I loved the Gemma trilogy but was really unimpressed with Going Bovine, so I thought it was worth giving this one a go and I'm glad I did...I got through it in two hours non-stop. "Beauty Queens" is one of those books that should seem too obvious, too cheesy and too PC but for some reason Bray puts all the elements together and they work. It helps if, like me, you're obsessed with both violence AND girl culture because this book has both in spades, and it's funny too. It's like Tropic Thunder meets Drop Dead Gorgeous, with just a bit of Heart of Darkness thrown in. Bray is now on my list of 'buy straight up' authors which there are less and less of these days.