Teen drama comes to DC in new book

Move over, Edward and Bella, and say hasta la vista, Katniss. Forget Twilight and The Hunger Games — the Capital Girls could soon be taking the top spot among the young-adult set.

Washington is the setting for Capital Girls, a new series of books about four BFFs — dubbed “the District’s most influential teenagers” — who manage to stir up plenty of drama and scandal in D.C.

{mosads}These capital residents aren’t your typical teens, as politics seems to permeate every facet of the fictional foursome’s lives.

One of the characters, the daughter of a liberal lawmaker, has initial reservations about dating the (female!) president’s son, saying, “I need your advice. I mean, Eric’s not even a Democrat! If Andrew and I broke up it’d be all over the tabloids. Can’t you see the headlines: ‘Top Democrat’s Daughter Dating Republican.’ ”

In another scene, a Republican senator complains about “all the drunk Democrats partying in Georgetown.”

Written by former New York Post political reporter Marilyn Rauber and globetrotting scribe Amy Reingold under the pseudonym Ella Monroe, “Capital Girls” is the first novel in an upcoming series.

Rauber, who lives in the D.C. area, told us in an email, “We and our children lived through all the bumps and scandals of recent years … on the Hill I saw that mix of incredible egos, selfish posturing, lack of imagination, gridlock and — on occasion — great leadership and inspiration.”

Reingold added, “The book hammers home the point that D.C. is a real city with real teens like everywhere else. But a few kids have this whole political layer on top of everything else they have to sort out and steer through.”

The book hits store shelves this week.