Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an (admittedly late) review. 

Wow, I really was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. At first the book gave off a very John Green-esque vibe, and I was worried it would be kind of pretentious or cliche-filled, but it was so unexpectedly enjoyable. The writing was very distinctive, and very pop-culture-y, which was probably the biggest downside for me, not because I didn't like the references, but because those kind of references (especially ones that reference really modern media) tend to get kind of dated, but that's more the problem of whoever is reading this book in five years. I ended up really loving the comedic voice, and admittedly the characters did sound like real teenagers, especially since they never stopped cursing! 

I loved the queer themes running through the book, which were inevitable given the nature of the body-swapping and the whole Twelfth Night subplot. I don't know whether I'd call the story LGBT representation or not, but there's definitely themes of not feeling certain about labels of sexuality and gender. I thought it was worked out fairly well, no one was outright queer, but they didn't really try to label it, as they are teenagers who are still working it out. 

Overall, this was an endearing, unexpectedly hilarious read with a lot of heart to it.

This was a fun story. The characters were energetic and each had distinctive personalities that added to the story - both the main characters and the side characters. There were a few moments that dragged a bit, but for the most part, I was enjoyably entertained.

Loved it! Explores important topics for readers at an important age. Sweet, heart-warming, and fun. Wouldn't recommend for YA readers that struggle to connect with "younger" voices.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this ARC of Where I End and You Begin by Preston Norton.

Ezra is a regular HS with a huge long time crush on Imogen, who doesn't seem to have any idea.  But there is a huge obstacle in his way of getting to know Imogen, her best friend Wynonna, who has a massive chip on her shoulder, and is constantly looking for a fight.

But things get really "Freaky Friday" when in the middle of a big argument Ezra and Wynonna swap bodies.  Suddenly tall, lanky Ezra is in Wynonna's petite frame and looking at himself, who is Wynonna, or Wynezra, as he calls her.

Never knowing why or when they're going to swap, they adapt to each other's new lives and gain compassion for each other's difficulties.  And even through knowing their deepest secrets, they're able to help each other find love.

This was VERY YA, so it took my grumpy "mom-brain" a second to get into that mode of teenage thought and behavior, but once I did I really enjoyed it.  I know I would have loved it as a teen.  I liked all the gender fluidity and the concept of simply loving the person.  It would actually be a great book club pick.  My only real complaint is how long it was.  I really felt like it was going to go on forever when it didn't really need to.

Where I End and You Begin is an interesting book. The idea of getting to swap bodies with someone of a different sex who is nothing like you would be absolutely amazing! Ezra really wants to ask Imogen to the prom, but working up the nerve to do it has been impossible. It doesn't help that her best friend Wynonna does her best to block Ezra from getting close to Imogen. But when the unthinkable happens and they get to repeatedly swap bodies, they both learn a ton about each other, but also themselves. I really enjoyed this book, and the idea was definitely unique!

Great book!  Full of nuance and intelligent exploration of issues like friendship, attraction, love, gender.  Not cut-and-dried, full of positivity -- definitely recommended.

Freaky Friday body-swap stories aren't unique, but I do have a soft spot for them. Last year I read and enjoyed Preston Norton's Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe and while that book was a hot mess of every issue and 90s reference plus the kitchen sink, it was also compulsively readable and hilarious (there's a Sermon Showdown. I'm still in love with that).

So, when I got this book, I was looking forward to it. It's big, yeah, but it's a super fast read. The over-the-top writing style and a zillion references were toned down here so now the writing was amusing without being eye-rolly. The gender-fluidity and romantic flexibility was a little too kumbaya and unbelievable, but in a book about magical body-swapping, I mostly gave it a shrug and a pass.

I guess maybe that's Preston Norton's thing. These books are zany and unbelievable (the real-life parts) and they have way too many "issues" packed into them with all the subtlety of an after-school special, but they have heart and witty banter. I feel happy and amused (and bemused) when I read them.

Plus, body swapping. All of the tropes of body swapping are here, and I love body swapping tropes.

