The Candy Darlings

THE CANDY DARLINGS by

Category: Contemporary

Age Recommendation: Grades 9+

Release Date: 9/4/06

Publisher: Graphia

Reviewed by:

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.

The Candy Darlings
by Christine Walde