Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

Title: Don't You Wish

Author: Roxanne St. Claire
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult

Grade: 88% B+

Buy It: Amazon

When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen.

But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn't as simple as you think.

My Thoughts:: 
You know those books that look so amazing and appear have a concept that you rarely, if ever, read about, but then it turns out that you're wrong? Well this isn't one of them. Your assumptions will turn out to be completely correct.

The book started out with us getting to know Annie. This may seem a little boring and average, but believe me, the more you get to know Annie,  the more impactful her transition into Ayla is. I could identify with Annie so much. Not just because she wanted to be someone like Ayla, but I because I've been "faked" asked out as well. It hurts, especially when you know more people are in on it.

Like I mentioned before, the concept of this book was really amazing. It didn't rely on a magical explanation or some super ability. It wasn't fully explained, but we got the gist that it was a very rare thing that needed certain things for it to happen. I actually like that there wasn't a magical explanation. Even though I know that I won't be zapped into another universe, it's nice to imagine that maybe, just maybe, it's possible.

After Annie became Ayla and she started to act like her, I was worried. I didn't want this pretty darn original book to just be some sort of don't be mean or be yourself lesson. Sure, we see the mistakes that were made and how the characters learned from them, but it isn't pounded into our heads.

The ending was very nice and I couldn't have chose a better outcome..but I did have a problem with it. I'm trying not to spoil anything, so I won't say much..but...if that happened, how did the characters not go crazy? How could they fake it when all I would want to do is freak out? Also, there were a couple of loose ends that don't get tied up.

Overall I think that Don't You Wish was a refreshing new read with good characters and an ending that needed some work.