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Summary
Summary
The teen-girl fascination with weddings comes to fiction in this hilarious debut, as 17-year-old Bronwen Oliver plots her escape from her family . . . by marrying into someone else's.
Here Comes the Bride -- If She Can Pass Chemistry.
Seventeen-yaer-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her cold, manipulative mother, distant stepfather, and good-for-nothing brother: Bronwen must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get back to her real family.
Then she meets Jared. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants - and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. When he proposes fourth months after they meet, she says yes. But as the wedding day approaches, Bronwen begins to wonder if Jared is truly what she needs. And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do?
Author Notes
Erin McCahan grew up in Michigan and worked extensively with teenagers before beginning her writing career. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Offering sharp wit and plenty of romantic interludes, first-time author McCahan captures the excitement and panic of a teenage girl on the fast track to becoming Mrs. Somebody. Seventeen-yearold Bronwen Oliver doesn't feel like she belongs in her family (she entertains escapist fantasies in which she discovers she was switched at birth and is really "Phoebe Lilywhite"). Her mother adores Bronwen's overachieving college-age brother, and neither of them like to talk about the past. When an old acquaintance, Jared, re-enters Bronwen's life and sweeps her off her feet, Bronwen thinks she's finally found someone to whom she can relate. And she's soon confident that she fits into Jared's world better than she fits into her own. On her 18th birthday, Jared presents her with an engagement ring. After readily accepting his proposal, Bronwen is on cloud nine until realities about potential married life bring her crashing back down. Told in lively first-person narrative, this intelligent romance teaches a hard but relevant lesson about living dreams and letting them go. Ages 12-18. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Droll eighteen-year-old Bronwen fantasizes about being part of a different, less emotionally distant family. So when her perfect boyfriend Jared proposes, Bronwen accepts, happy she'll finally become "someone else." McCahan handles the subject of teenage marriage with subtlety and without lecturing. Romantically inclined readers will understand Bronwen's confusion and sympathize with the difficult choices she has to make. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
This debut novel offers a coming-of-age story with surprising twists and turns. High-school senior Bronwen's favorite daydream is that she was switched at birth and really belongs with another, more accepting family. She loves her boyfriend, Jared, whose family feels like the one in her fantasy, but she wants to wait until they are married to have sex. Then Jared proposes, and as the teens begin to plan an elaborate beach wedding, Bronwen's questions about both the past and future begin to surface. Told mainly in dialogue, this first-person narrative about the complexities of family and commitment will grab teens.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Bronwen Oliver has spent most of her life convinced she was switched at birth. After all, she isn't blond, she detests ketchup, and she has no desire to be Homecoming Queen. She is so convinced that she belongs to another family that she invents an alter ego, Phoebe Lilywhite, her "true self." Her friend Kirsten even calls her Pheebs. She's having coffee with Kirsten the day after prom, explaining why she broke up with her boyfriend, when a stranger comes in and asks if she's Phoebe Lilywhite. He turns out to be Jared Sondervan, a high school friend of her older brother's, who remembers that she told him her Switched at Birth theory years before. So begins her relationship with Jared and his family-the kind of family she hasn't had since her father was killed in an accident when she was very young-and she finds herself becoming someone else: not Bronwen, not Phoebe, but "Us"-Bronwen and Jared. Fortunately, at the 11th hour, Bronwen realizes that she wants to find out who she is before she becomes Jared's wife. Lively and light, McCahan's novel covers that time period of high school and college when young adults try on and discard personalities in search of their true selves. It should appeal to fans of Meg Cabot and Maureen Johnson.-Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A 17-year-old girl who suppresses her own desires to please others gets engaged to a wonderful guy. It doesn't sound like much of a problem, but it is, because, despite his wonderfulness, Bronwen isn't ready to get married. And although her boyfriend, Jared, is portrayed as being almost perfect, part of his charm lies with his family, a warm and affectionate unit Bronwen longs to be part of. This is because Bronwen struggles with her own, more distant clan: a disengaged brother, a mother who cares more about appearances than honesty and a stepfather who failed to adopt her as promised. In the course of the story Bronwen tastes true love, gets in touch with her feelings and breaks through to her family. It's a believable journey, though it's flatter than it should be, probably because the central romantic relationship is essentially dull and without conflict. The book finally catches fire during Bronwen's psychological crisis, at last engaging readers' feelings as the protagonist summons up the courage to express herself, leading to an emotionally satisfying resolution. "Finally" is the operative word, though. (Fiction. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
