Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill (ARC)

Being Sloane Jacobs
Lauren Morrill
Exp. Pub.: January 7, 2014

Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself .

One Sloane Jacobs is having trouble landing her triple spin, another Sloane Jacobs is having trouble shooting the puck. Both are having personal problems and neither are fond of going to Montreal for a month long camp in their respective sports. So when they literally bump into one another at the hotel, it occurs to them that they could each take a break from their lives for a bit. Sure, they'd have to pick up a new sport rather quickly, but neither of them want to face their real issues at the moment.

 

Being Sloane Jacobs was a rather cute YA read. Since this was a fish-out-of-water / freaky-Friday combo, I sort of wished the two girls had more of a personality clash, because their voices were incredibly similar. I'm not going to lie, even once I finished the novel, I couldn't tell you which one was Sloane Emily vs. Sloan Devon. Even though the chapters are labeled with their name, I had to rely on the secondary characters and the camp to know who was speaking to me. Regardless, it was a light, sweet read with blossoming friendships and boyfriends and learning to overcome whatever's bring you down, so if that's what you need right now, you should pick this up.

 

ARC provided by Random House Children's for honest review.