Oh My Goth By Gena Showalter

Miranda Reads

2.5 stars

My name is Jade Leighton, and this morning I staged my own death.

Oh, hey.

Didn't see you there.

I was too busy staring apathetically at the middle distance.

I'm seventeen-years-old now. Since the accident, I haven't shed a single tear or laughed.

After witnessing the death of my mother, I decided to become a violent cesspool of swirling black hatred but in, like, a cool and emotionless way.

Inhale, exhale. Again. In, out. I shove, punch and kick the rage deep, deep inside a hidden corner of my heart where I've buried a thousand other emotions.

Everyone wants me to change - my friends want me to love them, my family is going to pieces and Mercedes (the Mean Girl) along with her posse taunt me all the time.

Bobby winds his arm around her[Mercedes's] shoulders..."Oh, goodie. It's Jade the Unlaid."

But don't worry, I can hold my own. The entire school fears my wrath.

"They don't call you Bay the Lay or Bob has a Sore on His Corncob for nothing, amiright?

Sometimes Daddy tries to help me, but it often feels like I'm talking to just another teen.

"I'm your father. I'm not going to avoid you, even if you're ripping out my guts. All I want to do is love you, sweetheart. Why can't you see that?"

Did I mention, no one understands me??

Well, except for my family who adores and cherishes me. Even my stepmother, who makes casseroles that I refuse to eat on principle. She bakes with love. It does not taste good.

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS the deep, deep, deeep pain I am in.

Well, except for my myriad of friends who love me despite me not showing one iota of affection

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS that I'm in SO much PAIN that I can only wear black, only listen to alternative music, only push away my nearest and dearest.

Well, except for the cute boy who just moved to town...who like totally gets me in all the ways the rest of the world doesn't.

SO MUCH PAIN that whenever I do feel emotions, they are a physical blow. Literally.

Wack! A slap of shock, directly across my face.

I'm content with my pain...but then, the unthinkable happens.

Tires squeal. Those lights! So bright!...Pain explodes though my head.

I wake up in a universe where black is the new black.

Goth is in and pink is out.

And I'm stuck here in this world because my mother's ghost thinks I need an intervention.

BUT WHY MOM, WHY? I was so happy being an emotionless wreck. Why do you have to ruin EVERYTHING??? EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE DEAD.

"I didn't tell you everything your mother said to me. I - according to her - need to be torn down so I'll understand the beauty of building someone up."

To top it all, Mercedes aka Enemy #1 aka the cruelest girl in school aka my almost-stepsister who I actually got along with really well until I was an absolute b*tch to her and ruined her life...is stuck here with me.

While we are bitter enemies...we have to work together to get back to the real world.

Because reasons.

Because I have an unborn sister to get back to.

Because there's a cute boy who I'm totally NOT falling in love with...but I may be interested in hanging with him later...

Because who know what will happen if we don't?

Whew. Now that I got that out of my system...

Some of you may be wondering why I'm "reviewing" this one (again) even though I just read it a while ago...

After seeing that post...and after reading the Everlife series, I cannot imagine anything worse.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Honestly, how do you rewrite your own novel... and not make it better??

I will admit that this round was significantly LESS cringey - the goth world was definitely more fleshed out.

The old reason behind the switcheroo was thrown out (a definite plus) and the characters were marginally more realistic.

However, it wasn't altogether improved, which is why my rating is pretty much the same. Cut out the cringe from round 1...we still have a pretty blah experience.

It really felt like I was reading the same book, with minor tweaks to details, motivations and character descriptions changed... except it was 50 pages longer.

And it could easily have been cut by 50 pgs without much plot being lost.

The characters felt annoying by the end of the first chapter and I could barely read Jade's perspective because my eyes were rolling so hard.

I am mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted after pushing my way through this mess.

Ultimately, this rewrite was not a significant improvement... just a bit different from the original.

That being said, if Gena wants to redo this one again in another ten years - I am in.

SO IN.

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Miranda Reads

1.5 stars

NOTE: This review for for the original Oh My Goth edition

She's committing total social suicide.

Much like Kanye West and Taylor Swift, or like Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen, Jade (a Goth) and Mercedes (a "Barbie") are mortal enemies.

Mercedes commands an army of Barbies, who delight in kicking Jade when she's down.

I'm not a bad person. I haven't killed anyone...So why do people look at me as if the world would be a better place without me?

It feels like no matter what she does, Jade always gets the short end of the stick. Even her teachers participate in the daily mocking and tormenting.

"Are you paying attention, Miss Leigh [Jade], or are you praying you never come into contact with a wooden stake?"

And when Jade fights back, her principal sentences Jade and Mercedes to an experimental virtual-reality drug-induced punishment - resulting in a "Freaky-Friday-esque" swap of social status.

Goths are totally "in", anything remotely preppy is totally out and Jade is the new Queen of Cool.

But even with that power, she soon realizes that not everything is perfect.

He's not one of us, Jade, and you need to realize that. He belongs with the freaks. Look at him. He's not wearing any eyeliner...

Despite becoming the new "it" girl, all Jade wants to do is go home - but as the stakes get higher, will she ever manage to claw her way back to reality?

Overall, this one wasn't terrible (and I was expecting a real doozy).

To put this into perspective, I've read Gena's other series (Firstlife) and wow. Those were bad - each book worse than the last. All three made the top 5 worst books I read this year.

So, when I heard that Gena was re-writing her Oh My Goth standalone because the reviews were so bad, I just had to check out the original (and the "revamped" version).

And the verdict?

The original was alright. (Compared to her other books, it's actually marginally better).

I honestly don't really see why she would redo it.

This was easily 10x better than the Firstlife series (and Oh My Goth was published ~10 yrs before Firstlife) - which really makes me wonder - how does the writing quality go down? That far?

Anyway, there were a few areas of the book that were a bit...too much. In particular, there's the virtual reality, Gena's signature cringe factor and the love interest.

The Virtual Reality

The principal makes Jade's and Mercedes's parents sign a permission slip to allow a weird doctor (operating out of the woods) to inject the girls with alternate reality drugs and computer simulations...all to bring a bit of peace to the school between the barbies and the goths.

Maybe it's just me...but it seems a little extreme.

The sheer amount of man power and money spent on developing such a realistic virtual reality game...I just had to wonder why it was being used on two catfighting teens opposed to interrogating terrorists or toppling governments.

I really think Gena should've gone with magic for the explanation - coming up with this pseudo-real situation just brings up so many plot holes.

Gena's Signature Cringe Factor

Now, I've only read the Firstlife series by Gena but wow. If you are looking for a CRINGY main character - that is a go-to book.

And while Oh My Goth does serve up on the cringe, it is clear that Gena's signature cringe factor is still under development.

For example, Jade interrogates and berates her teacher (who admittingly serves it right back to her) and then she gets all huffy when she's thrown out of class.

"FYI," I added, "your comment doesn't make you fright, Mr. Parton."

Oh, and did I mention she made up her own catchphrase? That she uses all the time. And then wonders why no one picks it up on their own? Cause that always works real well in high school...cringe.

This wasn't all terrible - there were a few moments where Jade's snarky-ness was funny. Especially when she and Mercedes realized that they swapped social standings.

"Have you noticed that nothing is right? Nothing is normal?"
"No," I said dryly. "I haven't noticed. I didn't have my bowl of Smart Girl cereal this morning.

But (unfortunately) there were just as many moments that did bring out the crinnnge in me. In particular, was the way the author informed audience about how different the world is now that the Goths are in charge.

"What exactly is Coffin Club?"
"Duh. Like you don't know. We get together one day a week and talk about death, that kind of thing. This week's meeting really sucked without you. We ended up leaving early without planning our funerals or anything."

It just felt clunky and awkward every time Jade didn't know something she was supposed to know.

Plus, Coffin Club? Really? Realistically, how many meetings could it possibly take to plan out one funeral? It felt like a parody of goth culture rather than a realistic version.

The Love Interest

"Clarik! Stop, okay. You have to stop."
He didn't even pause.
"Clarik."
This time, he faced me. There was blood on his hands and a stream of crimson from his cracked lip. Bobby lay on the ground, moaning...I grabbed Clarik's hand and took off in a dead run.

Ohhhh wow. Would you look at that, another violent and unstable bad boy (TM) who's actually super kind and sensitive once the main character looks past his bloody past.

The kiss, well, it somehow made up for every time I'd been called a freak, made up for every boy who'd ever picked Mercedes over me. Made up for the horror I'd endured...

And he's a great kisser. Nothing like pinning all your self-esteem on a boy... Good thing she's Goth and she's beyond such teenage tropes...oh wait...

Last Thoughts
Honestly, this one wasn't that bad. I had to suspend my belief for a moment or two...but it was an entertaining and quick read.

"We need to end the war between us once and for all. We need to end the war between the Goths and the Barbies."

Steph (Reviewer X)

I'm so surprised that I'm writing a negative review of this book. When I first got Oh My Goth, I thought it'd be one of those books that I'd recommend to all my friends. The premise was great! I mean--here's to showing everyone is human on the inside and labels/appearances should not be the defining factor of a person or their worth.

And then...

Well, first off, we get this huge contradiction right at the opening. Each chapter is prefaced with a blurb from Jade's private journal--here's the first one:

"When people look at me, they automatically assume I'm dark and weird. Why can't they see the truth? I'm just a girl, trying to find my place in the world."

I thought, Okay, we're off to a great start. This character has strong likeable potential. But then the narrative began. Three paragraphs down the first page and we've got:

"Honestly, I'd rather be anywhere else. Even home, where my dad begins almost every conversation with, "You should lose the black clothes and wear something with color." Puh-lease. Like I want to look like every Barbie clone in Hell High, a.k.a. Oklahoma's insignificant Haloway High School. Ironically, Dad doesn't appreciate the bright blue streaks in my originally blond/now-dyed-black hair. Go figure. That's color, right?"

