Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Challenge #7 ~ “Two books related to the same topic, genre or theme: Book 1 ~ ‘Elite Teenage Sport Players'”

(Yeah, this was topic/genre/theme number fifty-nine – I cycled through so many every time I glanced back at my plan. I guess this just happened to be the lucky one that was there when I got around to this challenge. And not my usual topic/genre/theme by any shot…)

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★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

Morrill offers a light-hearted and refreshing, if not a little unrealistic, plot in Being Sloane Jacobs, set in two atypical settings but offering your classic YA conundrums. There’s no real complexity or depth to the novel at all – it’s very superficial and generic for all its quirks – but it’s certainly feel-good and enjoyable. In a literary sense, some elements were done better than others, but there was nothing glaringly horrific about the book in the slightest – your definition average read.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

For all its simplicity and lack of great substance, Being Sloane Jacobs is an easy read that puts (and keeps) a smile on your face. It’s all those cheesy little words from your early teen years – cute, nice, sweet… The main characters are loveable, their journeys are supportable and, of course, there’s a happy ending. Looking for no-effort fluff? Here’s high quality, no-effort, no-commitment, but still that bit exciting, fluff.

A warning for the book:

I have to admit that even by the end of the book I didn’t have a full grip on all the side-characters, quite who they were, how they related to the protagonists and the complexities going on in their lives. Maybe it’s because I was listening to it in audio-form, or maybe that’s just a feeble excuse I’m trying to concoct because the rest of it was pretty awesome…

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