Such a Good Girl

May 15, 2017
An affair with her high school French teacher reveals the unpleasant side of Riley's seemingly perfect academic and social facade. Blonde, white, blue-eyed Barbie doll Riley is socially gregarious, community service-oriented, and accepted into multiple Ivy League universities thanks to rigorous self-discipline. Her workload typically precludes her from dating and parties, so her two best friends are excited when she suddenly takes an interest in fashion and begins joining them on outings. What her friends fail to realize is that these new behaviors are Riley's calculated effort to distract them from her affair with her white, devastatingly handsome, and married French teacher, Mr. Belrose. The fact that he was a high school friend of her older brother doesn't lessen the predatory nature of his invitations and encouragement of Riley's attentions. But as Riley's chilling willingness to manipulate those around her is further exposed, it's also difficult to view her entirely as Mr. Belrose's victim. In fact, their almost bizarre jockeying for control of the relationship makes them seem perversely well-suited for each other. Morgan succeeds in evoking a more discomforting set of emotions from readers than might be expected from a standard student-teacher-relationship narrative. It could be darkly interesting were it not for the ultimately over-the-top final scene, which develops seemingly out of thin air. A dark psychological exploration that stumbles at the end. (Fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Riley Stone is such a good girl. She's beautiful and smart, and she never does anything to derail her perfect life plan. Her friend Kolbie is "almost" a supermodel, her friend Neta is described as a young Sofia Vergara, and Riley was voted homecoming queen-her freshman year. Her life is idyllic until she falls for her French teacher, Alex Belrose. A game involving life and death consequences ensues, but Riley has a plan and she always wins. Riley's picturesque life might initially push readers away, but those who continue to the end won't regret it. The story takes some unexpected and thrilling turns. Students who have ever had a crush on a teacher or tried to maintain a flawless persona will see themselves in Riley as she tests the boundaries of her perfectionism. "We're like these plastic people and we look so perfect as long as you don't see where we've been molded together so carefully." The other characters in the novel are developed only when it is pertinent to the plot and are thus sometimes hard to tell apart. The author gives us insight into Riley's nature in other ways, primarily by providing a "Things To Know About Riley Stone" segment every two or three chapters. These lists become delightfully disturbing as the tension progresses. VERDICT Give this strong addition to fans of unreliable narrators, antiheroines, and page-turners.-Carina Gonzalez, Raritan Valley Community College, NJ

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