Where I Belong - Gwendolyn Heasley

GENRE: YOUNG ADULT

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.

Double Take - Melody Carlson

GENRE: YOUNG ADULT/AMISH
PUBLISHER: REVELL
PUBLICATION DATE: JUNE 1, 2011
RATING: 8 OUT OF 10


How could two girls who look so alike be so different? When rich city-girl Madison Van Buren runs into her lookalike at a cafe in an Amish community in Pennsylvania, she begins to wonder how her life would have turned out if she's been born into the slow-paced country life of Anna Fisher. Stressed out by college choices, a possessive boyfriend, a needy best friend and her divorced parents, Madison sees Anna as an escape into a simpler way of life. Anna is tempted by the lure of freedom from responsibilities, and not having to constantly do chores and care for younger relatives. Living in New York would give her the chance to find her old boyfriend, Jacob, who left the Amish several years ago and hasn't been in contact. But switching lives turns out to be a lot more complicated than Madison and Anna imagined, and their plans for a carefree escape from their troubles doesn't work out quite as they expected. Both of them have something to learn about life, relationships and even God.

Those who read my reviews may have noticed that I’m not particularly interested in YA fiction. But when I saw that Melody Carlson, Queen of Christian Teen Fiction, was jumping on the Amish bandwagon (or buggy, as may be more appropriate) I couldn't help but request a review copy. And despite my doubts about how well Amish fiction would transfer to the YA market - particularly with a cover that's just a tad too cheesy for my liking - this is definitely one that I'd recommend. It took me a few chapters to adapt to Melody's style of writing and fit back into the mindset of a teenage girl, but once I found myself settled in the story, I didn't want to put it down.

Ignoring the plausibility of two girls looking so alike and just happening to run into each other, I loved the "Parent Trap" style plot of this book. Who hasn't wondered what their life would be like in a different place? As a British teen captivated by American TV shows and books, I used to daydream about attending an American high school like the fictional ones I was so familiar with. Like Anna, I believed my life would be so much more exciting away from home. But Anna soon finds that life in a city is much more overwhelming than she thought, and that it's not going to be easy finding Jacob in a city packed full of people. Plus, Madison's phone is difficult to operate, the TV shows seem mindless and none of Madison's clothes are remotely modest. She also has to deal with Madison's boyfriend, whom she ropes into helping in her search for Jacob, and an old friend of Madison's who immediately figures out that Anna is an imposter.

Madison, on the other hand, discovers that the "simple life" isn't as relaxing as it sounded. Making up some ridiculous story about how she hit her head on the ice while skating and has forgotten a lot of basic Amish life skills, Madison has to learn how to do basic chores like cooking and washing dishes, as well as looking after half a dozen cousins. Thankfully, Anna's aunt and uncle don't seem to think that there's anything weird about "Anna" and are just thankful for the help while the aunt, Rachel, is nearing the end of her pregnancy. There are some really touching scenes between Madison and Rachel, who isn't popular in her community because she isn't the best homemaker and seems to be slacking in a lot of areas that other Amish women relish in. Madison - who has never had to wash her own dishes before, let alone bake a pie or change a diaper - admires Rachel and helps the other women in the community to appreciate her “aunt” and help her in the departments where she's lacking. There's also a little romance between Madison and a local boy who helps on the farm. It's not entirely necessary to the plot, but shows how teenagers can get carried away by their romantic daydreams.

I actually ended up preferring Madison's Amish adventures to Anna's search for her old boyfriend, mainly because I felt that Madison had more to learn from her experiences. Anna gets a bit of a shock when she meets Jacob and discovers that he really has become an Englisher, and it shakes her teenage fantasies about her and Jacob ending up together, despite him leaving their community. I'm sure every woman can remember a time when they thought a teenage crush would turn out to be the man of their dreams, so Anna's story is quite easy to relate to, if a little bit anticlimatic. On the other hand, Madison does what many Amish fanatics fantasise about - convert to the calmer way of life. But what is there that’s calm about cow stalls, outhouses and home births? Madison experiences a serious culture shock that causes her to rethink her “real” life, and make some changes when she returns to New York. Her experiences with Rachel's family are quite amusing, but I don't know whether I would have reacted any better in her place. While Anna's situation was more relatable, Madison's definitely made for a more entertaining read.

Despite my usual wariness of YA novels, Melody Carlson may have actually made a convert out of me. This is definitely a book that I'd want my teenage daughter to read, if I had one, and is one to pass on to those younger sisters and daughters who try to sneak a peek at your Beverly Lewis novel. Amusing and very true to life, Double Take is one for both teenage girls and the older Amish fans, particularly those who like to fantasise about living the simpler life.

Review title provided courtesy of Revell.