Split by a Kiss

by Luisa Plaja

[Leah]

Jo Reilly has never really been a popular kid. In fact, it seems Jo errs on the side of nerdy and it's only when she moves to the USA that her popularity seems to sky-rocket. Everyone at her new school, The Mill, love her British accent and all of the cool kids want her in their gang. Better yet, the hottest guy at The Mill, Jake Matthews, picks Jo as his seven-minutes-in-heaven partner. However the kiss doesn't go exactly as Jo hoped it would and she faces a decision: tell Jake where to go and risk losing all of her fab new friends or carry on kissing him in her bid to be popular? At that moment, though, Jo splits in two. She's Jo the Nerd - picked on by the cool kids and she's also Josie The Cool - totally popular and dating the hottest boy in school. Will Jo ever be able to reunite her two halves or will she be stuck as two people forever?

As I keep mentioning, I'm a new convert to the fantastic Young Adult genre and Luisa Plaja's books are ones that pop up regularly on both my Amazon wishlist and on websites I visit daily. I was planning on buying both of Luisa's books and I actually asked her if either of her books were the prequel to her third book which is out in April. She told me Split By A Kiss was indeed a prequel and offered to sent me it to read. It arrived last week and I eagerly started it.

Split By A Kiss is an incredibly interesting book. I have never actually read a plot like it - it's kind of like Freaky Friday but it's not. Some may brand the plot completely unrealistic but I actually really loved it. At first I was a bit worried about how the 'split' would occur - would Josie/Jo be aware of the fact she had split into two personalities? The answer is no, Josie/Jo isn't aware of the split. It's written as if it's some sort of dream - how Josie/Jo's life would pan out depending on what decision she reached about kissing Jake Matthews, yet at the same time it was totally real. I may be making it sound more confusing that it actually is so I apologise for that.

The real plot of the story though isn't the split, but the choices you make in school and how it may (or may not) affect you. The real question was whether Josie wanted to be cool and popular and dating the hottest boy in school or if she preferred being Jo the nerd, being ignored by the popular girls and having to be friends with the other misfits (if you will). The answer, unsurprisingly, is Josie/Jo just needed to figure out how to be herself. That's the moral of Split By A Kiss: It isn't about being one or the other, it's just about being who you are comfortable with being. It may sound simple enough but as the book proves, finding your true self seems to be a hard thing to accomplish.

Split By A Kiss is an incredibly easy book to read and I found myself ploughing through it. The books target audience is probably early teenagers but I found myself loving it even though I'm at the end of my teenage years. It's always interesting to hear different takes on high school life in America - and also, what it's like for a Brit living in America - and I think Luisa tackled it well. After all, whenever you see American high schools in films they always have their cliques and freaks and hot guys and whatnot. I liked the sound of The Mill and Luisa has created a good cast of characters, some more shallow than others I must say.

I absolutely loved Josie/Jo. She has a very distinct voice (or voices?) that will talk to many teenagers out there. I found her immensely likeable even when she was both Josie and Jo. It was easy to see why she was so confused about which path was the right one to go on. Her two different paths were vastly different but inside, I could still see the same Jo running through each. I actually really loved Josie/Jo's mum. She proved that, actually, you can still be a bit geeky and still be everything you want to be. I really liked her and I liked that she was quirky and not particularly bothered about it. I can't say I particularly liked any of Josie's so-called friends. Kristy, Chelsea, Chris and Ana were all stereo-typical popular girls and I just couldn't warm to any of them. Tori, however, was a different story and I really warmed to her. Whereas Kristy, Chelsea and co. were paper-thin, Tori had more personality and sparkle about her. I know Jake Matthews was supposed to be, like, the hottest guy in the world but I just couldn't see it. Slapping someone's bum? Seriously. He sounds more like a lech than a hot teenage boy! As for Jo's friends, I liked them but also found them slightly weird. It all becomes clear why Rachel seems to hostile later on in the book but up until it's explained, it does seem strange. I liked David most of the time, too. My favourite male characters though was Albie, Tori's brother. Never once was he off with Josie/Jo and he was always there to help out.

I don't know if you can tell but I really loved Split By A Kiss. It was a fresh and fantastic read and I think the plot is so unique that you must pick this up and see for yourself. Luisa Plaja has created some loveable characters and it makes me so incredibly happy that they're coming back for a second time in April in Swapped By A Kiss. I for one cannot wait.