Review: Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

From goodreads

When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen.

But on the inside, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn't as simple as you think.

Review

You know what they say... be careful what you wish for ('cause you just might get it).

Annie Nutter is plain and invisible. She wishes, more than anything, she could be rich and glamorous until one day, when she is zapped by one of her dad's inventions and lands in a parallel universe where she is perfect and privileged Ayla Monroe. Annie learns that privilege and popularity come with a price and that maybe Annie Nutter had a thing or two Ayla Monroe never will.

Don't You Wish was an extremely cute book that I'm sure I would've loved reading in the ninth grade. Annie, as Ayla, discovers what it's like to be popular and realises that being the topic of conversation and dating the 'it' boy isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I loved how thoroughly the intricacies of the cliques in high school were explored.

I loved the romance between Annie/Ayla and Charlie Zelinsky, branded the "homeless boy". It was easily the sweetest and most heartfelt part of the book. I also loved Annie's father's wacky inventions and the way the existence of parallel universes were explained. It definitely helped add colour and quirkiness to the premise!

I loved how the book made me think of the various points of my life when I'd thought, What if... The grass always seems greener on the other side and this book made me wonder if while we were so busy chasing after things that had crept out of our reach, we lost sight of things that were always there. It's so easy to take things for granted!

All in all, Don't You Wish was a sweet, fluffy and empowering book. Unfortunately, it was also a bit on the forgettable side. As lovely as the message was and as adorable as the main characters were, there were way too many stereotypical characters and situations that made the plot formulaic and predictable. Still, for what it's worth, Don't You Wish was wonderfully charming and left me smiling!

Publication date: 10th July, 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads
Source: NetGalley

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars