REVIEW for Second Skin

A big thank you goes out to Knopf Delacorte Dell Young Readers Group for sending me this book!

TITLE: Second Skin
AUTHOR: Jessica Willman

GENRE: YA

RATING: 3 stars

I thought the basic premise of this book was great. A young girl is unpopular and wants to be part of the "in" crowd, she sets up to discover how the "popular" girl Kylie the "it" girlie of the high school manages to be so perfect and so comfortable in her own skin.

It turns out that Kylie is not actually using her own skin, she actually is wearing a magical second skin that makes her secure, happy and sure of herself, so Sam steals it and instantly gets what she wants or is it really what she wants?

As I mentioned, this is a different premise and although I thought this book was great because it gently, with humour asks the YA reader to seriously consider what they want in life and to also realize that being popular MAY not always be what they think it is or actually it may not be what they really want in the end. This book has a clear message - don't compare someone's outside with your insides.

I also liked the way the author writes, very down to earth and to the point and her writing is obviously directed towards a ya audience. The problem I had with the book was that the premise, while different felt a little silly to me - and a tad gross. I kept imagining this skin floating around and attaching itself to the girls - I am not sure why I kept having this image, but I could not seem to shake it. Also, I am kind of a down to earth person myself and I have to say that the whole "magical skin" thing was reallllyyyy stretching it for me.

However, as I mentioned, this book is important as it has a message that cannot be told enough times - be yourself!