So, Jade complains about being judged based on her appearance, but here she is doing the exact same thing. Is it any wonder people think that about her?

The book went on. Some passages were funny in a teen-angsty way. Others were bland. But mostly, my thoughts went elsewhere while I was reading. By the last page, I didn't care what Jade did, what the book's message was, or even how it ended. I won't say I was happy that it ended. I wasn't. I wanted to like this book. But I didn't and here's why:

Jade was impenetrable. I couldn't figure her out or relate to her at all. In fact, I thought she was highly superficial, which is not something I want from any character, especially one I'm reading about in a first-person narrative. I'll even go so far as to say this book was superficial. It meandered along the surface, never really digging deep enough for me to get any substance. Some passages were unbelievably contrived, like the ones describing all the types of goths there are and how they dress, like it's one big institution. Is this what this girl considers being a noncomformist? Comforming to the "norms" or noncomformity???

Which brings me to my next point. Jade "expresses her individuality" because her mother, at the exact moment before crashing with another car and dying from the collision, told her to always be herself, no matter what. And now Jade thinks she has to be unlike everyone else to be herself. Someone please tell this girl that dressing differently doesn't make you original.

Overall, didn't like the main character; thought the book's message was botched; didn't care much about about anything that happened. I had hoped this book would've gone to say something about how a person's essence is more important than their outer shell. It didn't. It focused exactly on the opposite, which makes it pointless.

Rating: 3/10

Rebecca Maye Holiday

Oh My Goth is a book with quite an interesting history. The title was originally published as a mass-market paperback by MTV in the early 2000's. Unsatisfied with the negative reviews it received, author Gena Showalter had the rights revised, rewrote the book, and republished it through Harlequin as a hardcover novel. Does Oh My Goth hold up better in its newer evolution? Sort of... but I think Showalter didn't really understand why the book ever drew such negative criticisms in the first place.

Oh My Goth in and of itself was always a cohesive story, even back in the 2000's when it first hit the scene. It's a dystopian high school drama with elements of Freaky Friday, The Breakfast Club and Death of a Cheerleader all transmuted into this tossed salad of teenage angst and breaking down barriers. The problems with Oh My Goth ran deeper than that. For one thing, the original book is set in this obviously dystopian world, where a school principal can literally (I kid you not) "strap down and sedate" students and put them through a hectic social experiment. The dynamics, corruption and setup of this world are never explored. Instead, Showalter writes of it as if this is just still the same world we all live in now, so that the evil school staff/mad scientists are just an odd plot device with no world-building or explanation. Thankfully, in the new release of the book, this dystopian mad science thing was scrapped in favour of a more supernatural motivation, which suits the story better, but it still comes off as awkward. The plot is mainly exposition and Jade's bitter ramblings to herself, and it's very confusing.

On top of that, every character is a stereotype, and Showalter is sorely misguided in the realm of goth culture. As somebody who was a goth in high school myself, and who's a theistic Satanist by religion to this day, I can definitely tell you that goths don't "dabble in the dark arts" (unless they're idiots with no idea of what they're doing), nor are they all moody and bitter. In small towns, they don't congregate at vampire-themed bars (particularly if they're minors) to drink things made deliberately to look like blood - goth is not an obsession. It's a statement and a way of self-expression. Showalter's understanding of goths is that they all buy their wardrobes at Party City, pretentiously look down on anybody who's not like them (and by the way, jocks and cheerleaders can be goths), and that you can smell Hot Topic off them as they walk by. It's hard to take seriously, but in all its cheesy glory, it's good for laughs. The new revamp edit of the book tried to improve on this a bit, but it didn't make much difference.

Character names in Oh My Goth are bizarre and given no explanation. I'll give the name "Jade" a pass, but "Clarik"? "Mercedes"? This is not changed in the book's revamp... but I go to school with somebody who named their newborn daughter "Katniss", so maybe the name thing will become more normal as time goes on.

Showalter obviously cares for Oh My Goth a lot. Both the old and new versions are labours of love and nostalgia that, while often poorly written, do feature the hint of early potential for better things to come. As fans of this author's writing may know, she's put out a vast number of excellent fantasy novels in the past couple of decades, and so I don't think it's fair to judge her by Oh My Goth, but rather to consider Oh My Goth a rough standalone project signalling better things to come.

Madison Warner Fairbanks

Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter

First published 2006.
Young adult twist on Its a Wonderful Life or Freaky Friday.
The first half of the book sets up the lives of Jade, Mercedes and new school classmate Clarik. There is tragedy, friendships and deliberate cruelty. And then reality is twisted and they must learn and understand their new world to survive.

As is typical with this type of renewal and awakening story, I cried through the last 50 pages. It wasn’t really a mystery what was going on, but the results were sweet and satisfying.
The message: live life and be kind.

I received a copy of this updated book at ALA.

Jennifer Wardrip

Reviewed by Taylor Rector for TeensReadToo.com

Jade is a Goth-girl who is a total nonconformist and is a "freak" at her school.

Mercedes is a "Barbie" -- blonde, super-popular, and a total conformist, who is also Jade's mortal enemy.

