Audio Review: Airhead by Meg Cabot

Airhead by Meg Cabot

Release Date: May 13, 2008
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Pages: 337 / 8.25 HOURS
Genre: YA Body Switching
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
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Meg Cabot expands her huge fan base with this slightly darker, more mysterious novel - without losing any of her signature heart and humor.

EM WATTS IS GONE.

Emerson Watts didn’t even want to go to the new SoHo Stark Megastore grand opening. But someone needed to look out for her sister, Frida, whose crush, British heartthrob Gabriel Luna, would be singing and signing autographs there—along with the newly appointed Face of Stark, teen supermodel sensation Nikki Howard.

How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her—and life as she’d known it—forever? One bizarre accident later, and Em Watts, always the tomboy, never the party princess, is no longer herself. Literally.   ADD TO GOODREADS

I just realized I've actually never done an audio review. A big reason for that is I usually use audio books as a way to re-read something because sometimes they can be hard to follow along. Not every audio book I have tried have I been able to get into the story but I loved this one so much I wanted to review it. I am a bit of a newbie to Meg Cabot. I've only read her Mediator series because since it was paranormal I thought that would be a great place to start. It was really funny and I loved it so I'm branching out to her other books. This book has a body switching storyline which isn't exactly paranormal but just different enough for me to be intrigued. 

Emerson Watts was at a Stark store grand opening event when a TV fell and she pushed her little sister out of the way but the TV landed on her. She wakes comes out of a coma a month later and realizes she is not herself. As in she is now in the body of supermodel Nikki Howard who was also at the Stark grand opening. Emerson's parents agreed to a brain transplant but it was very expensive and is still an "underground" project. What that means for Em? She now has to take over Nikki's life. No one is allowed to know she is still alive except her mom, dad, and sister. She has to keep up all Nikki's modeling contracts and no one can ever know she is really Emerson Watts. Otherwise her parents may be sued and will owe at least two million dollars.

The big lesson of this book is the old saying you never know what someone goes through until you walk a mile in their shoes. Em gets to walk a mile in Nikki's body. She has a new beauty regiment and a million hours of modeling work. Before the accident Em and her best friend Christopher were a bit on the nerdy side and hated supermodels. They made fun of them. But now Em sees that being a model is hard work. She started high school as Nikki to keep an eye on Christopher who she has been secretly in love with for a long time. So she is at high school all day and has to model until bed time. She can barely fit in homework. Em also hopes for Christopher to see the real her underneath but it will be difficult since he is mourning her and hates supermodels. Not to mention Em is dealing with fans, Nikki's boyfriend, Nikki's roommate and her roommate's boyfriend that is after her, and Gabriel Luna, a singer who was at the Stark opening.

Now about the characters. I loved Christopher. I'm a best friend, boy next door, type of girl. He was sweet and as Em said herself wasn't a guy to drool over the mean popular girls. I hated Em's sister Frida. First off that is a hideous name! LOL It bothered me. She was so mean and snobby to Em. Then when Em was inside Nikki's body I felt like Frida wasn't even sad for Em. She just wanted to use her for popularity. Nikki's roommate Lulu was hilarious. She has such strange logic but it wasn't super snobby. I have no clue what is up with Gabriel Luna. He is in love with Nikki I think but knows nothing about her. I want him to go away because I'm Team Christopher all the way.   

I liked the narrator of this audio book. She was able to give each character personality without overdoing it. It was easy to keep up and I never wanted to turn it off. I got the book to listen to while exercising but I loved it so much I started listening to it in the car, around the house, and in bed. This was a very fun read and I was laughing out loud while in the car and going on walks. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to relax and have someone else read to you. I just requested the second book from the library. The book ends very abruptly. I can't wait to find out how Em handles more of Nikki's career and if she will finally get Christopher to notice the real her.

"Whoa. If high school was suppose to be the best years of my life - at least so far - I was truly destined to have a sucky adulthood."

"However, because they have no actual interests of their own (or if they do, they squelch them in order to fit in) and merely pursue those that they think will look best on their college apps, they're zombies."

Rating: 4/5 Stars!