Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

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From Random House:

When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilarating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen.

But on the inside, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn't as simple as you think.

Don’t You Wish is definitely a lesson in “the grass is always greener” philosophy of life, because Annie desperately wants to be rich, beautiful and popular and once she gets it, she wants her old life back – sort of.

As Ayla, Annie tries, and fails, to keep the status quo. She messes things up with Ayla’s boyfriend (not much of a loss) and her besties (also not much of a loss). She befriends the social outcasts, such as Charlie, who is at the exclusive private school on a scholarship. Charlie is a brilliant science student heading to the ivy leagues. Once Annie confides in Charlie that she is not Ayla and has somehow ended up in Ayla’s body, Charlie kicks into science geek mode and attempts to help Annie find her way back home. Along the way, Annie discovers there is more to Charlie than meets the eye and the tragedies that have changed his life affect her deeply.

Don’t You Wish is well written with an incredibly interesting and thought provoking premise; however, I had a bit of a problem relating to Ayla/Annie. She’s a little self-righteous, especially for someone who was so desperate to be the popular girl. When she begins to think that she should stay in Ayla's dimension to "save" everyone, I was definitely rolling my eyes.  There are some complex physics principles involved, but overall the book is sweet and has an ending to satisfy the romantics out there.

Roxanne St. Claire is a popular and prolific mystery and romance writer and I can definitely see why, she is a talented writer. Don’t You Wish is her first foray into the world of YA. You can learn more about Ms. St. Clare’s books at http://www.roxannestclaire.com.

~Shel