Clarik is a new mysterious boy that has come to their high school, who Jade quickly realizes she has a crush on.

The girls' principal is sick of these two girls causing problems so she decides to teach them a lesson they will never forget.

After getting the parents' consent, the girls are taken to an old rundown building, strapped down, and sedated. Mercedes and Jade have no idea what is going on, until they wake up at home. They go to school only to realize that everyone has turned Goth and the "Barbies" are the "freaks" now.

The girls don't like their new environment at all and are determined to find out how to get back to reality. Clarik is in the game with them and he and Jade become very close. Can he help get them back? Will they ever get back to the reality they knew? When they get home, will things be the same way they were before, or will the girls have to change?

This is a super-fun, fast-paced novel that even someone who would be called a "Barbie" can like! The characters are all lovable, and I really enjoyed this book!

Angela Carr (Under the Covers Book Blog)

This review was originally posted at
Under The Covers Book Blog

This is a story of two teens from opposite sides, a goth girl and the other a popular who struggles with family and high school issues. After a near miss accident, their world is turned upside down. The goths are the populars and the populars, well, are not. Both girls experience a whirlwind of struggles, but this time in another person’s shoes and this opens their eyes to a whole new world. It would take real understanding of things before they get back to the world they truly belong to.

I know there have been bad reviews on Goodreads about this book and I’ve read a few of them. Yes, at some point they make sense if they are looking for a more serious young adult book. I’m not sure what Showalter had in mind writing this book, but I assume she was targeting the younger teen readers. Readers that would enjoy movies like Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan or 17 Again with Zac Efron. It’s a teens POV of her life. It’s meant to be light and sweet yet make them think, “what if the roles were reversed” or to remind them that “there are three sides to the story; yours, theirs, and the truth.”

Oh My Goth was first published in 2006 and it is now fully revised and re-released September of this year. Despite the twelve year gap, the issues Showalter presents here such as depression, bullying, and suicide is just as real now as it was back then for both teens and adults. Quite an eye-opener.

Yan

Oh My Goth was oh my god bad. I slammed the book—twice—on the countertop while reading. I ranted to my brother how much I disliked the book. I fumed for a good 10 minutes afterwards. My ‘dogma’ of how MTV books could never go wrong has proven to be blasphemous with this book.

When reading the summary I thought ‘hey this sounds pretty good’. When I finished I nearly—gagged—myself.

Jade needed a new sense of what it means to be an individual. She needs to understand that wearing clothes that a majority of her peers do not wear and moaning and groaning about how they all suck does not mean to be an individual. She needs to know when to stick up for yourself instead of running over people like a fortified tank half of the time and being trampled like a calf the other half. She condemns people because they all dress alike yet she and friends seem to dress very similar. Jade needs to let go of her past and stop living her life by a code—a sentence—her mother had spoken before her death. A powerful message it was, but the way Jade acts because of it makes her a mindless zombie.

This whole book could have acted as a strong message to teens but the delivery made it nothing short aside from being a kindle to a fire.

Nicole, The Local Spooky Hermit

(im now reading the newer rewrite)
(the older 2006 version) it's meh. harmless, turn you're brain off for a bit, book. there's weird made up goth subcultures or mislabeled, like grave goth, eh? do you mean uh maybe romantic goth???
diva goth? Asian goth? (visual kei??) What? I don't know.. what those are..
but it's harmless and I've read it a few times. but the goth in me tells me it's poop, and I tell it to relax a bit and enjoy it so I do. still it'll never be my first pick to tell a friend to read(or maybe if they like bad books like me) and there's some real cringe moments in the book itself and how wrong they get the subculture, but hey they got a after school club about planning your funeral(how morbid. teens do that right?) and staking boarding in the hallways screaming(for the love of god don't do that it tripp pants) "death rules". messing with tarot cards and makings fires in class? WHY NOT?? enjoy the cringe. your mom might just wear a slutty leather catsuit to the police station to pick you up.. AT 3AM. WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT (or make you wear one to school)!! WOWZA *thumbs up* oh and all diners basically have their lights turned off.. bc SPOOKY.. how safe for carrying plates! and so much more

I have the rewrite i'll be reading that soon

helena ✧

This was a book that I picked up when I was in the seventh or eight grade because it had "goth" in the title.

Our main character, Jade, is very much the typical gothic "no one understands me" teenager. She's got her issues. But don't we all?

And of course we have the "popular Barbie girl" Mercedes. I don't remember the exact reason that Jade and Mercedes hate each other, but they've got history.

Something very dramatic happens and their worlds get turned upside down. Like, actually. They now live in a world where it is "cool" to be goth and preppy kids are considered "different". Jade is now the most popular girl in school while Mercedes is considered the "freak".

If I'm remembering correctly, anyone that was goth is now preppy (except for Jade). And anyone that was preppy is now gothic (except for Mercedes). So both girls' friends aren't even considered their friends anymore.

