Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill Review & Win A Copy!

Posted January 4, 2014 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 12 Comments

Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill
Published by 
Delacorte BYR/Random House Kids
Publish Date: January 7, 2014

352 Pages
Source: Publisher
Find it here:  Goodreads / Amazon / B&N



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. (from Goodreads) 


Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill 



My Thoughts:  I’ve been excited about reading Being Sloane Jacobs since I found out Lauren Morrill was writing her next book – I fell in love with her debut, Meant To Be, for it’s ease and fun and humor and just everything, and I was expecting great things with this one. AND THIS COVER, YOU GUYS! I was thrilled that Being Sloane Jacobs delivered and I’m now waiting anxiously for Morrill’s next books. I can see a pattern developing here…


The first thing you need to know is this:
Sloane Emily Jacobs is a figure skater. And she’s lost her mojo. 
Three years ago, Sloane Emily fell on the ice – since then, she hasn’t been able to regain her momentum. Before then, she was a winner and everybody knew it. Now, however, everyone knows she is pretty much a has-been in the figure-skating world. As the book opens, Sloane Emily is practicing and just can’t seem to land a certain move she has been working on. It doesn’t matter right now anyway – her parents are shipping her off to Montreal tomorrow for four weeks of intensive training at an elite figure skating camp along with about fifty other promising other athletes. Her coach thinks she is putting too much pressure on herself and wonders if she actually even loves the sport. 

After practice, she is to meet her parents and her brother James for dinner – which is really just another photo opportunity. Dinner talk consists of such topics as Sloane Emily’s diet (what she should be eating as a figure skater), who she should be dating – Preston (aka ‘the reptilian slimeball’) is available and her mother thinks he would be perfect for her even though he has made some inappropriate passes at her in the past, how Sloane Emily will be applying to Princeton, and why brother James should be looking into medical school instead of an environmental career, which is really what he is passionate about. THIS is the sort of family Sloane Emily has and it is very stressful – not to mention a certain secret she’s been keeping for one of her family members. If it gets out…well, it could be bad. For everyone. 

After dinner is over and Sloane Emily has packed for her trip the following day, she drifts off to sleep having seen a shooting star out her window – she quickly makes a wish to be somebody, anybody else

The second thing you need to know is this:
Sloane Devon Jacobs is a hockey player with an attitude problem. 
And she’s lost her mojo. 
As Sloane Devon’s part of the story opens, she is playing a game, the score is tied, and Sloane Devon is about to take a shot when she just…falls! BAM! Down onto the ice! Sloane Devon has been in a bit of a funk for the last little while, and this didn’t help at all. When Sloane Devon skates like a madwoman over to the girl that took the puck from her after she fell and starts a fight with her, her Coach drags her off of the ice and throws her out – like all the way out to the locker room. She needs to get herself together. 

After the team’s loss, Sloane Devon hides from embarrassment in the locker room and makes sure everyone else is gone before she comes out. But OH MAN! her Coach is actually waiting for her – he lectures her pretty hard and benches her for her unacceptable behavior. Since this was the last game of the season, this means she will be sitting out for the first few games of next season, which is not only embarrassing for her but could ruin her chances at a future. 

For Sloane Devon, see, hockey is a way out. It’s a way out of her neighborhood. It’s a way out of her way of her current life. It’s a chance to get to a scholarship and make something of herself. She NEEDS hockey and all of those games next season for scouts and college. But there’s the issue of her falling…and why. Sloane Devon has been getting these nervous tingles every time it is her turn to take a shot on the goal, which is why she is in such a slump. This is probably related to her life at home, which is JUST. PEACHY. 

