Review: The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: The Au Pairs
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: May 31, 2005
Source: Library

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a young adult fiction fan.
• You're looking for a beach read.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Summer in the city? Way overrated. Everybody who's anybody in New York City summers in the Hamptons. Mara, Eliza, and Jacqui all want a piece of the action, all for different reasons.
 
So the girls answer a classified ad to become au pairs. How bad can it be, watching a couple of kids on the beach all day? They've got the swank address, the sweet ride, and an all-access pass to the hottest social scene on the East Coast. It's shaping up to be the summer of their lives."

My Two Cents:

With summer soon approaching, it's not too early to be thinking of beach reads. The Au Pairs is the first in a series that seems poised to become a great beach read. To me, there are several key factors that make a great beach read. First, it has to be light. Second, it needs to be fun. Third, I like a little romance with my fruity umbrella drinks so it has to have a good love match. Fourth, it needs to be engaging. The Au Pairs has all of this. Are you going to have a major revelation? No, probably not. Is this book going to make you think deep thoughts? Nope. But beach reads are not supposed to do that so it's all good.

Eliza and Jacqui really annoyed me at first. They leave Mara to actually do the work that they were hired to do. By the end of the book, they became a lot more tolerable though. They just needed to be taken down a notch (and they are definitely during the book, which is utterly satisfying).

This is definitely a fun book and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series when I need a little bit of a mental break.

Bottom line: A fun, frothy read.