Review: Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

(photo courtesy of Goodreads)

Title:  Don’t You Wish    

Author:  Roxanne St. Claire

Genre:  Young Adult Contemporary

Publisher:  Random House Children’s House

Format:  Digital Galley via NetGalley

Release Date:  July 10, 2012

What if your mom had married someone else? Would you still be you?

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 exhilarating…and illegal. Here she’s got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she’s ever seen.

But on the inside, 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. (Summary courtesy of publisher and NetGalley)

I wasn’t too sure about this book at first. It seemed very predictable:  not-so-popular girl gets the chance to live the dream and become every thing she ever wanted—rich, beautiful, popular, and (unfortunately) mean. I decided I wasn’t going to like this book and I would read it just to finish it. But then it changed, it became something more than I ever thought. Have you ever read a book that took you totally by surprise and wasn’t what you expected at all? This was that book for me. Only one word came to mind when I finished Don’t You Wish and that word was “Wow!”   

After a somewhat terrible day, Annie gets a shock when one of her inventor-father’s gadgets sends her to a parallel universe. She wakes up not as Annie, but as Ayla—rich, beautiful and living in gorgeous Miami. But inside she is still Annie, and she discovers that she is nothing like Ayla. Annie becomes more and more frustrated as time goes on, but can she get back home? And does she really want to?

Roxanne St. Claire is an extremely good author, with a phenomenal gift for characterization and a strong voice that truly brings her books to life. I felt like I was in Miami with Ayla/Annie and I felt like I was living her life right there beside her. After finishing Don’t You Wish, I did something I had never done before, I emailed the author. I just couldn’t resist telling her how much I loved her book. I even told her I was going to force my girls to read her book because it was that good.

So, if you’re looking for a really good book, I highly recommend Don’t You Wish. You will not regret it. Pick it up, read it and pass it on to someone you know who loves to read. But a word of caution: don’t give up on this book, keep reading. It’s totally worth it!