Her mom left last month for court-mandated rehab for alcoholism. Her Dad is doing everything he can to make ends meet and not be depressed about mom being gone. Things are just…well, they’re different at home lately. And tonight in particular, things are pretty bad because Coach called Dad and actually told him about the fight Sloane Devon got into! (What a chump! He never rats them out for anything!) BUT! he also offered Sloane Devon an opportunity – leave tomorrow for an invite-only hockey camp in Montreal for a few weeks. It’ll be a change of scenery, which is good, plus a chance to work out some of the kinks in her game. Sloane Devon isn’t terribly excited about this (in fact, she’s angry), but she quickly throws some stuff in a duffel bag and drifts off to sleep cuddling her dog, wishing she could be someone, anyone other than herself

The third thing you need to know is this:
 The girls run into one another accidentally at their Montreal hotel. 
It is not a pleasant exchange at all…until it is.  
Both girls happen to be checking into the hotel at the exact same time WITH THE EXACT SAME NAME and literally bump into one another. They knock each other down, resulting in the literal mix-up of their luggage, which results in the mix-up of the tagging of their luggage – the “Sloane Jacobs” tags get placed in the wrong places. It could happen, right? When each girl is sent to her own room, she realizes that HER luggage is sent with the other Sloane Jacobs. They both head downstairs at the same time – complete with snarky attitudes, I might add – to get things sorted out, and the hotel management does an amazing job of not only fixing the luggage problem, but offering them both a free dinner. (Keep those guests happy!) The problem with this (if there is a problem with free dinner) is that there is only one table left at the hotel restaurant and the two have to dine together. This means that they have to actually talk to one another. It doesn’t take long for them to lose the attitudes and begin talking about themselves, their lives, why they’re in the city, which camp they’re going to, etc. And they both realize that they’re going to places that neither want to be. And one of them has the brilliant idea that they should just switch places for the duration of the camp. 

WAIT! This is the real world, you say! 
That could NEVER WORK! 

STOP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! 
THIS ISN’T THE REAL WORLD. 



This is a book. It’s a story! And in this story, it works swimmingly. And it is marvelously charming and whip-smart. And funny. And a super-cute, fun read. And I kind of loved it


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Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill gave me exactly what I was looking for when I cracked it open. I wanted a fun story, an escape, something that would make me chuckle. I wanted something that I could visualize in my head like a movie. I wanted a little bit of romance and a little bit of adventure. And that is exactly what I got…along with an absolutely stunning cover. For the second time, Lauren Morrill has delivered. I think I may be seeing a pattern here with this gal, and I’m liking what I see. 

Once both girls decide that they are going to make the switch, they quickly school each other on how to be each other. This is interesting, you see, because you have a Washington, DC high-power political socialite with tons of money vs a Philadelphia-raised, hockey-playing, doing-the-best-she-can-with-what-she’s-given girl who doesn’t know what fashion even looks like…not to mention that they don’t even know the rules of nor how to play the sport of the other Sloane. All it takes for each girl is an all-nighter and BABY! THEY’RE READY TO GO! 

It just so happens that they look so much alike that no one notices that they aren’t the correct person. When they arrive at their respective incorrect places and check in, it’s a little bit of a rough go for about a day or two, but it is soon smooth sailing as both girls realize that they just may be able to pull this thing off. Always a bit apprehensive, both girls realize that they actually enjoy these new sports a great deal and they’re able to learn them and do very well at them. It’s really fun to read. 

What’s just as fun or maybe even more fun is all of the stuff that goes along with the switch…


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I suppose camp wouldn’t be camp without the roommate from hell, and each girl gets one. They’re awful, but they both made me laugh. Each girl also has a camp friend, and these are both pretty great although they are very different. Of course, each girl also has a boy she is interested in – one girl is interested in a boy at the camp she is attending and the other girl freaks out a bit when she sees a boy out-and-around, outside of camp, that she knows from back home in the United States (what are the chances?). Even while pranking the roommates, becoming closer to the new friends, and developing crushes that turn into sweet romances, both girls have to maintain their secret – which means they have to maintain living a lie. It’s stressful for them both and there are times throughout the story when each girl wants to tell the truth to these people that they are really starting to like quite a bit but things always end up happening to prevent the truth from coming out…until something really huge happens and it does

I have to admit that even though the story is lighthearted, I held my breath because I was worried for the state of all of these friendships and relationships after THE THING happened. I actually liked it when both girls were having their opportunity to be someone else – I mean, who hasn’t wanted that chance in their life at least once? I KNOW I HAVE and I sometimes still do. 

