Don't You Wish (edition 2012)

Thoughts: It's simple: Money does not equal happiness. Or as Biggie Smalls would put it "mo money, mo problems". This story is like Freaky Friday meets Mean Girls. Annie Nutter is such an innocent, sweet character that gets caught in the what ifs of her mother, who is dissatisfied with her life and wonders what could've been if she married Jim Monroe. After her mother storms off in anger at another one of father's inventions, Annie finds herself without a computer that works, since he took some parts for his invention. In a spark of genius she somehow plugs her phone into it but a freak lightning storm finds Annie in another life and in the "picture perfect" body of Ayla Monroe. Thinking she is in some bizarre dream, she decides to make the most of it yet as the day goes on things start feeling too real. Now, at the top of the food chain, no longer nobody Nutter, she at first embraces her new lifestyle and persona. However, no matter how hard she tries to be this girl, her true nature comes through and she comes to detest Ayla Monroe and the rules of the social hierarchy of Crap Academy. Ayla has the life that Annie always wanted, the body, hot boyfriend and the worship or is it really fear from her peers. Annie must decide if its truly worth it to conform for popularity or rebel for herself. This story is about her struggle with her desire to be popular and her heart. How can she be Ayla without compromising what makes her Annie?


For me the best part is when she meets Charlie, they have to partner up for an English quiz and that's when he gets a glimpse that Ayla is more than he realizes. Then one night he becomes her savior after she is left to her own devices to get home, after a tryst gone bad with her boyfriend Ryder. It is emotionally, written beautifully and I found myself cheering for Annie to break the mold and go with what she feels for Charlie, regardless of how unpopular that choice may be. Charlie is smart, cute, caring and the right boy for her. He likes who she is on the inside and he may be her only hope to getting back home....that is if she still wants to go back. There so much going on this story as it has much more depth than what it seems at first. It's not just about how the other side lives but who they are in their hearts and how they choose to treat people. It is about not being afraid to be an individual in world of sharks. That said, I recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a reminder that the key to happiness in not what exists in the material world but what exists inside. Love.

Originally published on LittleLibraryMuse ( )

Annie Nutter accidentally gets zapped by her dad’s latest invention and ends up in a parallel universe where her life is totally different: suddenly she’s hot, popular, and super-rich. As Ayla Monroe, she has the same mother but a different father, and instead of living in Pittsburgh, she finds herself in Miami. Her new glamorous life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be until she meets the quiet Charlie, who offers her friendship and a chance to escape back to her old life.

The epitome of frothy, sometimes silly fun, Roxanne St. Claire’s Don’t You Wish is a quick read that is surprisingly entertaining. Another spin on the alternate-life trope, St. Claire manages to breathe some fresh air into it by creating some fairly vivid secondary characters and a heroine who is, for the most part, pretty likable. As Annie/Ayla struggles to reconcile her new life with her old one, she also struggles with who she is as a person despite the fact that she looks different. (Reviewer’s note: The blatant focus on looks made me uncomfortable while reading this, and that rarely happens with a book.)

There’s some depth here, but the book’s clunkiest moments are when it gets too message-heavy. Unpredictable it’s not, though: savvy readers will see every plot twist and turn coming from a mile away.

That’s not really the point with books like this, though, and readers willing to suspend disbelief (which one has to do with a premise like this, anyway) are likely to be swept away with this one. Entertaining, sweet, and hinting at the complicated relationships between friends, mothers and daughters, and families in general, St. Claire certainly could have done a lot worse.

Don’t You Wish has already had its movie rights optioned. The book comes out today. Recommended to fans of lighter YA fiction with a twist of the magical.

Don’t You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire. Delacorte: 2012. Electronic galley accepted for review via NetGalley. ( )

Wow, I completely devoured this book! I genuinely loved it and hated having to tear my eyes away from the pages. Some parts were so intense and had me feeling nervous for the characters! Don't You Wish is a wonderfully written novel and so much deeper and thought-provoking than I excepted; while still managing to be a light and fun read. I was really intrigued by the description but what I found inside the book was even more interesting.

