Gisbelle's YA Obsession

ARC provided by the Publisher via Edelweiss

Author: Megan Shull
Genre: Middle Grade | Fantasy
Release Date: August 26th 2014
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤
Read: April 6th, 2014

Synopsis
“YOU BE ME...AND I'LL BE YOU.”

ELLIE spent the summer before seventh grade getting dropped by her best friend since forever. JACK spent it training in “The Cage” with his tough-as-nails brothers and hard-to-please dad. By the time middle school starts, they’re both ready for a change. And just as Jack’s thinking girls have it so easy, Ellie’s wishing she could be anyone but herself.

Then, BAM! They swap lives—and bodies!

Now Jack’s fending off mean girls at sleepover parties while Ellie’s reigning as the Prince of Thatcher Middle School. As their crazy weekend races on—and their feelings for each other grow—Ellie and Jack begin to realize that maybe the best way to learn how to be yourself is to spend a little time being someone else.

My Thoughts
This was a delightful middle grade book. To be honest, it was more like a tween version of a movie entitled "It's a Boy Girl Thing", still I did have a good time reading it. The book was humorous, emotional and heartwarming.

The characters were adorable. I loved both Ellie and Jack. How they dealt with the messed up situation they were in was surprising. The other characters were well-developed as well. However, at times they didn't talk and behave their age.

The storyline was intriguing and made me want to keep on reading. It was nicely written with enough detail to build up the anticipation.

One thing that bugged me about this book was the dialogues which were kind of weird. The wording in most of the conversations didn't them sound natural, and there were quite a lot of repetitive words.

Overall, it was a wonder book about friendship and family.

Authors: Sloane Tanen
Pages: 368
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Published Date: May 1st 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

Synopsis

Being marooned on an island somewhere off the coast of Madagascar with five celebrities sounds romantic and glamorous, right?

Wrong.

You couldn't find people with fewer survival skills if you tried. Seriously. Cisco may have centerfold abs, but he can't even spell SOS. At least super-sexy Jonah seems to have a clue (too bad about the purity ring). If I'm stuck here much longer, these self-involved head cases might drive me crazy-assuming they don't insult each other to death first. It's like a group therapy edition of Survivor.
At this point, I'm pretty convinced that all celebrities should be caged in Hollywood and confined to the pages of US magazine. And, btw, if you're there, God, it's me, Francesca, and I really want to go home.

Help!

Review
One word... Hilarious! It made me laugh so hard quite a few times. It is one of silliest books I have read so far. Well, it was silly, but not in a bad way. It might be neither very realistic nor original, but it sure was the kind of book I would read after reading an emotional one. It was that entertaining.

Francesca was so adorable with her wild red hair and sassy attitude. I liked how she adapted herself to the surrounding environment, but not the fact that she "killed" her father. Being with pretentious celebrities during this kind of situation was tough!

The way the author told the story was so captivating which made me unable to stop reading. Besides, the wording was very witty and amusing. I am going to check out more of Sloane Tanen's books.