Second Skin by Jessica Wollman

Summmary from Amazon:

Beauty is only skin deep. Popularity goes much deeper. . . .

Appearances can be deceiving. Sam Klein’s found that out firsthand. All she wanted was to be popular. But sometimes what we want is the absolute worst thing for us.

Sam discovers that Kylie, It-girl of Woodlawn High, owes her popular status not to her expensive clothes, highlighted hair, and spot on the cheerleading squad but to a magical second skin. Nobody can actually see it—but they can feel it. And if you’re wearing the skin, you feel incredible. Invincible. Popularity is yours.

So Sam stole the skin from Kylie. Now she’s the most popular girl at school, while Kylie’s social life takes a serious hit. Sam can barely recognize herself. Her old geek clique is history—but are her new friends really people she can count on? The skin is clinging tighter to her each day . . . can Sam get it off before it’s too late?

Review:

Second Skin was an intriguing read that continually held my attention, but it was a bit.... strange and weird, at times.

Second Skin is based on the idea that every It-girl out there didn't just get that way on her on, instead she has a second skin made of polestar, which gives her the magic to be popular, loved, and envied by all. Yeah, as said above, it was certainly interesting, but strange at the same time. Though the one good thing that came from it's weirdness is that it made me constantly curious about all things evolving the skin, which made this a fast paced read.

I liked Jess in a lot in the beginning, because she was a unique girl who had her friends backs constantly. Though, as the story continued, and she got so obsessed with popularity that she did a complete 180 degree turn; she changed into someone who instead was unoriginal, annoying, and the absolute worst characteristic of all -selfish. This change lead me not to like her for most of the rest of the book because she constantly was a witch to everyone who truly cared about her instead vying for the attention of the elite. Thankfully, she did finally get her head screwed back place by the end allowing me to have a little bit of respect for her.

On the other hand, I liked her two best friends, Alex and Gwen, a lot as well as Kylie. All of them stood on there own, and I always was happy to see scenes that contained them.

Probably the most important thing that came from this book was the message that popularity truly isn't everything; instead it's better if you have a few really fantastic friends who always have your pack, not people who are constantly trying to rip you down and replace you. While I do always think this message is important, it's one that's been talked about so many times, it's become a bit unoriginal over time. I mean a story that contained someone seeing that popularity truly was everything that they could ever want, now that could be original.

In all, Second Skin is a great in between read, but it certainly not something you should rush to buy ASAP. Though, with saying that, I think I may still continue to read more by Ms. Wollman because she does have interesting ideas, even if the execution isn't always up to par.
 
Grade: C

Second Skin is now out!

Source: Author/Pulbisher. Thanks Jessica/ Random House!

Further Links:

Jessica's Website