Book:  I Now Pronounce You Someone Else
Author:  Erin McCahan
Published:  June 1, 2010 from Arthur A. Levine
My edition/number of pages:  HC/272

Age group:  Young adult
Source:  Publisher
Series?:  Nope.

Seventeen-year-old Bronwen Oliver doesn’t just want a family. She has one of those, and there’s nothing terribly wrong with them apart from bickering grandparents, an image-obsessed mother and a brother she describes simply as Jesus. But there’s no natural sense of connection between Bronwen and her family, leaving her with the belief — and the hope — that she was switched at birth, that she was never supposed to be Bronwen Oliver but someone else entirely.

When she begins dating college senior Jared Sondervan, she finds herself thoroughly embraced by the loving family she has always wanted and does not hesitate to say yes when Jared proposes on her 18th birhday. Plans for the Perfect Beach Wedding before her junior year of college become plans for the Perfect Beach Wedding before her freshman year of college. And a wedding so soon isn’t exactly what Bronwen wants. But Jared is. And his family is. Or so she thinks.

Before Bronwen can determine what she truly wants, she must first determine who she truly is, and the answer, she discovers, is only partially what she thought it was. She wasn’t switched at birth, but she’s also not Bronwen Oliver and hasn’t been for a very long time.

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else is one of the best YA chick-lit books that I have ever read.  I absolutely adored everything about it and I can’t stop thinking about it.  It wasn’t just your typical chick-lit story and I truly enjoyed that.

Bronwen Oliver is sure that she was switched at birth.  Her family cannot possibly be related to her.  She is way too normal for them.  Her mother only cares about her image and Bronwen’s image, her stepfather has no real connection to her, and her brother is never there.  When her dad was alive things were great.  Since then, not so much.  Bronwen can’t wait for the day when her real parents, the Lilywhites, finally come to claim her.  At least, not until she reconnects with and starts dating Jared Sondervan.  He’s perfect and what’s even better is that his family is too.  When he proposes of course she says yes.  She will finally have the family she has always wanted.  But how can she become someone else when she doesn’t even really know who she is now?

I didn’t think I would like Bronwen at first because she truly did nothing but complain about her family.  Then I got a better look at her family and I sympathized with her.  They were not your typical family and Bronwen didn’t feel like she fit in with them.  When she started dating Jared she kind of put that behind her and focused on them.  I liked that about her.  And I loved Jared.  He was a realistic guy and he was so sweet.  He is the guy that teen girls should be dreaming about, not a vampire.  =]

For a chick-lit book, I Now Pronounce You Someone Else was surprisingly fast-paced.  I never once got bored with the story and I actually read straight through the book.  I didn’t want to stop reading it and I didn’t until I finally got to the end.  It was just so adorable and seemed perfect to me in every way.  I loved it!

Overall, I Now Pronounce You Someone Else is a fantastic debut that I know teen girls everywhere will love.  And you don’t have to be a teenager to love this one.  I think it will appeal to everyone.  This is one that I definitely recommend reading as soon as you can get your hands on a copy!

First line:  I was switched at birth.

Writing:  5

Characters:  5

Plot:  5

Ending:  5

Originality:  5

Overall:  25=A++

Cover:  5=A++