Cover Image: Where I End and You Begin

Where I End and You Begin

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Member Reviews

Absolutely loved this Freaky Friday retelling! I was cracking up at places because the conversations were just so real and didn't feel forced. I completely plan on purchasing this title for my personal library and rereading it.

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Rating: 3.5 Stars

Ezra had been pining away for Imogen for the past 7 years, and when he was finally going to act on his feelings, he suddenly found himself body swapping with Wynonna, his enemy and Imogen's best friend.

This was actually a fun and interesting take on the whole body-swap plot. Like many other stories employing this plot device, the two "swappers" had envied the other's life, but where it differed was in the way Wynonna and Ezra kept switching back and forth. The abrupt swapping added some comedic and dramatic moments, but also worked with the authors exploration of gender and sexual fluidity.

Ezra was a stand out for me. I really enjoyed his narration, which was witty and amusing, and I grew to really like Ezra. He was rather complex, and I enjoyed peeling back those layers. I also liked that by being forced to literally walk in someone else's shoes, he learned a lot about himself, his family, and many other people in and around his life.

Overall, this book was quite fun, and there was a lot of good messaging, as well as interesting ideas presented, however, I felt like it was longer than it should have been. There were a few places, though sort of interesting, which didn't really contribute to the story as a whole, and probably could have been trimmed. I also would have liked a little bit more from the ending. There were several loose ends, which I would have liked to see tied up.

Still, an interesting and entertaining book.

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Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity. I NEVER take these for granted. At this time though, I will not be able to provide feedback. Due to personal matters, I am currently out of the country until September. Please receive my apologies hoping this may not affect me in any future requests.

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<p>So when I requested this, I remember being interested, but when I got approved and started to read it, I was going in blindly! I'd forgotten the synopsis and was so pleasantly surprised with what I was reading!</p>
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<p>The first thing I noticed when I read this book was that it was just funny. The character had this dry, witty, sarcastic narration and it immediately pulled me in! I was laughing out loud throughout the book and couldn't put the book down!</p>
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<p>I didn't even realize it was basically a retelling of Twelfth Night until they actually mentioned it in the book. And then I was like OH MY GOSH! It was a glorious feeling, to be honest! The character dynamics were so fun and I loved the development of the unlikely friendship between Wynona and Ezra a lot! Though I didn't really care for Imogen, it was still so fun to see how the whole situation escalated!</p>
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<p>I loved getting to know the two of them, especially when they weren't themselves (well... when they were switching places)! I loved watching the characters grow and become more understanding about each other's lives. I loved the little quirks and family dynamics and somewhat tragic backstories!</p>
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<p>I think it was definitely a refreshing and funny take on an already funny and unique classic tale! Preston Norton did a really great job adding a fun layer to the trope! It was an interesting way to bring up the idea of finding yourself and becoming more in tune with your identity. I think this was a really fun way to create really great character arcs!</p>
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<p style="text-align:center"><strong>Fans of </strong><em><strong>She's the Man</strong></em><strong>, </strong><em><strong>Freaky Friday, </strong></em><strong>and </strong><em><strong>It's a Boy Girl Thing</strong></em><strong> will be in for a treat with this hilarious </strong><em><strong>Twelfth Night</strong></em><strong> retelling!</strong> <strong>If you like theater, funny friendships, quirky hobbies this is for you! If you like character impressions, make-up and fashion, weird out of body experiences, Shakespeare, and insomnia, be sure to add this to your TBR!</strong></p>
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In Preston Norton's body-swapping book, our main character, Ezra Slevin, is a chronic insomniac, who has a best friend, Holden Durden, who is much more savvy with the opposite sex than Ezra is. But Ezra has a huge crush (since the fourth grade) on their classmate, Imogen Klutz. Sadly, Imogen has a very overprotective bestie, Wynonna Jones, who seems to hate Ezra.

Except on the event of a solar eclipse, something absolutely impossible happens - Ezra and Wynonna switch bodies! They can't seem to control it, and it happens EVERY DAY. While in Wynonna's body (and room), Ezra discovers that Wynonna has a huge crush, too - on Holden. So Ezra proposes that since they've switched bodies, he'll help Wynonna with her crush if she will help him with Imogen.

