The Candy Darlings

THE CANDY DARLINGS by Christine Walde
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 9/4/06
Publisher: Graphia
Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
Rating: 4 Stars

What the new girl wanted was to start over, find a completely new identity. Now that she and her dad had moved, she was
able to do just that. She had it all mapped out--start the new school year at a new school, make some new friends and
become part of the "in" crowd. Then all chances of being popular were ruined when Megan Chalmers entered the scene, with
her weird self, eating candy all the time.

But now the girls befriend each other, united by one bond--candy. One who absolute despises it when she discovers the
effects, while the other loves it to death. Well, that and the evil forces of MAL--Meredith, Angela, and Laura, the girls who
rule the school and whose targets are the two girls.

All the new girl, now dubbed Dead Girl by MAL, and Megan Chalmers need to do is get back at MAL and eat candy, the
only thing that will help Dead Girl hide the pain. But it isn't simple when MAL gets meaner by the minute and no one is able to
help them. It's all up to the two girls to stand up for themselves, but is it possible?

At first glance THE CANDY DARLINGS seems to be like any other "Mean Girls" story, but once the reader delves deeper
into the novel, they discover a completely different universe. Christine Walde interweaves candy stories along with her main
storyline to create a novel that is hard to divide into what is the real world that the girls live in and what is just the fantasy world
that Megan creates. A unique novel that makes for an interesting read.