The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
by E. Lockhart
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Release Date: March 25th 2008
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Series: Stand Alone
Goodreads description: Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father’s “bunny rabbit.”
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.Frankie Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.
Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.This is the story of how she got that way.
I like E. Lockhart’s Ruby Oliver series and I’m excited about We Were Liars. I’ve wanted to read Frankie for a while but actually happened upon it when I was looking for a book to check out with Not A Drop to Drink.
Frankie goes to a private boarding school and there’s a boys only secret club. After a summer of growing and transformation, she becomes involved with a member of the society, but she can never really be a part of the club. The club seems fun and tightly knit, so she isn’t happy they won’t let girls in. She mischievously becomes a player in the club while still being an observer.
I really liked this book. It was kind of nothing like I expected, and that only made me like it more. Frankie doesn’t hate herself, but she has confidence issues that seem common. She’s pretty but she isn’t exactly a standout, she is kind of in the middle. She’s smart and quirky. She wanted to be a part of something, she wanted more, she refused to sit back and let them tell her she couldn’t. She manipulated the situation and had to face the consequences of it. I liked that the story didn’t really go how I expected it to go, and I felt like Frankie did learn a lesson. I also liked Michael, but I won’t go into a whole thing about him, since it’s Frankie’s story.
There were things about Frankie that were annoying. She had some extreme moments where I wanted to tell her to calm down, and some of them were sort of normalish teen behavior, but some were out there. She might have pushed a few things too far. She wasn’t always fair to everyone, and some of her reasoning behind actions were probably immature. That being said, my annoyances weren’t major and I mainly enjoyed the book.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks isn’t perfect, but I found it enjoyable. Frankie is strong, makes mistakes, and can be selfish. I liked it. I think E. Lockhart is a fun author, and I plan to read whatever she writes (as long as it sounds interesting, anyway). I don’t think this one is for everyone, but maybe if the boarding school and secret group thing sounds interesting to you, you should check it out!
A Blighted One 
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