The quartet ends up in detention, in which Principal Durden (yes, Holden's mother) enlists them in the after-school theater program, which is putting on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. (Appropriate, no?) The story unfolds as Ezra and Wynonna learn to help each other and themselves, getting to know each other as they switch bodies back and forth.

A revelation that Ezra had kept buried surfaces toward the end of the book and explains why these two ended up tied together. Norton uses a lot of pop-culture references - Wynonna's an 80s junkie and Ezra, under a pseudonymic account, makes YouTube videos playing Johnny Depp characters - but the references flow with the characters. The story is more than just another Freaky Friday-style story, and includes some references to gender-fluidity, bisexuality, and gender questioning, but not in any kind of overbearing way.

Definitely a fun book with a satisfying ending.

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This was the perfect nerdy book with countless 80s references, a total eclipse, and Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night all rolled into one.

I felt that Where I End and You Begin had the perfect balance of humor and depth. When Ezra and Wynona begin switching bodies Freaky Friday style, they make a pact to get one another dates to prom but also begin learning secrets about each other that they don't usually share. Through these secrets, Norton brings up extremely important topics in very believable ways. The descriptions of Ezra trying to read and learning that Wynona has dyslexia or Ezra and Holden trying to decide if they want to put a label on their sexual orientations truly felt genuine. These elements added to the plot, unlike a lot of other young adult books where elements of diversity like this are thrown in simply for the sake of diversity.

I feel that one of the best things about this book was the character development. Every single character, not just the main four, had unique character traits and qualities that helped drive the story along whether it was descriptions of their clothing, their distinct pop culture references, or their humor. In particular, Ezra's voice was my favorite. He was so sarcastic and witty when describing situations that I often found myself laughing out loud. I feel that this book easily could have been confusing with all of the different switches, but because Norton spent so long fully developing his characters and their coinciding relationships with smaller characters at the beginning I never had trouble distinguishing between Wynona and Ezra.

I also appreciated that this book had multiple storylines and didn't just focus on prom alone as I felt like that would have gotten cheesy and cliche really fast. Instead, we follow additional plotlines focusing on family dynamics. Ezra's parents are never home and he never talks to his sister anymore. Wynona must decide if she can forgive her father for a horrible mistake he made that sent him to jail.

What held me back from giving this book a full 5 stars were some smaller elements or specific scenes that I personally didn't like or find tasteful and the predictability of the plot towards the end of the book. However, I feel like most readers would not be bothered by some of these elements will still love this book as I did.

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I received Where I End and You Begin by Preston Norton as an ARC from NetGalley. This book is a young adult novel with a Freaky Friday twist. I loved this book! It's entertaining, quirky, funny and romantic. Everything you want from a coming of age story. Ezra & Wynonna keep swapping bodies. They don't know when it will happen or why and hijinks ensue when it occurs. I highly recommend this book.

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Aaah, I absolutely LOVED this book! I was about to say that I love body swap stories, and then I realized that my only other experience with a body swap stories was The Swap and Freaky Friday. . . so. But I still think it counts! Body swap stories are the best!

Ezra Slevin is an anxious, over-thinking, chronic insomnia who desperately wants to ask Imogen (the object of his obsessive affections) to the prom. Wynona Jones is the headstrong, outspoken, confrontational best friend of Imogen. And it’s her mission to make Ezra’s life a living hell. Cue the night of the solar eclipse, where Ezra and Winona mysteriously switch bodies and continue to do so every alternating day. After realizing that Wynona has an enormous crush on Ezra’s best friend Holden, Ezra and Winona decide to form a deal. Pretend to be each other and get their best friends to fall in love with them, ultimately achieving the main goal of taking their respective crushes to Prom. There’s no way this could end badly.

Okay, so I know that premise is a bit weird. I mean it’s very weird. But it’s also really good! Like I mentioned I’ve only have read one or two body swap stories before, but I feel like none could handle it as well as this one! This book is sort of like if everything I could ever dream of wanting in a hilarious, meaningful, and dramatic body swap story, actually became a book. Which I guess it did.

Like I said, this book is really funny. The characters' interactions are hilarious and the friendships also felt very real. Ezra and Holden’s, and Imogen and Winona’s friendships are absolutely amazing. They’re supportive, encouraging, and understanding, and are always there for each other and I love it.

I also love how real of a character Imogen was. I often find in books where there is an awkward high school boy in love with a girl, the girl is always way out of his league, and perfect in every way, and popular, etc etc etc. But Imogen wasn’t like that at all! Ezra likes her because she’s nerdy, and fun, and has enormous hairy eyebrows. I liked how realistic that was as opposed to loads of other high school romances out there where the couple is idealistic or superficial.

I obviously cannot write a review for this book without mentioning the SHAKESPEARE. For those of you that don’t know, I love Shakespeare. And any YA books that reference Shakespeare get an automatic gold star from me. At the beginning of the book, Ezra, Holden, Imogen, and Winona, get sentenced to detention, however, it’s not your average detention sentencing. They get sentenced to detention via 12th Night. Due to an issue concerning their high school's theater department, everyone who got detention is required to participate in the school's upcoming production of Shakespeare’s 12th Night.

Reading about Ezra and Imogen’s passion for theater (they’re such nerds) and performance was amazing, and I loved how one of the many themes that this book dealt with was learning how to be true to oneself and to express oneself in whatever way that feels right.

There were so many fantastic parts of Where I End and You Begin, and this book made me smile time and time again while reading it. It's a definite 5 star read from me, and I can't wait for everyone else to read it and fall in love as well.

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Where I End and You Begin is a quirky, fast read that tackles all the sexual confusion, identity crises, and family drama of being a teenager through a Freaky Friday-esque series of body swapping. This was an entertaining, heartfelt read with lovable characters if you can suffer through the spam of pop culture references. It was heavy handed in its delivery of the message at times and at times tackled way too much to handle gracefully. But there was a humor to Ezra's narration and likability to both leading characters and their best friends that made the story enjoyable the whole way throughout. I loved the depth of friendship that blossomed between Ezra and Wynnona - and more importantly, the fact that this outweighed any of the teen romance that happened along the edges.

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Life took me out of publishing a review for this book.

This books is super unique, it has such a rich story, highly entertaining as well and explores the themes of family, friendships, trauma, and gender. I will give this to my teen cousins and nephews.

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Wow! Now this is a book about coming of age! Not only do you grow with the characters but you can fell what’s happening with them. I would definitely recommend this to a teen reader. Especially since I feel like this is how a teen, at least when I was one, feels like.

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This book had a very interesting concept with the body swapping plot line mixed in with a Twelfth Night subplot, but I found myself wanting just a little bit more in the end. This book follows the story of Ezra, an insomniac high schooler, who is desperately in love with Imogen, and has been since elementary school. He devises a plan, along with his friend Holden, to ask Imogen to the Prom during the solar eclipse. Unfortunately for him, Imogen's best friend Wynonna gets in the way, and due to mysterious circumstances, they even end up switching bodies. The entire group is soon forced into a production of Twelfth Night and Ezra and Wynonna are forced to learn more about one another than they ever hoped.

This book started off super interesting. I found myself really wanting to know how the body swapping happened and how it was going to play out as the story progressed. However, there were some parts, especially near the end, where the plot really just dragged out too much and I found myself loosing interest. I really enjoyed the areas with the play, and where Ezra was working through the complexities of not only his problems, but Wynonna's as well. There were a few plot threads that I wished played out in more interesting ways, such the insomnia, and there were a few issues brought up that I felt were brushed over really quickly, like Wynonna's mental health.

With all that said, I did think our main characters were interesting and complex. I really enjoyed seeing a healthy and platonic male/female friendship, as often times we don't see that in YA novels. I also really enjoyed Willow's character and seeing how she grew from the hardships she faced. There were some characters in this book that I felt could have been fleshed out a lot more, such as Holden, but overall I enjoyed the characters and their growth.

This was an interesting book, but overall, I just wanted a little bit more from the plot and characters.

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** I revived an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
Freaky Friday with a twist. There were so many interesting things in this story.
There is a crush., an eclipse, and two characters are suddenly switching bodies. It’s not just once and it certainly doesn’t happen at convenient times. Each has a crush on the others best friend. There is a lot of learning about one another’s lives, discussions about identity and attraction, and reminders of how we are all a bit awkward as teenagers.
I enjoyed the story and it was definitely unique. There were a few things that felt a little unnecessary but that’s just an opinion.
Cute, quick, and full of teen angst without being annoying.

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Where I End and You Begin had an interesting take on the body swap idea. The story starts with Wynona and Ezra swapping bodies unexpectedly after a solar eclipse. Ezra and Wynona are opposite in how they deal with the world. Erza does everything he can to avoid conflict while Wynona looks for a fight. When they first swapped their reactions to each other were entertaining and there was some humor to the book which is always a plus for me.

The story also delves into deeper topics like grief, forgiveness, sexual preference, gender fluidity and loving the person you are. While I loved the fact that this book grappled with these important topics it was tough for me to get into the story at times. There were some aspects that weren’t believable to me and some sections dragged on a bit. Overall, I enjoyed the main characters growth and liked the writing style so I’d definitely try reading another story from this author.

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I really enjoyed the spunk and uneasy alliance between Ezra and Wynnona. It was fun and engaging. My favorite part of the book was finding out Ezra and Wynnona swapped bodies. I was not expecting the way that turned out! It was really cool of Ezra to bridge the gap between Wynnona and her dad. I also loved the ending, and I wish there had been more to the story. At first I thought the book was going to be slow, but it really picked up toward the end.

My only complaint is that the story jumped around a lot and took me out of the story. I had to think a little to get reoriented with what was going on. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Unfortunately, it was not a book I was just dying to get back to reading every time I had to stop.

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It's Twelfth Night-ception! In a story based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the characters are acting in their school's performance of Twelfth Night, and watch and discuss movies based on Twelfth Night (like She's the Man)---and it is glorious!!! Somehow, geeky, shy Ezra switches bodies with loud, annoying Wynonna. They have to make it work, so they pretend to be who they look like, while helping to win the heart of each other's crush. Ezra has been in love with Wynnona's best friend Imogen since he was 8 years old. Wynonna has a massive crush on Ezra's best friend Holden. But then, who is in love with who? Every one of them is keeping secrets and lies are bound to unravel.
This was an amazing book, with great insight into love, gender, orientation, and the ever-evolving brains of teenagers. So much fun!

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cute, great ya but not one of my new favorites but i really enjoyed the writing and am interested in hearing more from this author in the future

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This was such a fun book! It follows the lives of Ezra Slevin and Wynonna Jones as they body-swap Freaky Friday style. They are not sure how or when to predict the swaps. It becomes a love square(?) since Ezra has a crush on Imogen, who happens to be Wynonna's best friend. And Wynonna has a crush on Ezra's best friend, Holden.

Ezra's parents are both doctors at a local hospital, so they are NEVER around. Wynonna's family history is a lot more complicated. It is an essential part of the story, and I won't ruin it. She currently lives with her Grandma, but she calls her by her first name. Even though they body swap, she won't tell Ezra the whole story of her family, and that puts him (while he is her), into some challenging situations.

There was a lot of swearing in the book - more than is necessary for the story. I think the author was going for an edgy teen, but it was over-the-top for my taste. That is the best part about reading; you can skip the parts you don't like.

I loved how the characters all evolved throughout the story. As genuine teens, they all start very self-focused. By the end, they begin to realize the world doesn't revolve around them. Lots of people are hurting, and they just might hurt less if they let other people into their lives.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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I wanted to love this book but I couldn't. I agree with many other reviewers about this book. It was the development of the characters that I wanted to love, but I couldn’t root for them like I wanted to! I love YA books, but I just couldn’t completely engage in this one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this one.

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This was a lovely story very reminiscent of Freaky Friday but without being derivative.

The story is well written and the story flows nicely. The characterization works well in that all the characters are fleshed out nicely and are believable in their respective roles. Also points to the author for interweaving themes of fluid sexuality without making it A Big Deal and without shaming it. It is simply a matter of fact element to the story.

MIddle school to early high school students will likely enjoy this book. I look forward to exploring other works by this same author.

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