And of course there's the main boy interest Clarik who seems to be unaffected by it all.

reviewing books that I read a long time ago

Daniela

Holy crap, this was bad! This was badfanfiction bad, bad. So bad I laughed out loud throughout the whole book. So horribly, insanely bad and wrong it was badong. Terrible. Amongst the top 5 worst books I've ever read. And I read it with a teenager's mindset, I tried my best, but this is terrible even for a toddler. I had a lot of fun, though...
The stereotypes, the plotless plot, the plotless plot's gaping holes... so many things just didn't make sense, I stopped counting by page 50. But I had so much fun, I'm twisted like that...
I was tempted to give it 2 stars for the "lulz" factor alone, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, so I objectively gave it the rating it deserved. Oh, and I almost forgot: the writing is hideous. So "unfright"...

MK ( MaKayla) ✨

Content ;
Language
Tarot Cards
Dark humor

DNF on page 45

✟Roxanne✟(Death by Book Avalanche) ☠

Eventhough this book was pure fluff I still really enjoyed it. A really light, easy read, with a simple plot and some likeable characters. This sends a good message to teens that it's what's on the inside that counts not the outside. My reason for removing a star was that I found in some places it contradicted itself and the whole popularity struggle got a bit annoying. Jade wants to be recognised as an individual whilst hating on the 'Barbies' but says she's just a normal person with feelings... then why hate? That goes for all of you...if you're all so good and want fair treatment...why hate? Apart from that...I liked it and the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were great.

Under the Covers Book Blog

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is a story of two teens from opposite sides, a goth girl and the other a popular who struggles with family and high school issues. After a near miss accident, their world is turned upside down. The goths are the populars and the populars, well, are not. Both girls experience a whirlwind of struggles, but this time in another person’s shoes and this opens their eyes to a whole new world. It would take real understanding of things before they get back to the world they truly belong to.

I know there have been bad reviews on Goodreads about this book and I’ve read a few of them. Yes, at some point they make sense if they are looking for a more serious young adult book. I’m not sure what Showalter had in mind writing this book, but I assume she was targeting the younger teen readers. Readers that would enjoy movies like Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan or 17 Again with Zac Efron. It's a teens POV of her life. It’s meant to be light and sweet yet make them think, “what if the roles were reversed” or to remind them that “there are three sides to the story; yours, theirs, and the truth.”

Oh My Goth was first published in 2006 and it is now fully revised and re-released September of this year. Despite the twelve year gap, the issues Showalter presents here such as depression, bullying, and suicide is just as real now as it was back then for both teens and adults. Quite an eye-opener.

*ARC provided by publisher
Reviewed by Angela❤ ♡ Don't want to miss any of our posts?
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Christy

It was cute. For fans of Freaking Friday & A Christmas Carol!

Sarah Perchikoff

As much as I’d like to say that Oh My Goth would have helped me when I was younger, when I was in my “goth” phase, I don’t know if I would have been ready to learn the lesson it’s trying to get across. Reading it now feels like a breath of fresh air and something that I can fully appreciate and understand. I can understand Jade before she goes into the “goth world” and after and what she learned. While this book came out when I was in a sort of similar place as Jade, I am so glad I read it now rather than then. I am in a much better place to accept the characters, the story, and the themes Oh My Goth presents. Let’s get to the review!

Jade Leighton is having a hard time. She’s had a hard time since her mom died when she was little. She’s decided since then that she’s not going to feel anymore. She pushes down her feelings so she doesn’t have to care about anyone or anything. Because then when they leave, it won’t hurt so much.

You can probably guess how that works out, huh?

But Jade has to go through a journey before she can realize her coping strategies are not the way to live.

When we first meet Jade, she’s dealing with her dad and stepmom not understanding her, her friends dealing with her aloofness, her nemesis/former best friend, Mercedes, being the cliche popular mean girl and reading a page from Jade’s private journal in front of everyone they know at a party. Yeah, she’s a bit of an asshole.

But Jade also meets the new dude in school, Clarik. He’s built like a Greek god, has a deep raspy voice, and perfect dark hair. (Of course he does!). But he also has secrets too. Ones Jade can’t seem to get out of him.

He also tells Jade that she’s a “bad bet,” meaning it’s more likely that she’ll leave or break his heart than be happy or stay. (While it may be true, it is possibly the meanest thing I’ve ever read). Jade accepts this, she even understands it. She knows who she is. But it doesn’t mean she still doesn’t have a massive crush on Clarik.

Too bad all that needs to be put on hold when Jade and Mercedes get hit by a car and end up in some kind of alternate reality where “goth” is the norm, Jade is the most popular girl in school, and Mercedes is the outcast along with all of Jade’s old friends.

Jade and Mercedes have to figure out how to get back to the real world and what lesson they’re supposed to learn that will help them get there. Should be easy, right? Especially when Jade doesn’t really like being the most popular girl in school, especially when none of her friends like her, and Mercedes certainly doesn’t like being the outcast.

But things get more challenging when the Clarik in this world sees Jade beyond her “popular” persona and they begin to really care for each other, and Mercedes gets to see what it’s like to have friends/people who really care for her

How are they supposed to get back to the other world when this alternative one is turning out to be pretty nice?

