Book Review: Being Sloane Jacobs

Being Sloane Jacobs

By: Lauren Morrill

Published By: Delacorte

Publication Date: January 7, 2014

Page Count: 352

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher via NetGalley

Audience: Young Adult - Contemporary

Being Sloane Jacobs was a great way to begin 2014. I really enjoyed Lauren Morrill's debut, Meant to Be, so I had high expectations for this novel. (Meant to Be Review) I wasn't disappointed. Being Sloane Jacobs is part Parent Trap (minus the twins), part Cutting Edge, mixed with some romance and a heavy dose of hockey.

Sloane Emily Jacobs is the daughter of a powerful Senator. Her life in D.C. is a rotating door of posed family photographs, lofty expectations from her parents, figure skating, and skeletons in the closet. Sloane Emily wishes she could just unsee the things she saw in her Dad's office, but wishes rarely come true. To make matters worse, her father is sending her to Montreal to figure skating camp. Figure skating is a hobby, not something Sloane Emily wants to for the long haul. She's lost her desire to go to the Olympics. She worries that she will never find her passion for skating again.

Meanwhile, Sloane Devon Jacobs is struggling with her own share of troubles of both the family and sports variety in Philadelphia. Her mother is in rehab dealing with her alcoholism and Sloane Devon feels abandoned. Instead of working through her pain alongside her father, Sloane Devon takes out her emotions on the ice. After fighting with a player on the opposing team during a hockey game, Sloane Devon's coach and her dad take matters into their own hands; she will be spending her summer in Montreal at hockey camp.

A chance meeting at a hotel the night before camp begins brings the Sloane Jacobs girls together. Both of them are running from their problems and wishing to be someone else - if only for a little while. The girls hatch a plan to trade lives for the summer. Sloane Emily will learn how to play hockey while Sloane Devon will learn what it takes to be a figure skater. Each girl will learn who she really is and that she is stronger than she ever realized.

I loved both of the Sloanes. I was rooting for them both to have a summer of self discovery and happy endings. Contemporaries are also better when there is a sweet romance (or in this case two) involved. I found the love aspects of this one to be sweet and realistic. Both love interests are swoon worthy and romantic.

As a kid, I loved watching movies like The Cutting Edge and The Mighty Ducks. Being Sloane Jacobs awakened a lot of nostalgia for me. I think I enjoyed this novel even more because of those connections. I loved spending time with this novel and these characters. 

In addition, I loved the description of Montreal. Morrill paints such a vivid portrait of the city. I've always wanted to visit Montreal and Being Sloane Jacobs provided a much more economical way to do so.

Being Sloane Jacobs is a novel I'd recommend to fans of YA contemporaries and fans of Miranda Kenneally. While this isn't a series like Hundred Oaks, I do think both writers do a beautiful job of creating complex characters and using sports as an important plot piece. I can only hope that Morrill has a lot more novels of this sort up her sleeve because I'm hooked. 

One Last Gripe: I was perplexed at how it took everyone so long to figure out that the Sloanes had swapped places. 

My Favorite Thing About This Book: I loved all the hockey stuff.

First Sentence: The music in my head swells to a crescendo, the timpani rolling like a summer thunderstorm.

Favorite Character: Sloane Emily

Least Favorite Character: Ivy

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.

About the Author

Lauren Elizabeth Morrill is many things, including, but not limited to, a writer, an educator, a badass roller derby skater, a former band nerd, an aggressive driver, and a die-hard Mac person. She also watches a lot of TV, eats a lot of junk food, and drinks a lot of Coke. It's a wonder her brain and teeth haven't rotted out of her head.