Bottom line: I liked this book, even though none of it is my typical type of book. It made me happy, I enjoyed the time I spent read it, and I'm looking forward to reading Preston Norton's next book.

I found the book somewhat interesting but could not get into it and wasn’t able to connect with the characters

A book that doesn’t shy away from current subjects that have always existed and been deemed wrong or shameful for far too long. Story is written in a real to life way that is direct and to the point. Identity and the move to understand beyond the binary and enjoy the grey is a beautiful place to explore, especially in YA novels like this!

The one thing that intrigued me about this book was the body swapping. I also enjoyed the movie Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and the new one that was recently out on Disney also 17 again with Zac Efron. I did read another book like that called Body Swap by Sylvia McNicoll. My review for that I gave it 3 stars. If you liked this book, then I think that you will like that one also.
This book follows a guy named Ezra who is shy. He is fascinated with a girl named Imogen, one night there is a total solar eclipse and something weird happens to Ezra and Imogen’s best friend Wynona. When they wake up there in one another’s bodies. one of the things that I did like was they would continuously swap bodies with one another not just the once. Over the course of them swapping bodies Ezra learns that Wynona has had a crush on his best friend Holden. The funny thing about this is they have been enemies for the longest time and due to the solar eclipse, they must come together and figure out how there going to get back into there own bodies.
I did enjoy this book. it had his hilarious moments which anyone would have if they were in someone else’s body. 
One of the things that I did love about this book was that you get the perspective of latterly walking in someone else’s shoes which I think is needed in todays world for so many reasons.

I enjoyed this story which is a body-swap Freaky Friday sort of story. The pros are definitely the way that it creates empathy between genders, explores love outside of and irregardless of gender preference, and generally deals with some sort of heavy topics of trauma and challenging families. 

The cons, in my opinion, are language, and there are times where I debated whether the very frank conversations about certain aspects of sexuality were a boon to the story or a distraction from. I'm not one to usually criticise language, and I'm aware that teens use language, but there were times I felt as if it distracted from the story and the characters and wasn't strictly necessary. 

Because of the above I would be most likely to recommend this book to 16 and up, probably, and selectively to young people under that age range.

I really enjoyed some parts of this book. The exploration of familiar Shakespeare tropes and body swapping stories. The fluidity of identity and the rejection of simple definitions. Gender and sexuality and explored openly and without fear. The goal is self-understanding. 
I did find parts of it, especially the relationships, over simplified. Sure there is an element of unrequited love and a loss of friendship. BUt that's temporary, easily resolved.

I haven't read a body switch book in a while and this one is excellent and very different. I really enjoyed reading this book and its characters. The writing style and pace is just perfection. I think other readers will really enjoy this book as much as I did. Though it is a bit different, it is fantastic!

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would, despite never having watched She's the Man (a Nickelodeon version of Just One of the Guys, I'm thinking) and not caring much for Twelfth Night. What hooked me was the writing. While I've yet to meet a teen as woke enough to narrate like an Ezra Slevin -- which could be a John Cusack character of yore, though I picture Ezra much skinnier and sting bean-ier -- I went with the flow. This includes the cop out on the Wynnona Jones character being "complicated" because of childhood trauma and dyslexia. Ergo, this turns her into an emotional (Fantastic Four) Thing all the time and she's always shouting out "It's clobberin' time!" and goes on the attack warpath <-- me paraphrasing. As it's Pride Month, I'm down with the message of fluidity and had a fun time getting through the e-arc from NetGalley. Kudos to the author. I'll look up what else he's written and may take it for a spin.

I was thoroughly entertained by this book. The title is so appropriate because the two characters in question are like two pieces that fit together, they are the parts that they didn’t even know were missing. This book is full of heart, humor, vulnerability, and spirit. You root for all the characters. It was never boring!

The writing style was very immature and irritating. I only made it about 2 chapters in before I had to give up. Ezra did not sound like a male voice at all, let alone a teenage. Unfortunately, though I liked the premise of a switching bodies book, I couldn't read any more.

