PUBLISHER:
HARPERTEEN
PUBLICATION
DATE: FEBRUARY 8, 2011
RATING: 9 OUT
OF 10 – EXCELLENT
PROS: Protagonist goes
through a realistic transformation and endears herself to the reader; novel has
some hilarious moments in it; realistic open ending to the novel
CONS: Moral of the
story is presented in a rather cheesy manner; questionable presentation of body
image
Corrinne Corcoran returns from another successful shopping trip at
Barney’s to hear the worst possible news from her parents: not only has her
father lost his job, but the family’s entire savings have been embezzled. Her
father has been fortunate enough to get another, less well-paid job, but it’s
in Dubai and he can’t take the family with him. So Corrinne, her mother and her
brother are being shipped off to their grandparents’ house in the tiny town of
Broken Spoke, Texas. No more shopping sprees, no more credit cards, no elite
boarding school and definitely no chances of hooking up with hot, rich
upperclassmen. Instead, Corrinne will be spending her days in a town where
there’s only two places to eat and nowhere to shop, where Rodeo Queens still
reign and everyone cares about whether or not the high school football team
wins the championship. As Corrinne adapts to sharing her bedroom with her
mother, getting driving lessons from her estranged Grandpa and eating mountains
of carb-filled pancakes every morning she slowly comes to appreciate some
aspects of life in Broken Spoke. Kitsy, the perky cheerleader, becomes her
friend and she hits it off with a hot wannabe rocker, Rider, when she starts
working at the stables. But when Corrinne's old best friend, Waverly, plans a
trip to Broken Spoke, Corrinne is forced to evaluate how much she truly enjoys
her new life, and whether she wants to take any part of it with her when she
eventually returns to her old life in New York.
I am honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed Gwendolyn’s debut novel. I
usually preface my reviews of Young Adult books by saying something along the
lines of “I'm not a teenager anymore, and I don’t normally enjoy teenage
novels, so I may not be the best person to be reviewing this book”, but now I
have to admit that, okay, maybe I have become a fan of Young Adult fiction.
It’s been a long time since I used to eat up the latest Meg Cabot novel as soon
as it was released, and maybe it was due to an overdose of teenage fiction that
I swore off it when I was sixteen, but Where I Belong has seriously convinced
me to give this genre another try.
This is yet another case of me being suckered in with a pretty cover. I
saw that this book was selling for £1.99 on Kindle and decided to download a
sample in case the book lived up to its gorgeous cover. I’m currently working
my way through Oliver Twist and a surprisingly depressing Amish novel and
definitely needed a light read, so when I found myself relaxing as I read the
sample for Where I Belong I decided to take a chance on it. And I’m really glad
I did. This book had me grinning away at the antics of Corrinne and her new
friends in Texas. It was just what I needed at this time in my life.
I did find myself wondering whether or not I would have appreciated this
book so much as a teenager. I’ve read some reviews from younger readers who got
fed up with Corrinne’s ignorance and self-centred nature. But one of my
favourite books as a teen was Legally Blonde purely because I found Elle's
actions so hilarious, so considering that, I reckon that I would have enjoyed
this book just as much as a teen. There were a few times when I found Corinne's
comments a bit annoying - namely the remarks about her dress size (a fair few
below mine, and I’m by no means fat) and her initial hatred of all foods that
she deemed fattening (I am the Baking Queen in our house and addicted to
pinning recipes on Pinterest) but other than that, I found her a very endearing
character. For all her talks of drinking wine and staying out all night, she
was still very innocent and naive. Sure, she knew her way around New York and
could keep up with the “in” trends far better than anyone I know, but she
didn’t truly understand how friendships and relationships and families worked
until she moved to Texas. I enjoyed watching her character grow, and until she
did mature, she was just utterly hilarious to read about. I never thought I’d
enjoy reading about a rich, privileged teenage girl from Manhattan, but it
happened!
Unlike some readers, I liked the open ending of the book. Perhaps some
people would have liked more of a romantic conclusion, a confirmation that
Corrinne was going to end up with the right guy and live happily ever after.
But I found it quite nice that while Corrinne had grown as a character and
developed over the course of the novel, the end of the book wasn’t the end of
her growth. She’s still a teenager, after all. It’d be interesting to read the
companion book about Kitsy and discover what happens to Corrinne after Broken
Spoke.
I only have a couple of real gripes with this book. One of them was the
scene in which Corrinne’s grandmother and mother recounted how they’d come to
deal with their differences and reconcile with each other. I found it really
cheesy and it didn’t seem at all realistic. Perhaps if they’d let their comments
drip out little by little it would have worked, but it basically came across
almost like a speech or a sermon, as if Corrinne was finally being told the big
message of the entire book. The scene could have been a lot subtler and still
made its point.
I also found some of the comments about dress sizes a bit disconcerting.
If I remember rightly, Corrinne is a size 4 at the start of the novel, and she
comments at the end of the book that she’s dropped a dress size due to all the
work she’s been doing at the stables. I know that there are some women who are
naturally stick-thin, but I didn’t like the idea of Corrinne’s weight loss
coinciding with her finding contentment. To some readers, this might give the
wrong impression and suggest that Corrinne’s happiness was linked to her
unnecessary weight loss. In fact, I don’t think it’s entirely natural for
someone of Corrinne's age to be dropping sizes. Teenagers are constantly
growing, and it would be more realistic for Corrinne to go up a size. I don’t
know many women who stayed a size 2 after they hit puberty, so Corrinne’s dress
size isn’t exactly representative of most teenage bodies.
Aside from the slightly cheesy scene with Corrinne’s mother and
grandmother and the questionable presentations of body image, I thoroughly
enjoyed this book. I've now joined the ranks of grown women who read Young
Adult novels, and will definitely be seeking out more books in a similar vein
to Where I Belong. If Gwendolyn can make me enjoy reading about a stuck-up
teenage fashionista then I have high hopes for her next book, A Long Way from
You, which is about the adorable Kitsy attending art school. If you’re tempted
by this beautiful cover and not typically a reader of Young Adult novels, I
would encourage you to give this book a try. Where I Belong is the perfect
relaxing, feel-good read...and it may even make a Young Adult convert of you!
If you’re already a fan of Young Adult fiction then I can’t see how you could
be disappointed by this wonderful story.
Disclaimer: There was one instance of swearing in this novel and a
couple of suggestions that Waverly was engaging in a sexual relationship. There
were several instances of underage drinking, although Corrinne never seemed to
have more than one drink at a time.
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