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So Not Happening by Jenny B Jones Review

Hello Friends :)

I hope you're all having a great week so far, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you're probably already aware that I chose Jenny B Jones' There You'll Find Me as my favorite read of 2019. You can check out that full review here. However, when I picked up my second book by her shortly thereafter, Just Between You and Me, I didn't have quite the same positive experience. You can check out that review here.

I'd really been wanting to give more of her books a chance, and since I happened to have another one of her young adult titles sitting on my TBR cart, I decided to go ahead and do so.

Keep reading to find out what I thought about my third Jenny B Jones title.

So Not Happening by Jenny B Jones:




Source: Library

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: May 4th, 2009

Genre: Christian Fiction/Young Adult

Series: The Charmed Life



Synopsis:

New York's social darling just woke up in a nightmare: Oklahoma. Problem is, it's right where God wants her.

Bella Kirkwood had it all: A-list friends at her prestigious private school, Broadway in her backyard, and Daddy's MasterCard in her wallet. Then her father, a plastic surgeon to the stars, decided to trade her mother in for a newer model.

When Bella's mom falls in love with a man she met on the Internet--a factory worker with two bratty sons--Bella has to pack up and move in with her new family in Truman, Oklahoma. On a farm no less!

Forced to trade her uber-trendy NYC lifestyle for  down-home charm, Bella feels like a pair of Rock & Republic jeans in a sea of Wranglers.

At least some of the people in her new high school are pretty cool. Especially the hunky football player who invites her to lunch. And maybe even the annoying--but kinda hot--editor of the school newspaper.

But before long, Bella smells something rotten in the town of Truman, and it's not just the cow pasture. With her savvy reporter's instincts, she is determined to find the story behind all the secrets.

How can a girl go on when her charmed life is gone and God appears to be giving her the total smackdown?


(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Jenny B Jones' young adults are quickly becoming some of my favorite reads. While I am definitely not the intended audience, I think they are honestly a true delight, and truly some of the best reads available on the market for Christian girls today.  

So Not Happening appears at first glance to be something of a shallow or fluffy read. It definitely includes elements of this as our main protagonist, Bella, laments the loss of her upper society New York lifestyle. Bella's character definitely has some growing up to do at the start of the book, and her sarcastic and snarky attitude towards her new lifestyle provides many laugh out loud moments throughout this entertaining story.

However, I appreciated that there's so much more to this story than their first appears to be. At it's heart, So Not Happening, is the story of a teenage girl who's had her world tilted off of its axis, and is struggling to come to terms with the things expected of her in her new life. It's a story about the confusion and frustrations that can emerge when two families are trying to blend together as one. It's a story about the struggles teenagers have to fit in and still be true to who they truly are. It's a story about family, friendship and faith, and it's a story that I think will speak to anyone who takes the time to pick it up and read it.

This book took me right back to the days of my fourteenth year when my mom got remarried, and all of a sudden I had three new siblings who'd been raised vastly different from how my siblings and I had. I think Jenny B Jones truly hit the nail on the head with the struggles that emerge from these type of situations, and I truly wholeheartedly loved this story.

It's funny, it's witty, it's sarcastic, it's everything I was hoping for and more, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much deeper the story line was than I was initially expecting. I personally cannot wait to continue on with this series, and I will be definitely be recommending this one.

Final Rating: 5/5

I honestly couldn't have enjoyed this more.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners. 

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