Review: Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter

Jade Leigh is a nonconformist who values individuality above all else. She has a small group of like-minded Goth friends who wear black, dabble in the dark arts, and thrive outside the norm. They're considered the "freaks" of their high school. But when Jade's smart mouth lands her in trouble — again — her principal decides to teach her a lesson she'll never forget.

Taken to a remote location where she is strapped down and sedated, Jade wakes up in an alternate universe where she rules the school. But her best friends won't talk to her, and the people she used to hate are all Goth. Only Clarik, the mysterious new boy in town, operates outside all the cliques. And only Mercedes, the Barbie clone Jade loathes, believes that Jade's stuck in a virtual reality game — because she's stuck there, too, now living the life of a "freak." Together, they realize they might never get back to reality...and that even if they do, things might never be the same.

Have you ever been really conflicted over a book? One that you really liked but can pick lots of flaws in? That is EXACTLY how I feel about Oh My Goth. 

First of all, I have to point out my conflict over what genre this book is. Definitely young adult, but whether to place it as contemporary or supernaturally, it is more contemporary but with some fantasy elements in it. I would like to point out to readers that the blurb sounds very bad, and I will admit, the book is a bit cheesy, but it's forgiveable.

So I shall start with the good parts of this book. Showalter's writing is quite good and enjoyable. The writing style itself is definitely very professional and not at all amateurish, I really liked the way that Showalter described things, she really knows how to absorb a reader and that was the best thing in this. As well as this, the slightly cheesy storyline was well executed, she made it seem not TOO out there but also very original, there is also a very strong moral pushed onto the reader, don't judge a book by it's cover and it is nice to read a book with a meaning.

I also loved the romance between Jade or Clarik, there was definite attraction, which doesn't surprise after reading some of Showalter's adult book. The attraction is believable and the whole thing is quite sexy. I also thought that the speed of the friendship between Jade and Mercedes was just right, in fact the whole book had great pacing. 

There are a lot of flaws though as well, and as much as I hate to list them I know that I have to. The character of Jade has serious likeability potential, but unfortunately that isn't followed through; here is a character that has the power to say 'I am who I am, don't judge me by how I look' and to some extents Showalter really does say this. Unfortunately, what pulls this down is that Jade herself judges other people by their looks, without even getting to know the 'popular' people she calls then 'Barbies', this is basically double standards; 'Don't judge me because I'm goth but I will judge you because you're not.'

Another problem is that in this 'contemporary' world everyone is a goth or a barbie, there is nothing in between and that is really not how the real world works, in fac, i don't think i know anyone who is 100% goth or indie so i found it hard to relate to either Mercedes or Jade, which put me off a little. The whole thing seemed a bit shallow, Showalter tried to give it some depth with Jade's Mum's last words, but it all seems so shallow.

This book is witty, funny, original and the writing is great, however its also unbelievable, unrelateable and doesn't pull of the moral that well...

I'm torn between D and B here so I'mma average it out

It's gonna have to be 

Overall rating: C

Stand alone/series: Stand alone

Released: November 20th 2006 (Paperback)

Publisher: MTV

Pages: 256

Book obtained via: Swap