Deidra Reviews Being Sloane Jacobs

Author:  Lauren Morrill
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: 7 January 2014
Source: NetGalley
Pages: 352

Summary:  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.

Lauren Morrill is queen of the adorbs.  Seriously.  When I first started reading her, she reminded me a lot of Jennifer E. Smith with more zaniness.  I fell in love after Meant to Be.  It's one of those perfect chick flick-isque types of book that everyone needs at times.  I needed something that wouldn't break my heart.  So Being Sloan Jacobs it was.  

The book centers around two girls.  They look somewhat similiar and can skate on the ice.  Oh and they are named Sloane Jacobs.  Both Sloanes come from families that are having some struggles.  Both are facing a summer for a sport that both are terrified of failing at.  Sloan Devon has been playing hocket since she was 5.  She loves the game more than anything.  But ending the season before her senior year, Sloane is hiding a big secret that no one can know.  When her coach forces her into a 4 week hockey camp in Canada, she is not excited.  At all.  

Sloane Emily is the daughter of a U.S. Senator.  That type of role is a bit stressful.  There's always a spotlight, photos, and pressure from her mother.  She's been figure skating as long as the other Sloane.  A bad jump 3 years ago kept her from the spotlight on ice.  Now, according to her mom, she's ready for her comeback, so off to training camp to hone those figure skating skills.  She goes.  Nothing sounds worse than being alone in the spotlight again.  

They meet for the first time, they fight, and then they hatch their parent trap plan.  Ok, it's more like the Prince and the Pauper.  Still either way, it's a fabulous story with laughs and awwww's and a sweet plot line that never really gets old.

Both Sloanes want to run away from their problems, but both will find that running away never solves the problem fully.  They just needed to see the world through another Sloane's eyes.  This is a book worth reading.