Melissa Schorr

Identity Crisis is an adorable book that is so very high school. Annalise, a Brass Knuckles fangirl (think: Directioner), finds out she didn't get tickets to the band's one and only concert in Boston. Annalise isn't the most popular girl. Ever since 7th grade she's been receiving unwanted attention due to her overly developed chest. Everyone thinks she's lucky, but all the guys act like pigs around her, and all the girls think she's a slut.

Noelle is part of the popular clique. Her BFF Eva has had it out for Annalise ever since the incident that happened with Eva's boyfriend. When Noelle's crush starts showing interest in Annalise, Eva decides something must be done. She decides to make up a fake online profile to catfish Annalise away from Cooper. The thing is, Eva (the mastermind) leaves the dirty work up to Noelle who doesn't really want to do this at all. Along the way, Noelle finds out that there's more to Annalise than she thought. When things blow up, Noelle misses the bond she felt when talking to Annalise, while Annalise decides she's getting revenge.

Even though this book felt a tad young for me (a 30-something), I thought it was the perfect young people book. I loved the way the 2 narrators felt like they were talking directly to me. I felt an instant connection to both Annalise and Noelle. They both have a cute, honest sense of humor and two distinct personalities. Both sides of the story kept me reading. Some of the IM-ing conversations were a little irritating. I kind of don't like "teen talk". Okay, I really don't like "teen talk", especially if it sounds like an adult trying to mimic the way teens talk. There was some of that going on. But not too much. I also had a lot of cringing moments when Annalise talked of her crush on boy band member Viggo Witts. It was like visiting a One Direction or Justin Bieber fan page and reading comments from girls who think they are "so misunderstood" and "if they could just meet me, I know we'd have an instant connection". But I am reading YA here, so I will overlook that.

Throughout the book I felt terrible for Annalise. It made me think of all the things that teenagers deal with because of all the internets stuff. And YIKES!! I'm so glad that stuff wasn't possible for most of my childhood. The internet really wasn't a "thing" until I was in high school... and then it was all AOL chat rooms and IMs, until Facebook came in on it's demon train. I'm sure people were "catfished" (although that particular term didn't exist), but the online bullying and the invasion of privacy stuff wasn't happening much at all. I also feel so grateful that all my stupid mistakes from back then weren't documented for the world to see.

I love books that show issues like these. Catfishing someone is serious stuff. Making someone think that they're connecting with someone in order to humiliate them?? It's pretty sick and very sad. I thought this book did a good job at showing it, without glamorizing it.

OVERALL: I loved the way I connected with the writing and characters' voices. It deals with heavy issues, while also being completely adorable and fun. It's definitely a high school book with a high school feel. I would more recommend to high school age readers because of that.

My Blog:
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Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

All a girl wants to do is find the love of her life, or in this case a high school sweetheart. Fortunately for Rachel Lowenstein, she has just found the guy at her brother's bar mitzvah. He's handsome, a basketball player, and his name is Luke Christiansen. Which is the only problem she has with Luke--his last name. All Rachel hears from her grandmother and family is how she should find a respectable Jewish boy to date and marry. But crushing on Luke may not be the best choice for Rachel since he is far from being Jewish; he celebrates Christmas! So Rachel decides that she is tired of all the problems that she faces, from bad hair to having hardly any friends, and makes up her own teen commandments, which she occasionally changes, and which she hopes to break.

So Rachel begins to change the way she does things. She starts acting dumb in math class, lies to her family, and tries her best to keep Luke a secret. Besides that, Rachel also has to deal with her only best friend, Jen, who is trying to get into the popular crowd; Leah, her only other real friend who keeps on warning Rachel about her wrongdoings; and Howard, Rachel's neighbor turned enemy.

Yet Rachel starts to second-guess her decisions and wonders if they are really worth all the lies and deception when the ultimate tragedy happens to her. Is Luke really the guy for her; is acting dumb in math class worth the "popular" points? Rachel ends up discovering her true self and sees that change just isn't for her.

GOY CRAZY is sweet, tragic, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. With her first teen novel, Ms. Schorr successfully makes her main character understandable, relatable, and, above all, realistic. By the end of the novel, readers will be glad about Rachel's final decisions, yet sad that the novel is over. GOY CRAZY was a fantastic read that left me wanting more. I just hope there will be a follow-up to this novel.… (mere)

Rachel Lowenstein has all the problems of a typical 15-year-old girl, the main one being she doesn't have a boyfriend. She doesn't like any of the Jewish boys she knows, and figures the others are out of her league. But there is a boy she falls for, the boy who was a waiter at her brother's bar mitzvah party. Rachel knows her parents won't like her going out with a non Jewish boy, so she always arranges to have her neighbor pick her up and double date. Predictably, she finds out that he's pretty hot and they have a lot in common.… (mere)