Being Layla Hart - Amanda McKelt

So I was granted the amazing right to read this book before its release and I cannot thank the publisher enough for allowing me to do so.











Title: Being Layla Hart
Author: Amanda McKelt
Publisher: Amanda McKelt
Publication Date: April 26th 2015

Available Editions: Ebook



Netgalley Synopsis:
April Collins is freaking out. She completely embarrassed herself in front of the most crushable guy in school. There's no way she's returning to school,like, EVER. Why can't she be pretty, popular and perfect like Layla Hart? Layla is a phony online profile - that is, until April wakes up as her! Will popularity prove as easy as it seems? And what happens when April's crush finally notices her... as Layla?

Review:


Reading the description on Netgalley and seeing the book cover was what sparked my interest. Mostly because I wanted to see how the author would manage to make this concept work. Not only this but I was also happy to read it for review to build up a profile of reviews.

I'd like to start with a few points that I loved about the book. There is an overall message in the book, about how April must accept who she really is and to be okay with herself in order to get rid of Layla. Not only this the topics and characters all were what I could call relevant to teenagers and some people could relate to some and maybe all of the characters and topics throughout.

Continuing on the line of characters, they are very interesting, Layla/April is just a normal teen, just wanting popularity and the cute and totally crushable boy. Sofia seemed to be a strong and independent female in terms of her self worth and was a good person for April to be around because of how supportive and independent she was.

This book was also a quick read, taking me only around 4 hours to complete after dedicated long reading periods. As quick of a read it was, it was also very strange, I found it confusing in terms of the parenting within the book and also the explanation of what is occurring.


ALERT: SPOILERISH PART: You have been warned.

So of course April becomes Layla Hart, I wasn't really sure at how I wanted the change to occur but when it did occur and I managed to figure it out as how it happened, I wasn't too disappointed but slightly amused at how the author had gone about it. Having actually become Layla, she cannot reveal it to her mother or brother and no one but her best friend and one other person knows who she is. What confused me here is that after making up an exchange programme where April went to America and Layla had turned up in her place, Aprils mother didn't even call the school to talk it over, she just simply let it happen, for the sake of staying engaged in the story, I went along with it.

I managed to grasp the concept of location, so the book was set in Australia with the mention of the United States, however it was never clearly pointed out when the story started out. However I picked it up and it wasn't too much of a confusion for me.

My last point is the lack of explanation of what actually happened to April/Layla, the books just seems to rush at the end like in the matter of a page or so was back to normal no questions asked nothing and it ended in the blink of an eye. Considering its anti climatic ending I did enjoy the book and have no problem with giving the book a 4 out of 5 on rating I just wish that the ending was explained maybe an update of how April finally accepted herself.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants something quick to read and enjoys a little bit of secret meaning to a book.