Airhead (Airhead #1) by Meg Cabot(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If there ever was a time not to judge a book by it's cover, this is it. Or by it's title.
After reading my first Cabot, Abandon, I took a gander at the other options we had in stock, which entirely consists of this series or Princess Diaries. Reading the back, I discovered Airhead to not at all be what I thought it was. Furthermore, I'd just recently watched Drop Dead Diva, the Lifetime show where an aspiring model dies and ends up in the body of an overweight lawyer.
Airhead is, basically, the opposite. Tomboy, outcast and geek, Emerson Watts is killed by a falling flatscreen television and wakes up in the body of supermodel, Nikki Howard, thanks to the technology of a BRAIN TRANSPLANT.
You know, I don't even like the synopsis on the back of this book. It makes it sound like being Nikki (haha, title of the next book) is going to make all of Em's wildest dreams come true, when actually it puts a serious crimp in her plans, like ever hanging out with her best friend ever again, let alone having him fall in love with her.
I like Em and maybe her most endearing and equally annoying quality is how prejudiced she is against all the mainstream "cool kid" stuff and how becoming Nikki makes her have to rethink some of that, but not all of it. Things like people harping on her beauty regimen gets a bit tiresome, but, despite it being fluff, Cabot has managed to pleasantly surprise me, yet again.
While I definitely enjoyed these books, some parts, while realistic, seem like a little bit of the wrong message to be sending to teenage girls. As an adult, I appreciate the realism, but I feel like teenagers should still be under the impression that boys will like them for who they are, and they shouldn't have to pretend to be helpless to get a man. Or being pretty is helpful in life, but there's a legitimacy to be a tomboy or an outcast, especially when you're sixteen, which I feel kind of gets pushed to the wayside as Em embraces her new life as Nikki. At least the bitchy high schooler gets hers in the end.
Hmm, I'm gonna have to go reread Jane Eyre after this.
Also, Em/Nikki is a total kissing slut, which, I was told by a twelve-year-old in the store, is a common theme in Meg Cabot's books. I mean, I'm all for getting kissed by boys, but really? Every time it happens, even if she doesn't like the boy she goes all woobly in the knees? Not buying it, sorry.
But overall, I enjoyed the series. It's a little far-fetched that most of the vapid celebrities in Em's new life turn out to have hearts of gold, but I'll go with it. Christopher is great in his turns as hero and super-villain. And I like that when Em does stupid things, she at least has the good sense to turn around and smack herself in the head over doing something so stupid. The conspiracy plot got a little confusing in the middle (when you find out what Nikki overheard, you're like, "Really? That's it?") but pulls itself together in the end to be pretty brutal. Things have to wrap up pretty fast, but at least we don't end up with a ten years later epilogue. Hurray!
So, all in all, it was pure fluff, but I liked it.
Being Nikki (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Runaway (Airhead #3) by Meg Cabot(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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