Annie Nutter is a nobody at her school. She's been deemed unpopular, unattractive and unworthy. Her family's a little crazy and tensions are running high. Annie is sick of being treated badly by the popular kids at her school and, of course, wants out. Her mom has been feeling the same way. She saw an article in a magazine about a man she nearly married- a successful, rich man- and wonders how her life would have turned out had she gone with him instead of Annie's father. Annie's dad is an inventor and one crazy invention ends up transporting Annie to the life she has been dreaming of.

You would think this would be great. She's got everything she ever wished for. But after only a few moments in her new life as Ayla Monroe, Annie has already realized that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Ayla has a nasty personality and now Annie's stuck in her body. I felt so frustrated for Annie and hated the thought of being stuck in her position! It was so sad to see everybody be so shocked at how nice 'Ayla' was being all of a sudden. But it was great to see Annie take the high road and realize she did not have to be the stereotypical, mean popular girl.

Once Annie met Charlie- the 'nobody' of Crap Academy'- the book became so exciting! I loved how open Charlie was to accepting that Ayla was no longer the mean dumb girl he'd known her to be. It's so sweet watching their friendship blossom and to see them opening up to each other. Annie has a huge secret- but Charlie's got his secrets too. And Charlie's a genius who thinks he can get Annie back to her old life- but does she want to go?

It was heartbreaking watching Annie try to make her decision and I was freaking out at times! I was so sucked in to her life and found her really easy to relate to. I myself was agonizing over what she should do and it really made me question what I would do if I were her. This book is all about realizing that everyone has their hardships and even 'perfect' people aren't so perfect after all. I'm giving this book five stars and I don't do that lightly. The moral of the story? Be careful what you wish for! ( )

Don’t You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire
Delacorte Books for Young Readers -July 10, 2012

http://www.roxannestclaire.com/
Facebook: yes
Twitter: @roxannestclaire
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Rating: Light, funny summer read
I received a copy of this book, free, in exchange for my honest review.

Annie Nutter is used to her role as a nobody at South Hills High in Pittsburgh, PA. She’s used to fantasizing about the boy she’ll never get and the popular crowd that she’ll never be a part of. She’s used to her best friend, Lizzie, always being by her side and her dad always trying crazy inventions. Her mom throws her through a loop when she starts reminiscing about what her life would be like if she had married someone else. Annie gets to see first hand what life would be like when her dad’s latest invention goes haywire.
I like Annie, she’s your typical teenager who’s not part of the popular crowd-curious about what it would be like. She gets frustrated about her mom and dad fighting and the unsurprisingly fail of her dad’s latest invention. She also begins to wonder what her life would be like if her mom had married someone else and if she was rich, gorgeous and popular. She wants to know what it’s like on the other side. When she wakes up the next morning as A-list Ayla she’s able to find out. She thinks it’s a dream so she decides to enjoy the popular ride for as long as she can. Slowly she realizes several things. Physically she may be A-list Ayla, Queen B at Crop Academy in Florida, but inside her soul she is still just Annie Nutter. She find it hard to enjoy the popular life when seeing it through the eyes of a “nobody”, she turns into a popular girl with a conscience.
As she starts to lose here status, she starts to miss home. She begins to reach out to find out what’s going on back home and discovers that she is not the only one who changes. With this new discovery, she realizes that she may be stuck as A-list Ayla forever. In the end things turn out better than she could have hoped for and she takes away a very valuable lesson. Though this wasn’t completely believable it was enjoyable.

Recommendation:It was a fun summer read, worth checking out as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

What’s Next? I didn't see anything about any upcoming books

Always Shine,
Starr K ( )

I don’t normally give a second glance to book covers that look like the one for Don’t You Wish by bestselling and award-winning author Roxanne St. Claire; however, I happened to read the tagline for the novel and decided to find out more about it. This is one of those instances when I realize how my biases can keep me from finding good books. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=4324. ( )