Two sworn enemies suddenly switch bodies in this witty and heartfelt novel of romantic relationships, gender identity, and the joy of being yourself. Ezra Slevin is an anxious, neurotic insomniac who spends his nights questioning his place in the universe and his days obsessing over Imogen, a nerdy girl with gigantic eyebrows and a heart of gold. For weeks, Ezra has been working up the courage … working up the courage to invite Imogen to prom. The only problem is Imogen’s protective best friend, Wynonna Jones. Wynonna has blue hair, jams to ’80s rock, and has made a career out of tormenting Ezra for as long as he can remember.
Then, on the night of a total solar eclipse, something strange happens to Ezra and Wynonna, and they wake up in each other’s bodies. Not only that, they begin randomly swapping back and forth every day! Ezra soon discovers Wynonna’s huge crush on his best friend, Holden, a five-foot-nothing girl magnet with anger management problems. With no end to their curse in sight, Ezra makes Wynonna a proposition: While swapping bodies, he will help her win Holden’s heart, but only if she helps him woo Imogen.
Forming an uneasy alliance, Ezra and Wynonna embark on a collision course of mistaken identity, hurt feaelings, embarrassing bodily functions, and a positively byzantine production of Twelfth Night. Ezra wishes he could be more like Wynonna’s badass version of Ezra — but he also realizes he feels more like himself while being Wynonna than he has in a long time.
Wildly entertaining and deeply heartfelt, Where I End and You Begin is a brilliant, unapologetic exploration of what it means to be your best self.c exploration of what it means to be your best self. a proposition: While swapping bodies, he will help her win Holden’s heart, but only if she helps him woo Imogen.
Forming an uneasy alliance, Ezra and Wynonna embark on a collision course of mistaken identity, hurt feaelings, embarrassing bodily functions, and a positively byzantine production of Twelfth Night. Ezra wishes he could be more like Wynonna’s badass version of Ezra — but he also realizes he feels more like himself while being Wynonna than he has in a long time.
Wildly entertaining and deeply heartfelt, Where I End and You Begin is a brilliant, unapologetic exploration of what it means to be your best self.c exploration of what it means to be your best self.
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Where I End & You Begin, written by Preston Norton, is a fun, quirky young adult book delving into that monumental question that all teens ask themselves…Where do I fit in? I did not know what to expect from this book, and if I am honest, I was pleasantly surprised.
Where I End & You Begin, is the first book I have read by this author, and although I did like his style I felt at times, he did go off on tangents that were not essential to the plot. Unfortunately, this had me skimming a little bit. That is not to say that the plot wasn’t good. It was fun and original, hitting all the young adult boxes, first love, rejection, family drama, sexually exploration, and also touching on some challenging teenage issues. Mix in body swapping and it made for a fun, unpredictable read.
There was a ton of pop culture references, which made the story relevant and fun. What I do not like in my “fun books” is any bashing of any political party. If I want to read about politics I will look for that type of book. I felt the down-putting did nothing for the story, other than forwarding one side of a political agenda. That is a big NO, NO for me!
The four main characters, Ezar and Holden, who are best friends and Imogen and Wynonna who are also best friends, are delightful and engaging and I just loved them. These characters were not the “popular kids” in fact they were delightfully unpopular, shy, nerdy, obnoxious, sweet and comical. I think that Norton nailed the teenage mind pretty darn close to perfection. I liked that Norton had these young adults evolving throughout the book. Saying that I would have liked a bit more character development of Imogen and Holden.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it. One plus for me is the setting, and I live very close to Carbondale, Illinois. Also, I did have the opportunity to participate with students from my area school ( I am a substitute teacher) during the particular eclipse that was hi-lighted in this book. Happy reading!
***I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion .***
2.5 stars
This story started strong. I enjoyed getting to know the main characters, Ezra and Wynonna, and their best friends, Holden and Imogen. I was able to get a very clear picture of their dynamics with one another as well as get some insight into what was to come with some Freaky Friday antics.
As we get the lay of the land and start to get more into the book, things start to get a bit bumpy. The characters are involved in the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night, which is wonderful. What isn’t wonderful is the author’s urge to recap the play multiple times throughout this story. Pages and pages and pages of telling the reader what the play is about, as well as numerous scenes and quotes from the play. He also did this, to a lesser erxtent, with the movie She’s the Man (which is a modern day movie version of Twelfth Night); it’s obvious he’s trying to make a point. He’s steering the reader to the parallels, I get it. But it comes across as VERY heavy-handed and, quite honestly, made the book so much longer than it needed (or wanted) to be.
There are many things I thoroughly enjoyed about this story. The learning issues Wynonna has that, in real life, are often very misunderstood. Imogen’s confusion about who she is and what her romantic feelings really mean. Willow’s spiral into some terrible decision making as a cry for attention and help. It’s all marvelous. Sometimes the execution is on point, but there are far too many times it is not and the story gets bogged down and snarled up. It’s almost as if the author tried to pack the story with too many social issues so none of the issues got the treatment they really deserve.
I don’t want you to think this is a bad book…it’s not. It’s just a bit all over the place. Tightened up and less about 100 pages and it would be getting a much higher rating from me.
** I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in my review are my own and given freely. **
This review can also be found at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/where-i-end-and-you-begin-arc-review/