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Synopsis
Chloe Whittaker is out for revenge.
Last year her best friend Monica’s life was unceremoniously ruined by the most popular students at their high school, so this year Chloe plans to take each and every one of them down. She’s traded in her jeans and T-shirts for the latest designer clothes, erased anything on social media that would tie her to Monica (and blow her cover), and carefully figured out how she will befriend the members of the clique, find out their deepest and darkest secrets, and reveal them to the world.
Chloe has the perfect plan . . . but there’s one thing she didn’t prepare for. And that’s falling for someone she’s determined to destroy. The closer she gets to uncovering the secrets the in-crowd is determined to cover up, the more she realizes that she is going to have to choose between betraying her oldest friend or the boy who’s captured her heart

Title: Clique Bait
Author: Ann Valett
Publication Date: April 28, 2020
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary, Romance
Review
This book was just kinda okay for me. It reminded me a little bit of “These Vengeful Hearts” with the main character trying to get revenge for a loved one from a certain group of people.
I had really hoped this book would hit me harder than it did. It seemed to be pretty well paced which I was happy about, but about halfway through, I began to realize that I didn’t really care how this book ended. I wasn’t completely invested in the characters or their lives so I didn’t really care what happened to them. This sad realization was provoked by a few things.
One, the relationship between Will and Chloe wasn’t great. Chloe kept saying I don’t trust him/he’s the worst and then the next page would be like I’m going to show him a top-secret hangout spot of mine…Soooo she didn’t trust him, but she was doing things that showed she trusted him. I would have understood if these things started happening later in the book once she got to know him a little better, but this was right close to the beginning. I was just getting lots of mixed signals about their relationship from her. Maybe the author was just pushing this relationship a little too much instead of letting it more organically play out.
Another reason I found myself not really caring about the characters had to do with the fact that I didn’t feel emotionally invested in Chloe’s vendetta. I only knew Monica from what she said about her and it didn’t sound like she was a great friend. It made me question why Chloe cared so much about getting revenge for a bad friend. Things became a little more clear at the end of the book, but I was already partially checked out by then.
Overall, I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it. I’m happy I read it, but it’s not going to be a memorable read for me.
Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Ann Valett, go to her GoodReads profile.
I’ve heard mixed things about this one, but I am sorry it didn’t work for you. I always have a hard time caring when I can’t relate to the main character. Great review!
I think the concept was great, but just didn’t quite turn out for me. Thanks for checking it out!