Well, the alternative reality has it’s bad points as well, but when the choice comes up, which life will Jade choose?

I really loved this story. Jade and Mercedes’s character development from one reality to the other and then back again is truly inspiring. And I love how Showalter made it just slow enough that their changes are believable. As Jade makes her way through the “goth” alternative reality, we see her become more and more caring, in no small part due to Mercedes and Clarik.

And Mercedes’s change…wow! She stays the same sassy girl but the way Jade and her bond, and she becomes closer to Jade’s friends is truly something special. We don’t get to see much of the actual process since the book is in Jade’s point of view, but it is clear by her actions and what happens at the end of the book that she learned a lot.

And Clarik is just…lovely. Yes, he says that awful thing at the beginning of the story but due to the experiences that Jade and Mercedes go through in the alternate reality, Clarik changes as well (NO SPOILERS).

The ending is kind of what I guessed was the reason Jade and Mercedes were in this other world, but that didn’t make it any less special or compelling. There were plenty of twists and turns (especially with what people were wearing lol) that I didn’t expect which made this book so damn good.

Oh My Goth is a book that I think everyone should read but especially girls and women. The story shows the importance of female friendship, not taking people for granted, and looking at things from different perspectives to really understand what others are going through. It’s a truly beautiful story. I am giving Oh My Goth 5 out of 5 stars. Go put it on your TBR right now!

Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter comes out September 8, 2018

Thank you to Edelweiss and Harlequin Teen for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Boundless Book Reviews

“Fact is, everyone in the world is going to die at some point. No need to get attached.”

Jade Leighton hasn’t had it easy, after the tragic loss of her mother. It’s haunted her, its left her feeling numb. She doesn’t want to feel, doesn’t want to attach herself to anyone. Which leaves everything in her personal life strained. She knows it but doesn’t feel she has to change.

At first, when I started reading this story. I thought it would be a typical girl has no feelings and learns to open herself up because she meets a boy. Nothing wrong with that, it’s in my zone of reading. But there was this huge twist I didn’t see coming. I was annoyed initially, but then I was like this is different. When I found this on the shelf at the Book Store. I loved the cover, that’s the first thing I saw. I read a couple pages and was into it. So I bought it. In my typical fashion, I never read the blurb. That would have told me of the twist. But always love to jump in blind.

Jade learns some much about herself through this whole story. I loved watching her grow and realizing that there are people in her life that mean the world. That she shouldn’t hide behind the facade that she presents. Showalter is an excellent storyteller. The writing was fantastic. So fantastic I finished this book in a day. This book was originally published in 2006 and revised for 2018. So I don’t know what the original was like. But I do love this revised version.

Overall, I give this Five Boundless Stars. It was a fresh Ya Novel, and it brought emotions out of me. You want to see the best for Jade.

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Gaele

Jade Leighton had a hard life, and the time after that wasn’t spectacular either. With the death of her mother when she was little, she decided that not going to feel for anyone or anything anymore is the way to live. Then, she won’t be so devastated when they go. Because in her experience, most everyone goes away – family, friends and even hopes for a boyfriend. It’s just easier to stay apart – let them talk, it doesn’t really affect you if you don’t care – right? Oh how wrong that is, but Jade’s got to learn the hard way, and the lessons are ones that don’t actually appear and come into your notice right when you need them!

Proving that she doesn’t care for anyone isn’t easy – but dressing up with goth-heavy style and being the ‘weird kid’ helps to keep new people away, what she didn’t count on was that friends she’d had for years, and that easy relationship with her Dad, would also be challenged by her new look and standoffish attitude. With care and style, Gena Showalter uses the often-overplayed teen tropes of mean girl, emo boy, bullying, teasing, ostracism and gossip to turn the story, and Jade’s attitude on its ear. Discovering that along with her former BFF – now THE mean girl in school, Mercedes, Jade wakes to find herself in an alternate reality – where Goth is the THING, she is more popular than Mercedes was at the height of her ‘teen queen rule the school’ phase, and even Jade’s old friends who left her to follow Mercedes, are now on the outside looking in.

Best of all, this world has the ‘new guy’ Clarik as well, and he’s just as gorgeous without that habit of pushing people away before they even come close. And this Clarik finds her to be interesting, intriguing and the real her, beneath the push-away don’t come close Goth makeup is the Jade that could have been: one that isn’t to be avoided or teased, but the empathetic, non-bullying person who can now look past the cliques and social-ladder of the school and judge people on who they are – not what they look like. Interestingly, for Mercedes, the wake-up call was just as dramatic, and potentially far more valuable to the community at large. For once the bullying bitch, prone to ‘sharing’ private diary entries at parties, serving direct cuts and subtle digs to those she deemed ‘unworthy’, she’s come to see that everyone has feelings that are easily hurt, and that being mean and bullying just because you can, or you want to hide just how insecure you are inside – isn’t right, and the friendships that girls make with girls that support and cheer on each other are what will help you when things get rough – and it was a solid lesson to everyone about becoming a real friend, and learning to support, question and cheer on – rather than judge, shame and denigrate.

