A Different Me by Deborah Blumenthal Pages: 272
Published by AW Teen on September 1, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: eARC from Publisher
Allie Johnston's secret wish since the day she was twelve is to have her nose done. But she hasn't told anyone--not her parents, or even her best friend, Jen.
But when she starts visiting a plastic surgery discussion board on the Web, she finds people who get her, for the first time in her life. Her new friends, including two girls her age with vastly different backgrounds who share her obsession with changing their faces--but for very different reasons.
A sharply written, insightful book about learning to be happy with who we are.
A Different Me is a young adult contemporary fiction by Deborah Blumenthal. I thought this was a good read. It deals with a very common theme of teenage insecurities and I think that Deborah Blumenthal does a fantastic job giving us great insight into our main character, Allie’s head. I really enjoyed getting to know Allie and seeing her inner dialogue, and watching her go on this journey of self discovery, self acceptance and coming of age. If you are a fan of realistic coming of age stories that deal with some of our societal pressures to look a certain way, then I think you will really enjoy A Different Me.
I loved Allie. I found her to be very relatable and I found her story to be an important one for teens to hear. Allie, just like everyone, has deal with insecurities growing up. In her case, Allie is insecure about her nose. She mentions early on that she has always wanted a nose job. The topic of teenage plastic surgery is such an intense topic that people have very different opinions on. Setting aside personal opinions, I thought it was fascinating to see everything from a teenagers perspective. My only wish for this story is for Allie’s parents to have been a little more involved in the decision making process for the nose job. I think more could have been done in that regard with their conversations.
I also felt like this book was a little slow at times. I thought it either could have been a little shorter, or that there should have been a little more meat added to the action events of the story. But other than that, I did enjoy this book. I found it to be interesting and very thought provoking. I enjoyed seeing Allie interact with the other kids at her school and seeing whether her decision was going to have the results she wanted it to. Overall this was a super interesting peek inside of teen’s mind. If you are a fan of journey’s of self discovery and coming of age stories, A Different Me is a modern take on the classic coming of age tale.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge
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