Title: Being Sloane Jacobs
Author: Lauren Morrill (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Delacorte
Release date: January 7, 2014
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley
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 really good a very cute contemporaries, friends. MEANT TO BE was super adorable and I was a big fan, so this fact plus the major presence of winter sports in BEING SLOANE JACOBS made me very excited for Lauren Morrill’s sophomore effort. BEING SLOANE JACOBS had its moments, friends, but it didn’t quite live up to MEANT TO BE in terms of general awesomeness. Still, a cute read.
So as you can tell from the synopsis up there, BEING SLOANE JACOBS is about not one, but two girls serendipitously named Sloane Jacobs. Also serendipitously, they both participate in winter sports: Sloane Emily is a figure skating daughter of a politician with some baggage, and Sloane Devon is an angry hockey player with some baggage. When they run into each other on their respective ways to ice skating/hockey camps in Montreal, they conceive of a plan to switch places all Freaky Friday-ish (except, not really because they don’t ACTUALLY switch bodies, but you follow me) to escape some of their own dramas for a little while. Their plan kind of backfires, and there’s family drama and boy shenanigans to boot.
I usually try to talk about the positive things in a book first, but it just so happens that the thing that made me feel extra-meh about BEING SLOANE JACOBS was also the thing that made it stand out: the dual perspectives of Sloane Emily and Sloane Devon. At first, I enjoyed this structure. I thought the stories behind each girl–Sloane Emily is struggling with a cold, perfectionist family and a brewing scandal between her Senator father and one of his aides, while Sloane Devon is dealing with having an alcoholic mother and a nagging knee injury and a temper problem–were good. As things progressed, though, I found myself wishing for a book about just one of the girls instead of one that featured the two of them. You might see how this is a problem considering that BEING SLOANE JACOBS is at its heart about both of them. I felt like each girl wound up not getting enough attention. But I can appreciate Lauren Morrill’s efforts for sure.
I did enjoy the glimpses we got of Sloane Emily and Sloane Devon each learning how to deal with their issues while learning new things and experiencing new environments. I always love reading books that have seasonal elements, so reading about the Sloane’s ice skating and hockey playing in the winter was fun. I thought that Sloane Emily’s story was a little more fleshed out, and I enjoyed her parts a little bit more than Sloane Devon’s. I thought her family issues and her experiences in the hockey camp were interesting and a little less melodramatic somehow.
There were, of course, boys in BEING SLOANE JACOBS, so YAY! But I think it was the relationships that seemed to suffer the most from the double duty the book did with the girls. Sloane Devon’s boy, Nando, hardly seemed to be in BEING SLOANE JACOBS long enough to warrant the feelings Sloane Devon developed for him, which is a shame because he was sweet and adorable and had the potential for lots of deep feelings. Matt, Sloane Emily’s hockey-playing boy, was cute as well, and a reforming serial hook-uper. I liked him, and Nando, but would’ve liked to know each of them better.
I can’t believe I still haven’t talked about the Sloanes themselves! I liked them. Lauren Morrill did a good job making them different even though they share a name. Sloane Emily is smart and slick and ballsy and adaptable. She’s definitely got that “rich man’s daughter” thing going on. Sloane Devon is quick-tempered and doesn’t take shit from anyone. They’ve both got a lot of chutzpah, too, switching places and having to learn completely different sports while trying to pass themselves off as people who know what they’re doing. The resolution of said passing themselves off as people who know what they’re doing was a little too convenient and perfect, but I liked the girls all the same.
In the end, friends, BEING SLOANE JACOBS was a little bit of a letdown for me. I thought it was cute and a quick read, but I had high hopes for it, and I think the dueling Sloanes actually hurt more than they helped. I would’ve enjoyed a book about one girl or the other a little more, I think. Which I guess is good because I would read about these characters more, and bad, because it means that BEING SLOANE JACOBS wasn’t as good as I’d expected considering how much I enjoyed Lauren Morrill’s debut. That being said, I still think Lauren Morrill is still an author that I’ll always look forward to reading.
Check out these other reviews of Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill!
Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books: “…it was one of those books that played out perfectly like a movie in my head. “
Liz @ Consumed By Books: “Being Sloane Jacobs isn’t an entirely light-hearted book, but it reminded me of so many cheesy 90s movies and was so cute that I had a total blast reading it.”
Keertana @ Ivy Book Bindings: “Mostly, however, the issue lies in the fact that Being Sloane Jacobs is far too much surface-story and too little depth.”
