Sophomore Switch

Important questions emerge from this frothy novel: Can’t smart girls embrace frivolity, beauty and sexuality without guilt? Can’t they have fun and be serious too? McDonald cleverly answers. Her ostensibly simple, bubble-gum debut is actually chock-full of substance. - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Take an administrative snafu, a bad breakup, and what shall heretofore be known as The Hot-Tub Incident, and you’ve got two unprepared sophomores on a semester abroad. For American party girl Tasha, an escape to Oxford may be a chance to ditch her fame as a tabloid temptress, but wading Uggs-deep in feminist theory is not her idea of a break. Meanwhile, the British half of the exchange, studious Emily, nurses an aching heart amid the bikinis and beer pong of U.C. Santa Barbara. Soon desperation has the girls texting each other tips - on fitting in, finding love, and figuring out who they really are. With an anthropologist’s eye for detail and a true ear for teen-speak, exciting novelist Abby McDonald has crafted a funny, fast-paced, poignant look at survival, sisterhood, and the surprising ways we discover our true selves.