YA is a genre that is either a big hit or a big miss with me. Often they are a bit to cutesy or too angsty, and I wind up disappointed. But this book far exceeded my expectations, and it was a huge hit. It was fun and a bit quirky and maybe even a bit cute (but not annoyingly so). Mostly it was just a terrifically imaginative story, and I will definitely be looking for more from Norton in the future.

My Rating:  stars 4 ★★★★ out of ★★★★★ stars (4/5)

I requested Where I End and You Begin by Preston North solely because the description got me immediately. Except, I don't really know what I was expecting. I just know it wasn't this. This book was so interesting, quirky and hilarious while also tackling things like depression and finding yourself when you have no idea who you are. 

While mimicking Twelfth Night and Freaky Friday at the same time, it deals with the main character, Ezra, being completely confused about his identity. Not only is Ezra lost, but he also is dealing with his mental health and his situation in which he never sleeps. I think this book could've felt much heavier than it was but since it was still able to be humorous, it became a much lighter read.

I loved the author's writing style because he gave his characters SO much personality. It was so fun reading Ezra's constant thoughts even if they weren't the happiest sometimes. I especially found it unique whenever the book finally hits the play. I think this type of writing is almost lyrical in sense that it's so quotable. I highlighted so many lines on my kindle and it sucks I can't share them all!

The only problem I had with this book was the mention of Johnny Depp's abuse case. As of now, Johnny Depp has laid out endless evidence about how he was abused by his ex wife. I understand that while the author was writing this, he might've felt the need to mention that since Ezra was a huge Johnny Depp fan. I just don't think it fit well within fiction. It disconnected me a bit but I still enjoyed the book nonetheless.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone looking for a hilarious yet meaningful read like Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. Their writing is reminiscent of each other! Also, if anyone's looking for a book about identity exploration, this book covered is so well.

Where I End & You Begin, written by Preston Norton, is a fun, quirky young adult book delving into that monumental question that all teens ask themselves…Where do I fit in? I did not know what to expect from this book, and if I am honest, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Where I End & You Begin, is the first book I have read by this author, and although I did like his style I felt at times, he did go off on tangents that were not essential to the plot.  Unfortunately, this had me skimming a little bit. That is not to say that the plot wasn't good. It was fun and original, hitting all the young adult boxes, first love, rejection, family drama, sexually exploration, and also touching on some challenging teenage issues.  Mix in body swapping and it made for a fun, unpredictable read. 

There was a ton of pop culture references, which made the story relevant and fun. What I do not like in my "fun books" is any bashing of any political party.  If I want to read about politics I will look for that type of book. I felt the down-putting did nothing for the story, other than forwarding one side of a political agenda.  That is a big NO, NO for me!

The four main characters, Ezar and Holden, who are best friends and Imogen and Wynonna who are also best friends, are delightful and engaging and I just loved them. These characters were not the "popular kids" in fact they were delightfully unpopular, shy, nerdy, obnoxious, sweet and comical.  I think that Norton nailed the teenage mind pretty darn close to perfection. I liked that Norton had these young adults evolving throughout the book.   Saying that I would have liked a bit more character development of Imogen and Holden. 

Overall I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it. One plus for me is the setting, and I live very close to Carbondale, Illinois.  Also, I did have the opportunity to participate with students from my area school ( I am a substitute teacher) during the particular eclipse that was hi-lighted in this book. Happy reading!

***I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion .***

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for honest review. 

Sometimes, you just need a really cute read that makes you laugh and think at the same time. This YA book fit for me.
2 pairs of best friends, crushes, body switching, Shakespeare...what's not to love? A play on Twelfth Night and the movie "She's The Man", readers get to explore the depths of Ezra and Wynona - all from Ezra's point of view. This is what happens when you enter someone else's body in a flash. 

Friendship is explored, Family is explored, Sexuality is explored - love in all kinds of ways is tested. Norton was clever with this story. I'm not a fan of series, but I wouldn't mind reading more about these characters. 

For ages 14+, not recommended for middle schoolers and younger.