I don’t honestly know just how many YA-Aged readers will absorb the lessons here – but exposure and learning to see the similar desires, dreams and needs of your fellow human beings is never a bad thing. A lovely read from Showalter, clever, engaging and honest enough to feel plausible even with the fairly out-there alternate universe where the lessons are provided in actual time and space examples.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review .I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility

Review first appeared at
I am, Indeed

Samantha (WLABB)

As a child, Jade witnessed her mother's death in an horrific car accident. In an effort to protect herself, she decided to stay detached and numb herself from the world. A conversation with her dead mother and a bump on the head brings her into an alternate reality in order to help her see the dangers of living her life behind her emotional armor.

The freaky things shunned by mainstream can be beautiful.

• Pro: The whole Goth thing was secondary to many of the other wonderful messages and ideas in this book. My biggest takeaways were to value who you have in your life, because you never know when you can lose them, and to be kind, because you don't know what other people are dealing with. Both of these were excellent pieces of advice, and I loved seeing Jade learn the value of them.

• Pro: I enjoyed the Freaky-Friday-Scrooge-esque feel of this tale. Having Jade and Mercedes role swap was a great way for each character to learn more about the challenges of others and each other, and although it was a little over the top and maybe even cheesy, Jade's reaction to everything after she returned made me smile.

• Pro: The romance between Jade and Clarik was so sweet. Watching him chip away at Jade's protective coating warmed my heart, and it was wonderful seeing their friendship evolve into something more.

• Pro: I had to give dad a lot of credit. He had his own pain to manage, while still trying to help his child overcome a horrific and traumatic event. He definitely got an A+ for effort and for not giving up on Jade.

• Pro: Although I didn't quite understand why they put up with her, I was happy Jade had such a solid group of friends. I guess there was a shared outcast bond they had, and the way Jade would step up to defend them whenever the need arose, but I thought her friends gave a lot more to Jade than she gave to them, and for that, she was lucky.

• Pro: I was happily surprised by what a through ending Showalter gave me. I expected it to wrap up immediately, but she wasn't done, and I was grateful she gave us a little more closure.

Overall: A fun and heartwarming story about living in the present, appreciating all the people in your life, looking beyond the surface for what's underneath, and taking advantage of second chances.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Faye

I’ve always known Showalter’s works are always from unique plots, those that are very unusual, but a book that features virtual game combined with Goths and Barbie clones? Way unusual, and very intriguing.

It’s a story that presents the reader how some people would want to show heir individuality even to the extent that they would bend all rules to show that they are special and that they are not one of the crowds, they stand out. That was the case of Jade Leigh, and that’s why she hated Mercedes Turner as long as she could remember, because Mercedes is the popular girl, the girl who every boy Jade’s like wants to be with, the girl who always stand out without others calling her freak and Jade was everything but the opposite; until the exchange in the virtual game they were forced to enter as their punishments for their misconduct.

They were forced into a game were their roles were reversed from the reality. Jade become the crowd’s darling, the one everyone wants a piece of while Mercedes become the freak; she is the one everyone laughs at. Much worse, their own sets of friends become their enemies. Now, if they want to get back to the real world, they have to work together, but Jade begins to like being the one everyone gives attention at, especially when Clarik, the new guy who seems really interested with her begins to make his intention clear: he really likes Jade, the outcast in the real world, the girl no guy ask for a date, the girl who was pushed, tripped and was called a freak outside the game.

Jade and Mercedes begin to see in their new roles how each of them had misjudged each other and that in their lives, they could have different personalities and still they would be special on their own unique ways and that those people who love them would support them no matter what.

This story is a good eye opener when things get rough and you feel that you are becoming a judgmental person, someone who doesn’t bother to get to know a person to set her mind to classify others. This might be a simple story but I really liked it and I think that Showalter has proved one more time how good a writer she is.

Joanna

When I first picked this book, I was so excited to read it because I thought it would be a cute story about a girl who's goth and probably judged for it, but in the end she has this deeper side and when people discover it, she ends up being liked, right? wrong.

in the story we have Jade Leigh, who is about the most stereotypical goth kid, on the face of the earth. along with her (very defined goth friends whom the author described as "cyber-goth, cementry-goth, and other types as well). okay, right there, is a strike for me. I am a fan of the goth culture, however the fact that the author made it so sterotypic really angers me. They wear blacm, hate school, have dyed hair, peircings, and "dabble in the magic arts". Not all goths are like this! and while some of these things are trends, it doesn't mean that everyone is a part of them.

secondly, the rudeness twords her classmates and teacher. As if the goth subculture didn't already have a bad rep, but then here's this mopey teen girl giving it a worse name by arguing instead of just letting it go. And on a sidenote, if you don't want people judging you, don't refer to them as "Barbie Clones". Its shallow-minded and doesn't make you any better than them.

the third strick is the fact that there's only barbies, and goths at this school. the only nuetral person was Clarik and even then, he had his hidden ajenda.

overall, this book was a disaster for me to read, it was predictable, had really no message, and all in all just wasn't a good book.

