Oh My Goth

by Gena Showalter

Fiercely independent high school senior Jade Leigh is every bit the nonconformist. With her goth appearance and her sarcastic wit, she doesn't hide her disdain for her lame teachers or the boring jocks in her classes. Who needs them, she values her individuality and free thinking more than anything else in the world. But everything changes after her smart mouth lands her in hot water and the school principal decides to teach her a lesson she won't likely forget. Jade is shocked to find herself in a virtual reality game that is a Freaky Friday-like alternate world - where suddenly everyone around her is goth and she's just one of the crowd.

• ISBN10: 1416524746
• ISBN13: 9781416524748
• Publish Date: 4 July 2006
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Pocket Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

As a child, Jade witnessed her mother's death in an horrific car accident. In an effort to protect herself, she decided to stay detached and numb herself from the world. A conversation with her dead mother and a bump on the head brings her into an alternate reality in order to help her see the dangers of living her life behind her emotional armor.

The freaky things shunned by mainstream can be beautiful.

• Pro: The whole Goth thing was secondary to many of the other wonderful messages and ideas in this book. My biggest takeaways were to value who you have in your life, because you never know when you can lose them, and to be kind, because you don't know what other people are dealing with. Both of these were excellent pieces of advice, and I loved seeing Jade learn the value of them.

• Pro: I enjoyed the Freaky-Friday-Scrooge-esque feel of this tale. Having Jade and Mercedes role swap was a great way for each character to learn more about the challenges of others and each other, and although it was a little over the top and maybe even cheesy, Jade's reaction to everything after she returned made me smile.

• Pro: The romance between Jade and Clarik was so sweet. Watching him chip away at Jade's protective coating warmed my heart, and it was wonderful seeing their friendship evolve into something more.

• Pro: I had to give dad a lot of credit. He had his own pain to manage, while still trying to help his child overcome a horrific and traumatic event. He definitely got an A+ for effort and for not giving up on Jade.

• Pro: Although I didn't quite understand why they put up with her, I was happy Jade had such a solid group of friends. I guess there was a shared outcast bond they had, and the way Jade would step up to defend them whenever the need arose, but I thought her friends gave a lot more to Jade than she gave to them, and for that, she was lucky.

• Pro: I was happily surprised by what a through ending Showalter gave me. I expected it to wrap up immediately, but she wasn't done, and I was grateful she gave us a little more closure.

Overall: A fun and heartwarming story about living in the present, appreciating all the people in your life, looking beyond the surface for what's underneath, and taking advantage of second chances.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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