Reviewed by Taylor Rector for TeensReadToo.com

Jade is a Goth-girl who is a total nonconformist and is a "freak" at her school.

Mercedes is a "Barbie" -- blonde, super-popular, and a total conformist, who is also Jade's mortal enemy.

Clarik is a new mysterious boy that has come to their high school, who Jade quickly realizes she has a crush on.

The girls' principal is sick of these two girls causing problems so she decides to teach them a lesson they will never forget.

After getting the parents' consent, the girls are taken to an old rundown building, strapped down, and sedated. Mercedes and Jade have no idea what is going on, until they wake up at home. They go to school only to realize that everyone has turned Goth and the "Barbies" are the "freaks" now.

The girls don't like their new environment at all and are determined to find out how to get back to reality. Clarik is in the game with them and he and Jade become very close. Can he help get them back? Will they ever get back to the reality they knew? When they get home, will things be the same way they were before, or will the girls have to change?

This is a super-fun, fast-paced novel that even someone who would be called a "Barbie" can like! The characters are all lovable, and I really enjoyed this book! ( )

Heh. Goth. I used to be Goth in high school, but I felt quite different about it than Jade, the heroine of this book, did. But I loved the premise of this book (even though I often find myself disappointed with alternate universes). The voices were excellent, and the moral of the story wasn't too heavy-handed. A quick, fun read.

Twitter review @book_kungfu (http://twitter.com/book_kungfu):
Goth girl goes to other world where freaks are popular. Can u be cool if u're not different? -- Kung Fu moment: Dealing w/ the princess ( )

This was a cute, quick read. It was a YA paranormal, but not in the normal sense. I really enjoyed the ending. It was realistic (as realistic can be), and Jade and Merecedes seemed to learn their lesson. My only complaint is that I wish it was a little bit longer so that I could see more of what happened later in the end. ( )

From her dying mother’s last words seventeen year old Jade Leigh learned that being different sets you apart from the clones of this world. As a result she is friends with a small group of Goths who are considered freaks by the in-crowd, which includes Mercedes, the popular girl with the Barbie clones as friends.

When Jade gets into trouble for the third time in a week, her principal decides that it’s time for an extreme intervention and convinces her father to sign a permission slip for what he thinks is a field trip but is actually a virtual reality program designed to teach Jade a lesson.

When Jade wakes up the next morning, things are decidedly different. The whole school has turned Goth and her friends have now become the Barbie clones. To make matters worse they hate her and Jade has become the popular girl. But not only is Jade in the program, Mercedes is too and she has taken Jade’s place as the outcast.

With the help of Clarik, a strange new student, Jade and Mercedes struggle to find their way out of the program and back to real life but learn a valuable lesson on the way home.

I thought the book was a cute read with a good lesson for teens but I didn’t love it as much as I was expecting to. The writing is good and the characters are typical teens but the virtual reality premise was just a little too weird for me. I wish the switch from Goth to popular girl was accomplished a different way. Maybe a bump on the head a la Wizard of Oz or some magical hocus pocus. I just couldn’t get into it being a program when Mercedes and Clarik were also in there with her.

I do recommend the book for teens and young adults but I’d skip it if you’re on the fence about picking this one up. ( )

A goth girl is sent into a virtual reality game, where she's actually-gag, gag, and gag again-popular. Her former friends hate her and everyone who used to call her a freak loves her.
And there's Mercedes too the It girl in school, who's also sent into the game. She now lives the life of a freak. Only Clarik, the new boy, seeems to operate outside all the cliqes.
I love love love this book. Read it.