My Double Life by Janette Rallison

"Her whole life, Alexia Garcia has been told that she looks just like pop star Kari Kingsley, and one day when Alexia's photo filters through the Internet, she's offered a job to be Kari's double. This would seem like the opportunity of a lifetime, but Alexia's mother has always warned her against celebrities.

Rebelliously, Alexia flies off to L.A. and gets immersed in a celebrity life. Not only does she have to get used to getting anything she wants, she romances the hottest lead singer on the charts, and finds out that her own father is a singing legend. Through it all, Alexia must stay true to herself, which is hard to do when you are pretending to be somebody else!" (summary from good reads)

I think the first line of this book is sort of hilarious considering the fact that I got to talk to Janette Rallison at the LDSstorymakers conference while she was revising this book. She wasn't really all that excited about writing this book because while she came up with the initial idea when she sat down to write it (because her editor requested it) she found it kind of limiting. I still think the book turned out great, which is a sign that she is an experienced and skilled writer.

It seems very similar to Just One Wish on a surface level. A normal everyday girl goes to Hollywood and falls in love with a handsome star, but Alexia has very different struggles than the main character Annika in Just One Wish. She has grown up dirt poor, watching her Latina mother work as a housekeeper at a very nice local hotel. She knows that her father abandoned them when she was just a baby but not much else. They live a good life, though a very simple one. So, when Alexia is offered the chance to go to Hollywood and be Kari's double she thinks seriously about the offer, but her decision isn't final until she finds out that she may be able to meet her father, who abandoned her family when she was young.

This story ended up being a entertaining, light-hearted romance that even made me teary-eyed on one occasion. I read this book rather quickly considering the time I had to read it in. I always seemed to get sucked into Rallison's novels and can't put them down. This book was no exception.



Janette Rallison's Website

Janette Rallison's Blog

Just One Wish by Jannette Rallison

Just One Wish by Jannette Rallison

Annika’s main goal in life is to keep her little brother’s spirits up because he has cancer, and cancer patients need to stay positive. The problem is that he wants to meet Teen Robin Hood, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince a Hollywood actor to come help a boy with cancer, right? Especially, if her little brother only has a week until he goes into surgery.

Turns out that contacting Hollywood actors is a little more complicated then she thought, but that doesn’t stop her. She would travel to the ends of the earth to fulfill her little brother’s wish. Driving four hours to a movie set in California isn’t going to stop her. It is the sneaking onto the movie set that is the hard part, but Annika has got that handled until Mr. Teen Robin himself decides to throw her in jail. Can she convince this arrogant teenage star to help her brother, and let her go free before it is too late?

I finally got this book at the library. Finally! This one has been on my to-read list since it came out. I think I actually put it on hold at the library last summer, but then I started my first year of teaching and it went off of the read list until life returned to sanity. So, I’m really happy to say I loved this book. I was hooked from the very first chapter, and couldn’t put the book down after that. I really sympathized with Annika’s determination to bring hope into her little brother’s life. I also loved her hilarious capers across a Hollywood set. I couldn’t put this book down and finished it in one day. That hasn’t happened to me for a long time. I was so immersed in the story I didn’t put the book down for hours. I highly recommend Jannette Rallison to anyone who loves a clean romantic comedy.




Jannette Rallison's website

Signed books: LDS Storymakers Conference

These three got signed at LDS Storymakers Conference that I went to in 2009. I love Janette Rallison. She is such a sweet lady when you meet her in person and she writes funny, clean books! Lisa Mangum gave a ton of ARC of her new series out at the conference and we all got them signed. The second book is out now. Recovering Charles was a freebee in our conference bag. I don't think Jason Wright attended that conference, but I appreciated the signed book anyway.

How to Take the Ex out of Ex-boyfriend by Janette Rallison

How to Take the Ex out of Ex-boyfriend by Janette Rallison

Giovanna’s brother, Dante decided to run for school president because he’s tired of the shallow way the popular kids run their campaigns. Her boyfriend Jesse is wonderful except for one thing—his friends. All of Jesse’s friends are in popular camp and Giovanna can barely stand them. When Dante announces his campaign Giovanna naturally supports him, but Jesse supports his friends and suddenly he is part of camp enemy. Annoyed by Jesse’s betrayal she breaks up with him, but as she starts to date other boys (mostly to make Jesse jealous) she realizes just how good she had it. How can she help her brother win the campaign for student body president and win her boyfriend back?

Have you ever had the experience where you really like an author, but kind of loose track of reading their books for a bit, and then you pick up one of their books again? Then remember why you fell in love with them in the first place, nay more, in fact, you’re convinced they’ve gotten a million times better. I’ve been a Janette Rallison/Sierra St. James fan forever! I love how funny her stories are, her characters have strong voices, and there is always a cute romance scene. She also likes to have embarrassing stories, and in the past a few of them have felt contrived to me just a tinsy bit. Yet, this book didn’t have that moment where I was like…that’s a bit awkward. This book didn’t have any of that, and it flowed really well. In fact Jesse was a perfect hero, and yet a realistic teenage boy. I really liked Dante too, he reminds me of my little brother in some ways.

P.S. I find it weird that I read two books with Italian characters named Dante just months apart from each other. They were both by LDS authors too. Hmmm, soon we’re going to meet children in primary named Dante. Not sure what I think about that. Either way, I’ve been to the real Dante’s tomb—both of them. (No, there are not two Dante’s but two tombs for the same Dante) I really like Dante. I did tell you of my obsession with the underworld did I not? Who wrote the coolest underworld narrative ever? Dante!

Janette Rallison's Website

Janette Rallison's Blog

Book Review: Time Riders By Sierra St. James

Time Riders by Sierra St. James
Sheridan and Taylor are on their way to study at the university library when a light suddenly appears in their dorm room, and they awake to find themselves pulled 300 years into the future. They have mistakenly been pulled into the future by 24th century scientists, who are looking for an influential scientist named Sheridan Taylor. They are sent off to live with historians called wordsmiths, who can speak 21st century dialect. The 24th century language has taken on a new accent, adopted a lot of Spanish words, and forgotten a lot of the idioms used in the 21st Century. Taylor and Sheridan stay with Echo and Jeth and teach one another about their cultures, but this arrangement is only temporary until they can find the real Taylor Sheridan. Taylor knows that she is the Taylor they are looking for and tires to keep every think quite before their captors find out and use her to change the past and future. In the meantime the two girls have to avoid having their memory swiped by the scientist that have brought them to the 24th century.
I really enjoyed this book. I really like the characters and how they react to the situation they are in. They are both so different and realistic. I also like how the futuristic world is described, and the dialogue reflects that world in a humorous and engaging way. The plot is creative and well paced, with an interesting twist ending. One of the unique things about this book is that it has a futuristic society with a corrupt government, but doesn’t really get into the politics of everything. The whole book stays closer to the characters. I think the author did wonderful job at finding a balance between showing the effects of the government on the world, while keeping the characters central to the storyline. Very well written over all even if they are a few typos. I would recommend this to all readers. This is one that my husband saw me reading and then picked up and devoured as fast as he could.
Sierra St. James is the pen name for Jannette Rallison, who writes YA novels in the national market. I asked her once at a conference if she was going to write a sequel to this book. She said that she was concentrating on writing her national YA novels and spending time with her children. So, maybe she’ll get around to writing a sequel or maybe not.
Here is her website: http://www.janetterallison.com/