Split by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja

Jo has never been one of the popular kids...until she moves to the USA. Suddenly the coolest girls at her new high school adopt her, and the hottest boy, Jake Matthews, notices her. But when Jake picks her as his partner in the kissing game Seven Minutes in Heaven, it's not half as heavenly as she imagined! 


Jo has a choice: should she carry on with Jake for guaranteed popularity - or should she tell him where to get off and risk losing her new friends...? 


At this moment - Jo splits. She's Josie the Cool - girlfriend of Jake, member of the in-crowd. But she's also Jo the Nerd - rejected by the It girls, single...ordinary. Will her two halves ever come together again?


OK, I don't normally talk about covers in my reviews, because I don't think covers are a books most important quality. You know the old saying - don't judge a book by it's cover! But is this one of the awesomest covers I have ever seen! Isn't it? The cover is actually what made me want to read the book in the first place! I was looking at some blogs and I saw it and I said to myself 'Wow. I want to read that.' And I did, and now I'm happy! Very happy, actually!


Jo is the main character in the book, but then in a way there's kind of two main characters, because she's sort of two different people. This is hard to explain! That's one of the reasons I love this book,  that Jo gets to experience both ends of the social food chain - at the same time. It's like, you know when you have two choices, and say you pick Choice 1 and then you wonder what might have happened if you had picked Choice 2? Well, it's not like that for Jo. She might have some problems in her life, but at least she's not faced with that one!


My favourite character is Tori, Josie the Cool's best friend. She might be in with the cool crowd, but she still is nice, really. I really hated Kristy, the mean, catty girl in the group. Well, I suppose they were all mean (except Tori) but she was the worst.  Apart from the cool crowd, I pretty much liked all the characters.


The book is hilarious and really entertaining. I actually found no faults at all with this book - really! And I normally find at least one fault with a book, so it just shows you how brilliant this book is! 5/5, definitely. It's super and everybody should read it. It's chick-lit and with the supernatural element to it, so there's something for everyone. I'm so glad there's a sequel, Swapped by a Kiss, and I will be reading it as soon as possible.


A big, huge thank you to Luisa, for sending me a review copy of this book!


Age Group: 12+
Official Publication Date: 06 March 2010
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Author Website: Chicklish


I'm doing this review as part of the British Books Challenge 2011, and you can find out more about it at The Bookette