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Last Christmas: The Private Prequel | 
 enlarge | Author: Kate Brian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.59
You Save: $7.40 (44%)
New (36) Used (16) from $9.44
Rating:  23 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1416913696
EAN: 9781416913696
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Ariana Osgood has everything an Easton Academy girl could want: straight A's, the perfect boyfriend, and a coveted spot in exclusive Billings House. But on the first night of Christmas vacation, a blizzard traps her on campus with irresistible bad-boy Thomas Pearson. Alone. Instead of snuggling with her boyfriend next to a cozy fire in Vermont, she's huddling for warmth with Thomas in Ketlar House. As the snow transforms Easton into a winter wonderland, Ariana finds herself falling for Thomas. But someone is watching their clandestine romance unfold, someone intent on turning their holiday weekend into a nightmare... Last Christmas reveals the secret of what really happened before Private began -- and the shocking truth will change everything for fans of Kate Brian's bestselling series.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Must read! January 9, 2009
The Book Muncher
Ariana Osgood is the perfect cookie-cutter Billings girl--perfect on the outside but not so much behind that exterior. Sure, she's got the perfect boyfriend who loves her, great grades, not to mention a spot in the most elite House at Easton Academy. But she's also got some secrets, details about her life she's too embarrassed to tell her friends for fear it would ruin her reputation. But all of Ariana's good-girl rules and morals just about go out the window when Ariana finds herself trapped on campus during Christmas vacation with bad-boy Thomas Pearson of all people, instead of vacationing in Vermont with her boyfriend Daniel, the guy she loves, or so she tells herself. This chance blizzard all but snows them in, preventing Ariana's escape from Easton and Thomas's seductive clutches. But instead of finding a way back to her boyfriend, Ariana finds herself going against all she knows and falling for Thomas. Unfortunately, Ariana and Thomas aren't the only ones who know about their romance, and in an attempt to protect the only right thing in her life, Ariana unleashes a mother with the potential of ruining not only the lives of several innocent people--but in the end, her own.
Once again, Brian does not disappoint with this shocking and revealing prequel to the addicting Private series. Last Christmas provides valuable insight into the elusive Ariana's mind and provides the groundwork for an insanity that culminated in Ariana doing the deed, as revealed in Confessions, the fourth book in the series. Brian has a talent for weaving tales with the spoiled attitudes of elite in combination with scandalous romance and physical danger into an incredibly suspenseful tale. The characterization of Ariana was done such that readers can't help but feel for her despite knowledge of what she's done, which, as Last Christmas reveals, is much more horrific that one would've thought. My only disappointment was that Thomas remained a mysterious figure and I would've liked to learn more about him. Nonetheless, Last Christmas is yet another juicy read to please fans of Private.
Even though it is a prequel, I recommend reading Last Christmas after one has already read the first four volumes in the Private series. Devotees to this series will not be able to resist devouring this new and thrilling tale.
 Only for the desperately bored! January 8, 2009
S. Robbins (Palm Springs, CA USA)
Oh, Please! This novel is so trite and brain-dead that only being snowed in at an airport with nothing else to read would make me read it out of desperation. All the characters suck and are straight out of Seventeen magazine. The main character turns out to be a closet sociopath who kills whenever someone stands in the way
of something she feels she can't exist without like her boyfriend, fancy boarding school, or "A" on her English
paper. She doesn't kill for the last item, just blackmails the teacher. The fact that she is a sociopath isn't believable because we see her caring about people and feeling immense sensitivity. Not characteristics of your average sociopath, only the rich beautiful ones who go to private boarding schools. If the rich are this boring,
I'm glad I'm not one of them. Simply nothing in this book makes it worth reading.
 Not-so-good Teen Lit January 4, 2009
S. Thompson
Ariana Osgood is a "good" girl at Eaton Academy. She is dating a perfect boy and worked her way up to the best dorm house at this exclusive, preppy, uber-rich boarding school. She ignores that her perfect boyfriend has a glaring temper and takes up with a "bad" boy over winter break, which leads to a series of problems, which essentially ends up with her committing a rather unforgivable atrocity which serves as the requisite backdrop to other books in this series.
This is the first book I've read in this series. I'm 32, but I'm no stranger to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, and I'm an avid viewer of Gossip Girl. In fact, it was my love of Gossip Girl that led me to pick up this book, as I wanted to be "in" on one of the hot teen novel series before it became a major movie picture/tv series.
Alas, I should've just read Twilight like everyone else.
Because the writing is awful. Look, I know that to set the stage of a rich private boarding school, one must detail all the labels and fabrics that adorn the thin, white classmates, but I got pretty sick of it. And the story wasn't that good. The book takes place over winter break, with primarily just two characters, so the pages aren't exactly jumping with interesting, complex characters to fill your imagination. I didn't care for Arianna pretty much from the get-go, and the Thomas character as well seemed particularly ill-drawn. He's a drug dealer. . .with a heart of gold? Except we never really read the gold.
Sorry, I'm getting a little haphazard here, but I really don't know what to talk about with this book. Maybe, read Twilight instead? Or Sweet Valley High? Are those still around??
great book December 29, 2008
this book is truly amazing but it is a must that you read this book in the order in which shhe wrote them having one piece of the puzzle isn`t satisfying enough you need the whole puzzle look good@just one piece alone isnt enogh so i encouragge you to read books 1 to 8 starting with private ending with revelation.
Not what I expected December 23, 2008
webebuyers (Indiana)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was very disappointed with this book. Not at all like the Private series. I did not enjoy this book at all.
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