Ashley Marie

I remember liking this book in the beginning (aside from the main character's hypocrisy) until the alternate reality thing came up, then it just felt weird and out of place. Of course, I was in high school when I read it, so that may have something to do with it. Anyway, not what I'd call a good book.

Kristen

Totally mindless teen fic. Loved it, but it could never be called "good." It was good reading for the plane, kept my mind off the fact that I was 40,000 feet off the ground. That alone earns it 2 stars rather than the 1 it probably rightly deserves. :)

Niki

Dear God (Goth?), this book is BAD. No one, neither a Goth nor a non-Goth, should read this. I didn't even finish it, I couldn't stand it.

Annette

Of course, when I saw the blurb I already had some inklink where the plot would go and what would happen, but that didn't take away the joy from reading this book that I found for a nice bargain price. Yes, it's predictable, of course, but it's also entertaining and at some points even very touching.

I already knew from the Dutch translation of Alice in Zombieland that Gena has an easy to read and flowing writing style. That was clearly also the case in this book and in English. It was a very easy and pleasant read.

It also really helped that the main character, Jade, was an amazing character to read about. The first 100 pages, when we're seeing life through her eyes, we see a clearly traumatised and closed off girl who's mean without realising it. But with that as the starting point, the world switching is amazing. Her challenges, her journey, it's not original and we've read it before and yet it never bores me or never grows old. It are lessons we all have to learn and relearn at some point.

So, even though the plot is told a million times before already, it still managed to grab me. I might have shed a few tears when Jade came back and started to make up for everything she had done before. It all wasn't very unexpected and yet it was still very touching.

And isn't that what books should do? Touch you? One way or another?

Susan Bazzett-Griffith

Pretty sure I've owned this book for well over a decade- it's from a used book store, according to the stamp on the inside cover, and I paid all if 50 cents for it. An ok buy, I suppose. The story is an updated Freaky Friday/body swap scenario that's totally implausible-a goth girl being raisedby her singledad swaps with a popularclass president, but works for what the book is going for- the idea that lots of teenagers, be they gothy types or preppy types, ultimately have more in common than they think. I'm not entirely sure why I ever would have picked this book up to buy, but I suspect it was the MTV books imprint, which, IIRC, was the same as this novel I loved in high school called I Want to Be Your Joey Ramone (that book was much better/darker than this one), but it was a quick and semi entertaining read. Enjoyed the back storylines of both of the main characters, and the romantic subplot was sweet, but could have done without the forced/awkward/fictional slang incorporated (stop trying to make Fright happen, Gretchen). Kind of a "meh", overall, but the book would still be readable to today's teens. Just 2 stars, for predictability and kind of hackneyed premise, but it wasn't awful.

Amelia Volkova

16 year old me would have loved reading this book. Hell, I still enjoyed it immensely, but I would have really loved it while in high school. It was a sweet and sad story, cheesy at times, funny sometimes, and lots of lessons to be learned from it. When I saw the title, I knew it was exactly for me and I'm glad I got approved for the galley on Edelweiss. Main character, Jade, shuts out the whole world and tries not to care about anything, because she knows that's how you survive the pain of life. I used to be same way, and I deeply related to her thoughts sometimes, and I was tearing up and happy in the end. I know I say I prefer non happy endings, but every once in a while we all need to be reminded that not everything ends badly, we always have the chance to improve lives. I didn't really want to give out too much of the plot, but I think I managed well. And I would have loved for the whole world to go goth, it would be awesome to have goth parents for once.

Kai (CuriousCompass)

Wow. I recently unpublished one of my books, & I'm in the process of rewriting it. I just wasn't happy with it, and I felt like those specific characters deserved better than I gave them. Plus, readers didn't respond to it, and it just generally flopped. So this idea is intriguing to me; an author rewriting her first book due to the negative reviews it got, years out.

Showalter is a particularly polarizing author who a lot of people seem to either adore or hate, with little in-between. Her books have amazing covers, too. I'm eager to check this out as I've never read one of her titles before!

Anita

This is a "Freaky Friday" sort of setup where a teen girl who's goth and emotional closed off is thrust into an alternate version of her life where goth is cool and preppy is pariah. She learns a valuable lesson about living life to the fullest, embracing both the joy and the pain of emotions. That sounds sappy, but the book was well written, and I became invested in the characters, despite the heavy handed moral to the story.

Nicole Corazon

I can't really decide how I feel about this one. Generally enjoyed it though.
There were a few points that the author took time and effort to dispel some common mythologies about Goth culture, but then she kept flinging back to the Goth=depression pink dresses=well adjusted trope and it was a bit of a let down.
Overall it was decent.

Title	:	Oh My Goth
Author	:	Gena Showalter
Rating	:
ISBN	:	1416524746
ISBN-10	:	9781416524748
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Paperback
Number of Pages	:	256
Publication	:	First published July 4, 2006

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