Title:  Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher/Year: Simon Pulse 5/3/11
Length:  368 pages
Series: Uglies Series #2

Overview 

In Tally’s world, your 16th birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellant Ugly into a stunningly attractive Pretty, and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is having a really good time. Just before her birthday, Tally discovered that turning Pretty comes with a terrible price. She vowed to accept the operation, but with the understanding that her friends on the outside would rescue her, and let her be the guinea pig for the experimental and highly dangerous cure they’re developing.

But in the second book of the Uglies series, Tally’s Pretty. And everything’s changed. The new, Pretty Tally is totally happy right where she is. She doesn’t think she needs any kind of cure at all. When someone from her Ugly life shows up with a message, Tally has a hard time listening. Did she really promise to give all this up? Is she bound by a promise she made when she was a different person? If there is anything left of the old Tally, how will she fight her way out to keep her word and help her friends?

My Thoughts 

After i finally managed to track down the ebook version of this second installment, i have to tell you i was REALLY eager to read it.  I needed to know what was going to happen to Tally and the New Smokies and well, becoming Pretty.  This 2nd book in the series did not disappoint, even if it was some what expected.

What i guess i’ve come to learn and expect from YA books that have a love interest in book 1, there’s ALWAYS going to be a love triangle, and it never ends well for anyone involved.  This series keeps along with this trend, but i guess it adds to things a little bit.

so to back up, we come across Tally after she’s become a New Pretty and is living in New Pretty Town.  She’s reunited with Peris – her guy best friend and with Shay, her friend from Uglytown/The Smoke and well….lots of other trickery.  Anyway, Shay and Peris are part of a clique called the Crims, basically because they are all the pretties that have pulled some pretty amazing tricks in their lives.  So Tally’s trying to get ‘voted in’ although there’s really no reason that she wouldn’t.  She’s the one that managed to get to the Smoke on her own, escape capture of the Specials once they invaded the smoke, pull some tricks to get the smokies out of the Specials lair…and tons else.

so, the night of the party where Tally is supposed to be voted in, all sorts of things start to go awry.  The theme of the party was changed last minute to a costume party.  (why??)  while she’s at the party, Tally keeps thinking that someone’s following her, spying on her and that’s unsettling, and then…well she realizes that she’s right and goes chasing after said person.

turns out to be Croy from the Smoke – come back with a message for Tally – and a way to lead her to finding the cure – since that was the whole point of Tally going back and becoming Pretty.  to see if the cure worked and if it would help everyone get out of their ‘pretty-mindness’ and be ‘bubbly’

this is where Zane, the leader of the Crims really takes a role. He’s taken a liking to Tally and decides to help her in her quest to decipher the message that Croy left, and they manage to find what croy was leading them to – the Cure in pill form.  Alas though, things are NEVER that easy.  while they are pulling an amazing trick to get the pills, the Specials find them and are on the hunt.  Tally starts to get back more memories of her past while on this search, David being one of them, but not full memories, that when she gets the note left by Croy – saying that she wrote it to prove that things aren’t what they seem, she gets even more scared of things.  Zane, well he decides that he’s going to be in this evenly with Tally and they decide to go hand in hand with everything that they do.  they ultimately end up splitting the pills – each taking 1 and then figure out where to go from there.

Good things that happen here, Zane and Tally continue to get close – i didn’t realize it at first that there were SO close – meaning that they were spending EVERY night together, but i finally picked up on that one.  I also wasn’t sure if Zane had true feelings for Tally or was just using her – to be honest, i’m not sure that i trust him fully, and there are lots of hints dropped that kind of build my suspicions.

In Any event, Zane and Tally feel like they are getting cured – although there’s a side effect to Zane – these HORRIBLE headaches that mean that something’s wrong.  They manage however to get the other Crims to try to get bubbly on their own – to get the cure w/o the pills – and things are going along well.  They pull a few impressive tricks – hoping to get the attention of the new smokies since they are plotting their escape.

because we know that this is Tally that we’re talking about, nothing is ever easy.  Does she escape?  as planned?  with whom she planned to leave with? and does everything go as expected?

lots of nos there….but quite a few favs from book 1 show up again, and things get REALLY interesting.  Suffice it to say, very few people are what they seem now or seemed in The Uglies, and i think that it’s a good lead into Specials…since that’s next on my list.

so apologies for all the vagueness here – i’m just really trying not to go into too much detail on any one piece of the story since it all is bound together.  just pick it up – it’s a really great book and you’ll thank me for it.  seems like a good bridge in the series – that’s for sure!