Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "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."

Review:  In this fun story, the seemingly implausible becomes plausible.  What if you really didn't want to face a challenge that everyone expected of you and there was another person with your name and looks to take your place?  Okay.  So it seems, as I mentioned, implausible; however, in Being Sloane Jacobs, we get to run with the possibility.  One Sloane wants to escape the high pressure of figure skating, while the other thinks a break from hockey camp might be nice.  Why not just switch places?  They'll both be on ice, right?

Although it felt far-fetched at times, the story and characters were so fun that I quickly got lost in the idea and just threw that aside and went with it.  I liked these "Sloane" characters and genuinely wanted to see what this experience did for both of them.  My prejudice going into it said that I wanted Sloane Devon, the hockey player, to have some big epiphany, but Sloane Emily was interesting to watch as she went from ice skating into hockey.  I loved watching their preconceived ideas about one another crumble, while other character traits they had obviously ignored start to flourish a bit more. 

This really was a fun book.  While you felt you knew where things were headed at times, you still couldn't know for sure and had to keep flipping pages to find out.  These characters came to life and were fun to watch.  I had a great time reading this book and almost felt like I needed to go put in a good session at the gym after all their training sessions!  Thankfully, I won't need to take body slams from anyone or have to do flips on a single blade--as entertaining as that might be for anyone watching.  Overall, I have to say this was a great read.