Being Sloane Jacobs is a fun story, like I keep mentioning, and JUST LIKE I WANTED, it was so perfectly easy for me to visualize – it was one of those books that played out perfectly like a movie in my head. I could have even created a soundtrack at just the perfect moments if I wanted to – I was having that much fun with it. I loved the quirky awkwardness of both Sloane girls – these are two girls at this age when AAAGGHHH they just want things to go the right way but they’re learning that LIFE OFTEN TAKES TURNS YOU DO NOT EXPECT. Both girls have had things happen to them in recent weeks that have derailed them, that keep them awake at night, that have messed up their ‘good things’ – which are, in their cases, their sports – and instead of maintaining and trying to deal with these issues, they both escape and run away from these huge problems. While it works for a while and is even a little fun, both girls learn in a really great coming-of-age kind of way that you cannot run away from your problems and if you do, THEY WILL FIND YOU. Even so, the silver lining in all of this is that both girls were able to learn something new that they enjoyed and meet new people that will likely be long-term relationships for them both, and that is pretty darn awesome too, and also quite coming-of-age. 
So I have to really hand it to Lauren Morrill for this one. It’s fun and quirky and fluffy in the way of Meant To Be, but there is still plenty of meat to this one! It’s just not at all hard to swallow and it doesn’t weigh you down ONE BIT when you’re reading it. In fact, it still will make you chuckle and laugh and YOU GUYS, I FREAKING LOVE HAVING BOOKS LIKE THIS IN MY BACK POCKET. I just happened to pull this book out and read it at exactly the time in my life when I needed a fun book like this, and I think that made it all the better. Lauren Morrill, I salute you and give you double high-fives. 

I recommend Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill to fans of Young Adult Contemporary stories, fans of romantic comedies and quirky characters, fans of stories with some humor in them, and fans of books that include sports. This author is 100% for making me have a great time while reading her books, you guys. No stress involved at all. THAT IS SOMETHING HUGE. I hope you read this one and enjoy it like I did. 
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Being Sloane Jacobs will appeal to fans of:

Young Adult Contemporary 
Romance(s): No triangles. Slowly Developing. 
Great, Fun Characters
Great Setting – Montreal, Canada
Fun Plot – Plenty of Humor
Fans of Sports – Hockey & Figure Skating
Alternating POV

Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill
will be available for purchase on January 7, 2014.


**I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts and they are totally and completely my own! Thank you Delacorte/Random House Kids! 

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Thanks to the generosity of 
Lauren Morrill and Random House Kids, 
I have ONE COPY of 
BEING SLOANE JACOBS to offer ONE WINNER. 

*US Only please!* *Ends Tues Jan 14th, 2014*

a Rafflecopter giveaway



  

Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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12 responses to “Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill Review & Win A Copy!

  1. Christina R. in the rafflecopter

    I LOVED Lauren's first book – she's amazing with setting and romance and the couple is always very bantery and fun to read about.

    This one sound awesome – love the cover. The couple in the shot really grabs you and makes you think it's a fun book:)

  2. Fabulous thoughts!! I got this arc awhile back, I think Im kicking myself for letting it set for so long now….Ill have to move it to the top…:)

  3. My god that cover is gorgeous! I've been seeing reviews of this and I'm super excited to give it a shot, it seems like the perfect book to enjoy on a cold night 🙂

  4. Lauren Morrill has gotten some fantastic covers! I really enjoyed this one too. It was so much fun and I agree — totally played out like a movie in my head 😀

  5. The concept for this is so crazy but it totally won me over! I just finished reading it and am glad I enjoyed it so much, as did you. Though I scoffed at the plausibility, it really did seem to work while I was reading it.

  6. The book has alternating chapters from each girl's perspective. I thought the two girls' voices sounded awfully similar, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the book. There is no fairy tale ending, but it does end on an upbeat note and has a positive message about friendship, being there for your family members and staying true to your dreams, even if they're not what you originally expected.

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