ARC Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill
27January 5, 2014 by Alice in Readerland
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.
Special thanks to the publisher, Random House/Delacorte, for giving me this title in exchange for an honest review. Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill will arrive in stores January 7th, 2014.
I love the idea of switching places with someone (yes, I was a major fan of The Parent Trap as a kid), so I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of Being Sloane Jacobs and I definitely was not disappointed. This book is so cute and funny, and I love the way the dual narration was handled. I can be cautious about dual narration because there are so many books where it doesn’t work for me, but the dual narration was solid in this one. Both Sloanes had their own unique voice, their own insecurities that were slowly revealed, and were both equally easy to connect to.
I also enjoyed how the characters really developed throughout the story. When the two Sloane’s first meet, they don’t exactly get along…
…and they both think that they got the better deal in the trade-off. After all, how hard can it be to dance around the ice in spandex? Or chase a puck around with a stick? But Sloane Emily and Sloane Devon grow to respect each other and their different sports. Their initial reactions to how hard the other sport had to train were hilarious, but what I really loved was how determined they became to succeed in the different sport (both for the other Sloane and for themselves). Their stubbornness to succeed in something that wasn’t their specialty made me totally love their characters. Sure, these girls don’t cart around bow-and-arrows or scale buildings, but they sure felt kick-butt to me.
I also love all the little details about the sports in this book. You could really tell that Lauren either knew a lot about figure skating or ice hockey from personal experience, or did a ton of research, which is always awesome to find in a book. The ending was also funny and perfect. I can’t say anything else about it without spoiling it, but I loved it.
Lauren Morrill
If you are looking for the perfect, feel-good book to kick off 2014 with, Being Sloane Jacobs is definitely it!
You can add Being Sloane Jacobs to Goodreads here. You can also visit Lauren Morrill on her website here or on Twitter here.
Alice in Readerland 
I keep seeing this book around and it’s KILLING me because I desperately want to read it. I love that you mentioned how well-versed she seems to be in ice skating and hockey because I love when I notice how the author KNOWS her stuff. Also, no Cynical Cindy? Wow! Great review (hee, that gif).
I know, it’s so great when authors know their topic so well! :) I hope you enjoy it when you read it!
I have this -sitting on my shelf. I can’t wait to read it now. Wonderful review. :)
Yay! Enjoy. :)
Great review. I loved this novel. I added it on my top 13 books read in 2013.
Off to read your review! :)
This book sounds fantastic! I am definitely putting it on my TBR.:)
Hooray! I hope you love it. :)
This will probably be a big win for me – I loved The Parent Trap AND Ice Princess! Oh and The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice… you can see where I’m going with this! Lol. Okay, I just have a quick question: is there any romance? That would be the icing on the cake for me. :-)
Yes, Sloane Emily meets an ice hockey player, and Sloane Devon runs into someone from her past (while she’s pretending to be Sloane Emily)! :)
Ooooh. Love it! :-)
I’ve been hearing review after fantastic review for this book, and I really want to pick it up soon and read it. I love THe Parent Trap, and this one sounds like a great kind of version of it. As soon as you mentioned cute and funny, I’m hooked. Fantastic review! <33
Thanks! :) If you’re looking for a funny and cute YA version of Parent Trap, then I think you’ll really like this one! :D
Oh gosh, I am wanting this book so bad. I also used to adore (and still sorta do) The Parent Trap and stories like it, so Being Sloane Jacobs sounds like such of a fun novel for me. It’s pretty great that the book focuses more on the friendship between the two girls, and their growing respect for one another.
And I can imagine what their reactions to the difficulty to each other’s sports are like. I remember when I thought that bowling was easy… I was very, very wrong. Great review!
Hooray! Another Parent Trap fan. :) I think you’ll really like this one!
This sounds like fun I need to check it out!
Enjoy! :)
I also loved The Parent Trap when I was younger :) This sounds like a very cute story.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! :)
I really enjoyed this one too! The swap was funny and both girls learning about each others’ sport was really entertaining. Great review and glad you enjoyed this one!
Glad you enjoyed it too! :)
I definitely loved this one as well! It was the perfect feel good read. A great break from the normal dark dystopians, paranormals, and fantasies that I usually read. It was a bit unbelievable to me, but I didn’t even care because I enjoyed both Sloanes so much. The ending was really funny. I kinda rolled my eyes and laughed out loud. I loved that it was light, but there was also some heavier stuff going on in the background. It was a great balance.
Glad you enjoyed it so much too! I agree, I liked that it was a “light read” but still had some other serious issues the MCs dealt with for a bit.
This looks really good! I have had it on my radar for a while, and I have some Amazon gift cards to use from the holidays, so this may be coming home to me soon :) Great review!
I hope you enjoy it if you get it! :)
I was obsessed with the Parent Trap when I was a kid and figure skating is one of my guilty pleasures. I will have to be on the lookout for this book. It sounds like it would be right up my alley.
Hooray! Hope you like it. :)