Pretty Bad Things
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
"Wonder Twins" on the run--and running amok--in Vegas. Road Trip!Paisley and Beau are boldface names again. Last time, paparazzi called them the "Wonder Twins," two kids found alone but alive in the woods of exotic New Jersey. Three days after their mom's death -- and before their dad's criminal misdeeds. Flash-forward to now: Their so-called lives? Suck out loud: Hating on their cougarized, Botoxic grandma, they're totally clueless about the location of ex-con Daddy. Till they discover a stash of old letters. That's when they decide to jack the Pontiac and hit the road. Holding up donut shops in Sin City might seem extreme, but if they can just get their pretty bad faces back on TV -- or TMZ -- they might wrap up their whole gaga saga with an Oprah-worthy reunion already!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Paisley and Beau Argent are the famous Wonder Twins who, at six years old, are found in the woods of New Jersey three days after their abusive mother's overdose. Following her death, they also lose their caring father, who is imprisoned for robbery. The twins tell their story with some fairy tale like embellishments through alternating voices: after exploiting the twins on the talk-show circuit, their money-grubbing grandmother sends troublemaker Paisley to several boarding schools in New Jersey (all of which she gets expelled from) and keeps contemplative Beau with her in Los Angeles. But at 16, Beau discovers a stash of letters from their father that were kept from them; the siblings reunite in Las Vegas, determined to find him. When they run out of cash, their story morphs from Hansel and Gretel to Bonnie and Clyde. Skuse's fast-paced, edgy debut incorporates some predictable characters (including the twins' malevolent grandmother and a disapproving school principal), but she conveys the twins' powerful connection through their affecting dialogue and recollections of childhood. Readers should be fully invested in their whirlwind tour of the Vegas strip, right up to the unexpected ending. Ages 13 up.
