ARC Review: In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody

In Some Other Life
Author: Jessica Brody
Publication: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (August 8, 2017)

Description: Three years ago, Kennedy Rhodes secretly made the most important decision of her life. She declined her acceptance to the prestigious Windsor Academy to attend the local public school with her longtime crush, who had finally asked her out. It seems it was the right choice―she and Austin are still together, and Kennedy is now the editor in chief of the school's award-winning newspaper. But then Kennedy's world is shattered one evening when she walks in on Austin kissing her best friend, and she wonders if maybe her life would have been better if she'd made the other choice. As fate would have it, she's about to find out . . .

The very next day, Kennedy falls and hits her head and mysteriously awakes as a student at the Windsor Academy. And not just any student: Kennedy is at the top of her class, she's popular, she has the coolest best friend around, and she's practically a shoo-in for Columbia University. But as she navigates her new world, she starts to wonder whether this alternate version of herself really is as happy as everyone seems to believe. Is it possible this Kennedy is harboring secrets and regrets of her own? A fresh and funny story about how one different choice could change everything, Jessica Brody's In Some Other Life will keep readers guessing, and find them cheering for Kennedy until the final page.

My Thoughts: This is a story about choices and decisions.

Kennedy Rhodes made a decisions three years earlier between a boy and a prestigious school. She and the boy have been together for three years. She's the editor in chief of the school newspaper which she revived when she started ninth grade. She is determined to get into Columbia's School of Journalism. She has a mother who is a partner in a law firm and a stay-at-home father who is getting ready for his first gallery show featuring his photography. She has also raised worrying to an art form. If there were an Olympic event for "what ifs," Kennedy would be a gold medal winner.

She still wonders what would have happened if she had chosen the prestigious school. 89% of Windsor Academy graduates get in at Ivy League colleges. The school is state of the art. She frequently peruses Windsor Academy's website and follows social media for many of the students. When Kennedy catches her boyfriend making out with her best friend, she goes to Windsor Academy to see if she still has a place there. She is disappointed to learn that her spot has long since been filled. She is pushed and falls down the stairs when she is leaving. When she wakes up, she's a different Kennedy.

This Kennedy Rhodes is number one in her class at Windsor Academy. She has a new best friend named Sequoia and she has all the pressure that comes with an elite private school. Her life at home has changed too. Her father now works in advertising and is away on locations for half the year. Her mother is still an associate at her law firm so that she can come home afternoons to take care of Kennedy's brother. The only one she confides in is her younger brother whose passion is physics and who comes up with the theory of alternate parallel universes.

This Kennedy isn't the same as the first Kennedy. Instead of journalism, her focus is on economics. There's a boy in her new life too. Dylan is a misfit in buttoned down Windsor Academy. He's a legacy who would really like to go to school somewhere else. When a cheating scandal erupts, Kennedy decides to investigate and her first suspect is Dylan.

The story takes some interesting turns before it gets to a satisfying conclusion. I really liked Kennedy more and more as the story went on and as she dealt with the consequences of decisions. Who hasn't wanted to see what life was like if they made different choices? This one gives the ready a great story and lots to think about.

Favorite Quote:

Dad tops the waffle with maple syrup and whipped cream sculpted into some ambiguous shape and sets the plate down in front of me.

I scrutinized the whipped cream. "Hmm," I say, rotating the plate in a circle. "A giraffe?"

"I was going for 'Darkened Nature of Sorrow.'"

I snap my fingers. "So close."

I received this one for review from Macmillan. You can buy your copy here.