Best Frenemies

Greek #2

by Marsha Warner

They've fought over guys, sorority elections and who gets the last Cheeserito. Casey Cartwright thought that made her and her ZBZ little sis Rebecca Logan closer. But when Casey's ex, Evan, nominates Rebecca as the next Omega Chi fraternity Sweetheart and Rebecca hesitates, Casey vows to play hardball. ZBZ's status on campus depends on Rebecca winning that title. It's time for some sisterly guidance….

Meanwhile, Casey's brother Rusty wants to create a truly spectacular legacy for his fraternity, Kappa Tau, and KT prez Cappie is hoping to live up to Casey's expectations for their fragile new relationship. The pressure is getting to everybody. When Casey goes overboard trying to advise Rebecca on how to win Sweetheart, things reach the breaking point. Will a surprise finish to the competition shake everything apart, or is it just the shock needed to bring best frenemies together?

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Marsha Warner was born in the small Himalayan town that only appears every seven years and then disappears back into the morning mist. At the age of ten, she became famous for her lion-wrestling exploits. At seventeen, she became the first person to ascend Mount Everest on one foot. By thirty she had her first million from her lucrative career of appearing uncredited in thousands of films. By forty she had perfected her time machine, but unfortunately, in her attempt to go back to 1941 and kill Hitler, she got stuck in a traffic jam of other history enthusiasts and adventurers trying to go back in time and kill Hitler and was forced to return to the present for lack of fuel. She instead focused her efforts on creating the series of tubes and wires known today as the Internet, using a lot of rubber tubing and wiring she got from RadioShack despite them refusing to ever have a sale. She used the last bits of time machine fuel (which is made from dilithium crystals) to track back to make sure she was twenty-eight when this book was published, or twenty-nine if there were delays in the production until August 2010.

Warner lives in New York City, where she has the popular job of walking around the city in an ill-fitting suit. So far she has avoided getting murdered or stumbling upon a murdered body. As watching three episodes of Law & Order will tell you, pretty much everyone in New York City is either murdered or stumbles upon a murdered body. She has considerable faith in her audience for being both mature enough for this subject matter and for getting most of the references above. She does not own any cats.

Reviews

[Marsha Altman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wholly support the buying and reading of this book. Mostly because I wrote it.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been in a restless reading mood and stumbled across this on Overdrive and it was just what I needed. It felt like the show and gave me my Casey/Cappie fix.

[Megan]

When feisty, snarky Rebecca Logan is nominated for the honor of Omega Chi sweetheart, her ZBZ sorority sisters have their work cut out for them. Rebecca has some seriously mixed feelings, but "Big Sis" Casey is determined to use a win to get ZBZ out of fourth-ish place in the Greek rankings, and to try to salvage her own legacy from the wasteland designation of a "gap year." Over at Omega Chi, Evan tries to manage the Sweetheart campaign while dealing with close-minded fraternity brothers stuck in the past, and over at Kappa Tau, Cappie and Rusty are looking to their own future legacies by building life-size Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em robots for their house.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. Tie-in novels can be a tricky read for me: I want characters to be different at the end of books than they are at the beginning, but I assume that, often, the authors of tie-in novels are expected to leave the characters as they found them, to secure the toys safely back in the toy box when they're done. That, and sometimes, the tone of a TV show or movie can't easily be translated into book form.

Luckily, Best Frenemies features excellent moments and shifts in characterization, all while fitting in nicely with canon (end of season three). It feels like an actual episode of the television show. The character voices are pitch perfect, especially Casey and Rusty, and Rebecca's characterization is deliciously and complexly vintage Rebecca. (Her speech! Only Rebecca can pull off a "screw you all" speech while coming across as both diplomatic and sweet!) Warner deftly handles the entire ensemble, giving attention to all the regulars and most of the favorite secondary characters. There are plenty of unexpected (and awesome) character interactions (Cappie and Ashleigh talking Greek philosophy, Rebecca and Dale having a...heart-to-heart? Kinda?) as well as progress on some familiar ground (Evan, Calvin and Grant negotiating the hostile waters of Omega Chi, Casey trying to keep a level & loving head about Cappie's inability to seize the future or at least declare a major). Much like the show, there are fun pop culture references as well as academic references (Cappie's writing a paper on Aristotle and robots, for crying out loud!) and a sly joke about the school's ceaselessly perfect weather.

Also, in addition to Greek system hijinks, favorite characters being awesome, and all that fun stuff, there's a nice theme of "What sort of legacy are we leaving for the future?" woven throughout the various subplots.

Highly recommended to fans of the show!

Note: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Gmr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the fact that you can step right into these novels and feel like you’re one of the gang…especially if you’ve ever seen the ABC Family show. The characters personalities are right on, their actions and reactions just what you’d expect. Sounds predictable? Not really….more familiar in that “old friends” way.

All your favorites are back; from Ashleigh, the current ZBZ house president through an interesting turn of events, to Casey, the perpetual dater of both Evan and Cappy who has finally set her sites on one goal, from Rusty, the boy genius who always tries his hardest even when the going is beyond tough, to Owen, the out-of-the-closet Omega Chi that will back friends until the end no matter what house they pledge (a lesson learned from his pal Rusty).

Let’s not forget Rebecca as she takes a fairly starring role in this book, whether she wants to or not, and manages to pull off an ending that…well, perfectly suits her and surprises us all; chalk it up to typical Rebecca Logan results. It’s just great to spend time with all those we’ve come to know and love from this group without any one of them truly stealing the spotlight. Each one crops up from time to time to make an appearance and say hello, a great balance achieved gracefully by the author.

Recommended read for fans of the show, fans of the first GREEK novel, and those that simply love the Young Adult genre and are looking for a light fun read to chase your cares away for a bit. The world of CRU fun and hi-jinx is calling…are you in? Happy reading....