A Light, Fun Contemporary // ARC REVIEW: In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody

Title: In Some Other Life
Author: Jessica Brody
Publication Date: August 8th 2017
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Part of a Series?: No, A Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: Macmillan Intl (THANK YOU!)
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Blurb Description: Kennedy Rhodes turns down an acceptance to an elite private school, instead choosing to stay at her high school and jump at the opportunity to date the boy of her dreams. Three years later, Kennedy walks in on that same boyfriend cheating with her best friend—and wishes she had made a different choice. But when Kennedy hits her head and wakes up in the version of her life where she chose to attend the private school, she finds that maybe it’s not as perfect of a world as she once thought. 
In A Nutshell: In Some Other Life is Freaky Friday meets a little physics in a high schooler’s story of a choice that changed her life. As an added bonus, there’s also a very swoony boy.

I’ve heard about the wonderfulness of Jessica Brody’s books from various blogger friends, especially her Unremembered trilogy and so, when I saw that she was releasing a YA Contemporary that seemed really interesting to me, I knew I had to read it!

Let’s break down what I thought about this book:

IDEA:

Let’s be honest, if you’ve been in high school, you’ve made a decision or two (and maybe even more than two) based on a boy, a girl, or maybe even both who might’ve romantically been paying attention to you. IT HAPPENS. Which is why the idea of this book really appealed to me. A Girl who chooses her normal public school so she can be close to her long time crush instead of the fancy private school and gets to do it over after the boy cheats on her? SIGN ME UP!

PLOT:

The plot went pretty much as I expected it to – first it showed us Kennedy in her normal life where she chose her boyfriend over the prestigious school and the second in which she’s been at the prestigious Winsdor Academy for three years, living the life she thought she wanted all along.
I did have a few problems with this part of the book:

1)      In BOTH versions of her life, Kennedy Rhodes is supposed to be smart. And I mean top of her class, Ivy League shoo-in, and editor-in-chief since feshman year smart. And yet, she was ALSO REALLY REALLY NAIVE AND A LITTLE DAFT. She didn’t realise her dad didn’t live in her house, she didn’t figure out what the numbers and letters meant (I MEAN - I DID, AND I’M NOT THAT SMART)

Her character was described as one thing, but she acted totally differently when it came to her personal life. I. JUST. HOW?

2)      She also objectified other girls who do use make-up by referring it to as “fake and misleading.” I honestly believe what you want to put on your body is a choice and as girls, we need to support each other’s choices so this seriously annoyed me. Just because someone decides to put makeup on, doesn’t make a “fake” person.

At the same time, I also loved a lot of the plot. Frankie, Kennedy’s younger brother and Dylan were these two ADORABLE little muffins that made the whole book stand out for me. I loved Frankie’s board game and mind and I adored all the scenes with him in it and WELL, Dylan was just an all-around perfect non-Zombie.

WRITING:

The writing managed to capture the voice (And all the hysteria and joy) that comes with being a teenage girl but nothing really spectacular.

CONCLUSION:

If you’re looking for that light contemporary read with a REALLY CUTE and SASSY boy, a girl with a decision to make and the cutest baby brother ever, In Some Other Life is for you.
Jessica BrodyJessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples, and electrical tape. Jessica has sold over twelve novels for teens, tweens, and adults including 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, The Karma Club, My Life Undecided, and the three books in the Unremembered trilogy, the first of which is currently in development as a major motion picture by the producers of The Vampire Academy, Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, and Slumdog Millionaire. In 2016, she will release two new contemporary novels, A Week of Mondays (August) and Boys of Summer (April), and in 2017, her debut middle grade novel entitled, Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up, will hit bookstore shelves.
Have you read any books by Jessica Brody? What have you thought of them?
Who are some of your favourite siblings in YA Literature? 
I hope you check this book out and I can't wait to hear from you.

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