ISBN-13: 9781416932437
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2007
227 pgs
Private Series #1

Fifteen-year-old Reed Brenna leaves her Pennsylvania home and begins her new school life in the posh Easton Academy where most of the students came from wealthy families. Reed managed to get in due to her soccer and lacrosse skills, her scholarship and then the stellar recommendation from an Easton senior who used to be her brother's ex.

During the first day in school, she met Thomas Pearson, one of the coolest and most popular guy in Easton. Then there are the Billing Girls who seems to have everything in life. They are beautiful, sophisticated, intelligent and it seems most girls in school look up to them. Reed wishes to be one of them, but she was told that not anyone could be a Billings Girl, and that one only gets invited by them to be one of them.

Back in her old school, Reed used to get good grades but things are different in Easton as they have their own standards and rules to adhere. When the Billings Girls started to ask her to run errands for them and breaking up with a guy on of the Billings Girls' behalf, Reed gritted her teeth and did them because she knew she would be invited to be one of them if she did what they told but the tasks got worse and dangerous when she is later asked to steal tests and to spike a teacher's drink. She turned down the last 'errand', for she thinks the request is too much and moreover, she does not believe in doing so anyway.

And then, there is the attraction she has for Thomas but it seems he has his own secrets even though they have became a couple and they felt their situations are very similiar to each other. For Thomas, he does not get along with his parents and as for Reed, her mother has a drinking problem. However, the Billings Girls warned her something about Thomas and suddenly, Reed is torn between them and Thomas. Finally, there is the big question about Thomas' disappearance during the parents' meeting that leaves the readers intrigued besides wondering if Reed could be the next Billings Girl.

When I first started reading Private, I told myself to keep an open mind. After all, there is nothing good about reading how a bunch of over-spoiled girls into bullying a newbie who seems to be entirely out of their league. I was not too pleased with Reed initially after reading the things she had done hoping to be a Billings Girl, but in the end I was glad to learn that she does have guts and a mind of her own overall. She may want to be the next Billings Girl in Easton, but she also has her conscience and that I find is a good message to the young readers. I was also intrigued with the mystery surrounding the Billings Girls and Thomas, and I cannot wait to find out what has led to Thomas' disappearance. I hope I would be able to find these answers in the next instalment Invitation Only, and not to mention to read more about Reed Brennan's life in Easton Academy.