Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Being Sloane Jacobs

Author: Lauren Morrill
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Random House Children’s
Genre: YA Contemporary
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Source: Received eARC from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 4 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure skater 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 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 and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she's the lucky one. 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.

My Review:

This book completely surprised me, in a good way. I requested it from NetGalley because I’ve been trying to branch out and read more contemporary. But this one sounded like it was going to be pretty fluffy and I’m not a huge fan of fluff. Well this book was pretty fluffy, but what surprised me was how much I enjoyed it. It was truly a feel good read with a touch of real life drama.

Two girls with the same name. One, Sloane Devon Jacobs, is a hockey player. The other, Sloane Emily Jacobs, is a figure skater. Both girls have been shipped off to Canada for the summer for hockey camp and figure skating camp respectively. But both girls have some stuff going on in their lives. Stuff that they want to escape from. Sloane Devon doesn’t want to deal with the pressure of getting a hockey scholarship. And Sloane Emily isn’t ready to make her big comeback after her disastrous performance at Junior Nationals. So when the two girls meet by chance the night before camp starts, they decide to switch places.

Can I just say that both of these girls have some serious balls? A girl who has never figure-skated in her life is going to learn how to skate at the elite level and a girl who has only played a few games of casual street hockey is going to learn how to play ice hockey at the college level? These girls are brave even if they are running away from their problems. I was worried that Lauren Morrill was going to make it too easy for the girls to pick up on the new sports, but she didn’t. She made each of these girls work for it and both of them overcame every obstacle put in front of them. Granted, it wasn’t exactly graceful all the time, but I loved watching each Sloane grow and develop.

Both Sloanes were really enjoyable characters. Sloane Devon is tough, funny, and a bit of a spitfire. She reminded me of myself. At first she wears this mask of anger to cover up her feelings, but eventually she begins to open up more. Sloane Emily is stiff at first and scared of any unwanted attention, but by the end she learns how to loosen up, have fun, and be herself. I loved watching each girl’s transformation and I LOVED that they stayed friends at the end.

I think that both girls learned a lot of things from their experience. The importance of being yourself. The idea of striving to do your best no matter what you’re doing. And the value of telling the truth. I liked that the girls had some dark problems in their lives. It gave the story substance and believability, but it also wasn’t overwhelming. Lauren Morrill didn’t make it the focus of the story and I loved that she chose to keep it light.

The romance with each girl wasn’t all that great. Each relationship was cute, but neither guy left a huge impact on me. But that was okay. That’s not what the story was about and the rest of the plot line and each Sloane’s personality and story more than made up for it. Overall I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint would be that sometimes the girls’ voices sounded too similar but there was only a couple places in the book where I had to flip back to see whose chapter I was on. This one was cute with just the right amount of fluff. I definitely recommend this to anybody looking for a feel good read. Happy reading all!

Have you read this book? What did you think of each Sloane? Have you read any of Lauren Morrill's other books? I will definitely be picking them up! Any other feel good contemps I should be reading?