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

From Goodreads: 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.

My Rating: 4 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: At some point, every one of us has imagined what our life would be like if we were richer, smarter, more popular, etc. or where we’d be today if we had made a life-altering decision differently. This is the idea behind Roxanne St. Claire’s novel Don’t You Wish.

Partly because of its premise and partly because of Annie’s personality, I found it incredibly easy to relate to her. She’s your average teen with frizzy hair and a mouth full of braces, crushing on an unattainable guy and still growing into herself. After getting humiliated by her crush and finding out that her mom could have married a man who became filthy rich, it’s no wonder that Annie dreams what it would have been like to grow up being rich, beautiful and popular.

Having forgotten what Don’t You Wish was supposed to be about before reading it, I figured that Annie was just dreaming that her wish came true and she was Ayla Monroe. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised – which wouldn't have happened if I had only read the synopsis – to find that the premise of Don’t You Wish was based on theories about parallel universes. I’m no quantum physicist – in fact, I sucked at physics in high school – so I have no idea how credible Charlie’s argument is, but the explanation made sense to me.

Of course when Annie wakes up and finds herself in Ayla’s body, she’s thrilled. (I’d be too!) But what will Annie do when she realizes that she’s stuck as Ayla, and that Ayla’s seemingly perfect life isn’t so perfect? And after settling into Ayla’s life; when given the choice, will Annie choose to stay on as Ayla or go back to her old ordinary life?

Filled with implicit lessons that people sometimes preach as advice (e.g. be careful what you wish for, money doesn’t buy happiness, etc.), Don’t You Wish was a fun read with a neat and happy ending that will leave you with a smile.

Don’t You Wish was released by Delacorte Books for Young Readers on July 10, 2012.

Comments About the Cover: It’s easy to figure out that it’s the cover of a contemporary. With the title and the way the model is dressed, it’s almost as if the model is saying, “Don’t you wish you had a fabulous life too and could look as glamourous as me?”  

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Random House) for free via NetGalley.