Hilarious High School Pick: Don't You Wish

Don't You Wish
by Roxanne St. Claire
Delacourte Press
2012
360 pages

I almost missed this one! Don't be foolish...go...no RUN...to your favorite bookstore or with a few clicks of the mouse, grab up this sweet read.

Annie Nutter is an invisible. She is a normal high school girl...not popular, not cool, not beautiful, and certainly not rich. Annie and her BFF Lizzie dream of the day when Shane Matthews might speak to them or notice them. When Shane finally speaks to Annie, it's a cruel joke.

When Annie's mom sees her old flame in a magazine spread, she realizes that she could have married the man who is now a billionaire plastic surgeon who lives in a mansion featured in Architectural Digest. Instead, she's married to Annie's father, a hopeless inventor who has more ideas than money. Annie questions her mother and wonders what her life would have been like if her mom had married the other man--her old college flame. Through some sort of magical weird twist in the universe, Annie wakes up in another life. She lives in Star Island, Florida, the pampered, bratty daughter of her mother in real life and her new, billionaire father (Mom's old flame).

Annie is now Ayla Monroe. She is the "it" girl at her snooty school and is surrounded by a circle of vicious harpies who shoplift, curse, and break all the rules they can. Annie is mortified and will not steal anything. She has to pretend to be "Ayla," and she can't imagine why these pampered princesses feel the need to steal just for stealing's sake.

Ayla (Annie) is being pushed into losing her virginity to hot boyfriend Ryder on prom night. Annie meets quiet, science geek Charlie and is intrigued. Charlie wonders why rich girl Ayla Monroe is now speaking to him, and Ayla's inner circle is wondering why she's acting so weird and talking to all the nobodies.

Ayla/Annie has the chance to choose which life to live. What will she do? What if she can save a life if she makes the right choice. What will Ayla do? What will Annie do?

Highly recommended grade 9-up. Profanity and talk about losing virginity place this book at the high school level, and it's too bad. So much is cool about Don't You Wish, I only wish the author would have made it middle school-worthy. It's a clever, funny book and Annie is a character girls will not forget.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)