Book Review - Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose

Amy Haskel attends the fictional, yet highly prestigious (think Harvard and Yale) Eli university. In Secret Society Girl Amy is a junior, and is surprised one day to be tapped as a pledge for the enigmatic Rose and Grave society. Having matriculated from a state university myself, I don’t know much about the Ivy League or the secret societies that form within them, but after doing a quick Google search, I’m guessing Rose and Grave is supposed to be comparable to Skull and Bones, which both President Bush and John Kerry joined while attending Yale.
Anyway, once she joins, Amy finds that power and connections have its advantages, but also drawbacks. Soon, she is embroiled in a scandal over the society’s recent decision to allow women to join, and she’s faced with a dilemma whose outcome could destroy her closest friendship, ruin her love life, and seriously hinder her post-graduation career.
Yet she pursues on, and in Under the Rose, Amy is a senior, facing another scandal that could not only bring down the Rose and Grave society as a whole, but may also jeopardize Amy’s very well-being. Meanwhile, Amy needs to figure out who she ought to be dating: George, the shallow but gorgeous society brother, Brandon, her sweet and vulnerable ex, or Jamie (although she claims to despise him, I can tell there’s some romantic tension a-brewing.)
I read these books back-to-back, which for me, is very high praise. I usually like to mix things up a bit, and space out my chick-lit reads with more weighty or serious-minded material in between. But after finishing Secret Society Girl, I thought “What the hell?” and dove right into Under the Rose without a second thought. They’re perfect autumn reads – I’ve always enjoyed stories with academic settings at this time of year, and the descriptions of college campus are exactly what I was hoping for (lots of old architecture, grand libraries and concert halls, etc). In addition, both books have a creepy element to the plot, which is great for the Halloween season.
Best of all, Diana Peterfreund (who attended Yale herself) manages to create a believably intelligent and capable heroine without making her needlessly pretentious. After reading Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series, where the heroine attends Columbia and cannot resist reminding the reader of how smart she is every 10 or so pages, I appreciated the understated smarts of Amy Haskel.
Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose are super-fun and well written. Peterfreund is coming out with a third installment this summer, and I for one can’t wait. Keep them coming!