it continues the larger story lines through as well with scandal, boy drama and more.  I both love and hate (in a good way) that with the end of each book is the start of a new bit of drama that I then have to wait till the next book to find out what's really going on.  I read the first three books basically back to back and so I now have to wait for book 4 to find out Taryn's big news.

These books grow better as the go along, book 1 was a 3.5 for me, book 2 a 4 and book 3 a 5.  The authors have really found their rhythm and the character voices and I'm loving every minute of it.  I also applaud them for dealing with some hard hitting issues that teens face, it's not all superficial drama.

GTA is "action fiction" so that means at some point in the book you can choose who you want to follow through a strategic point in the book, but I highly recommend reading all four points of view.  The authors are doing a great job of interconnecting the view points in these "action" scenes and having all four view points expands the story, it's totally value added, and a great way be involved in what all is going on.

My Overall Rating for all 3 books: