Book Review - The Opposite of Me

The Opposite of Me, by Sarah Pekannen, is about two sisters, Lindsey and Alex. They're fraternal twins and each other's flip side. Lindsey is smart, driven, insecure, and lonely. Alex is gorgeous, confident, and used to adoration. Then Lindsey loses her job in adverstising and simultaneously has to deal with her best friend Bradley falling for her sister. As Bradley is the one guy who has valued Lindsey above Alex, this is a hard pill to swallow. But Lindsey is focussed on making her situation better, and she gets a new job, a new wardrobe, and a new outlook on life. Meanwhile, Alex starts to lose the one thing she has always counted on: her looks. This is related to health concerns, and the whole situation becomes very dramatic.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Pekkanen is a clever writer, and she infuses humor while bravely writing about uncomfortable situations. Some of this novel was heart-breaking, but it maintains its light tone throughout. However, by the second half of the novel I started to lose interest. I felt like a lot of the story focussed on stuff I didn't care so much about, and glossed over the important parts, like her relationship with Bradley and Matt (her other love interest), and most importantly, Alex's character arc. There was just a lot of telling versus showing, and I think this author is better than that. She could have gone more into depth if she'd wanted to.

I still reccomend this book, but I don't think it's as good as it could have been.