Lifted

It's not what you steal. It's getting away with it that's so much fun. Lifted, a novel by Wendy Toliver. When 15-year-old Poppy Browne moves from Boulder, CO, to Pleasant Acres, TX, with her professor mother, she has to attend Calvary High even though she's not Baptist. She makes friends with the popular girls and has a date for the Sadie Hawkins dance. Poppy gets caught in an ex-BFF rivalry between her friend Mary Jane and another schoolmate, Bridgette. Then she starts shoplifting. The first time, it's an accident. The second, it's induced by peer pressure. Subsequently, however, it's for the rush. Poppy, Mary Jane, and Whitney steal regularly, and Poppy doesn't know whether or not she can stop. Eventually, she overcomes her fear of disappointing Mary Jane and Whitney, but she still faces the consequences when her mother finds out what she has been doing. Although the story is not entirely compelling, the rivalry between Mary Jane and Bridgette; the suspense of finding out whether Poppy will get caught; and her developing romance with shithead Dave, the preacher's son, build enough tension to grab readers' attention. Being bad never felt so good. Poppy Browne never stole anything in her life before moving to Pleasant Acres and meeting Mary Jane and Whitney. But when Poppy walks out of the mall with her two new friends and her first pair of stolen jeans, she's hooked. Before long, Poppy is lifting whenever she gets the urge—it's never about the merchandise, it's always about the thrill. But when her secret gets out, Poppy's clique turns on each other. As she watches her life collapse around her, Poppy must decide where her loyalties lie...and how far she'll go to protect herself. Poppy is in a new school and is making new friends. When the girls go to the mall to do some shopping Poppy's new friends talk her into shoplifting. She has never stolen anything before but finds that the thrill of shoplifting gives her a real high. She continues to shoplift until some of the girls in her clique find out and start turning on each other. Poppy must make some serious choices about her life and her loyalty to her friends When she moves to a conservative Texas community and is reluctantly enrolled in a private Baptist school, Poppy is excited to make friends with popular girls whose shoplifting habits introduce her to a reckless way of life