Where I End and You Begin by Preston Norton
Rating: 4.5/5
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Ezra Slevin is an anxious, neurotic insomniac who spends his nights questioning his place in the universe and his days obsessing over Imogen, a nerdy girl with gigantic eyebrows and a heart of gold.
For weeks, Ezra has been working up the courage to invite Imogen to prom. The only problem is Imogen’s protective best friend, Wynonna Jones. Wynonna has blue hair, jams to ’80s rock, and has made a career out of tormenting Ezra for as long as he can remember.
Then, on the night of a total solar eclipse, something strange happens to Ezra and Wynonna–and they wake up in each other’s bodies. Not only that, they begin randomly swapping back and forth every day! Ezra soon discovers Wynonna’s huge crush on his best friend, Holden, a five-foot-nothing girl magnet with anger management problems. With no end to their curse in sight, Ezra makes Wynonna a proposition: while swapping bodies, he will help her win Holden’s heart…but only if she helps him woo Imogen.
Forming an uneasy alliance, Ezra and Wynonna embark on a collision course of mistaken identity, hurt feelings, embarassing bodily functions, and a positively byzantine production of Twelfth Night. Ezra wishes he could be more like Wynonna’s badass version of Ezra–but he also realizes he feels more like himself while being Wynonna than he has in a long time…
Wildly entertaining and deeply heartfelt, Where I End and You Begin is a brilliant, unapologetic exploration of what it means to be your best self.
I received this e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review! My opinions are my own!
So when I requested this, I remember being interested, but when I got approved and started to read it, I was going in blindly! I’d forgotten the synopsis and was so pleasantly surprised with what I was reading!
The first thing I noticed when I read this book was that it was just funny. The character had this dry, witty, sarcastic narration and it immediately pulled me in! I was laughing out loud throughout the book and couldn’t put the book down!
I didn’t even realize it was basically a retelling of Twelfth Night until they actually mentioned it in the book. And then I was like OH MY GOSH! It was a glorious feeling, to be honest! The character dynamics were so fun and I loved the development of the unlikely friendship between Wynona and Ezra a lot! Though I didn’t really care for Imogen, it was still so fun to see how the whole situation escalated!
I loved getting to know the two of them, especially when they weren’t themselves (well… when they were switching places)! I loved watching the characters grow and become more understanding about each other’s lives. I loved the little quirks and family dynamics and somewhat tragic backstories!
I think it was definitely a refreshing and funny take on an already funny and unique classic tale! Preston Norton did a really great job adding a fun layer to the trope! It was an interesting way to bring up the idea of finding yourself and becoming more in tune with your identity. I think this was a really fun way to create really great character arcs!
Fans of She’s the Man, Freaky Friday, and It’s a Boy Girl Thing will be in for a treat with this hilarious Twelfth Night retelling! If you like theater, funny friendships, quirky hobbies this is for you! If you like character impressions, make-up and fashion, weird out of body experiences, Shakespeare, and insomnia, be sure to add this to your TBR!
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