(Airhead Book 3)
By Meg Cabot
Published by MacMillan in 2010
Genre: YA
PB: 275 pages
Bought in Waterstones or WH Smith (can't remember!)
Runaway is the third and last part of the Airhead trilogy written by Meg Cabot. I have reviewed both Airhead (here) and Being Nikki (here). I will try keeping my review spoiler free but I highly suggests you don't read the following if you haven't read Airhead or Being Nikki!
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The Airhead trilogy is about Emerson Watts, a geeky teenage girl whose brain is put in the body of Nikki Howard, the hit girl of the moment. The first book is about Em trying to get over the whole weirdness of the situation and learn how to live a new life. She gets to grips with being a model and having everyone touch you and see you naked, as well as try to handle Nikki's love life which was insanely busy when Nikki was using her own body. But even during the first book, Em starts questioning the whole brain transplant thing and especially her employer Stark enterprises. Being Nikki, the second book in the trilogy, becomes more and more a thriller and much less a chick lit book. Em starts to investigates the Hows and the Whys and finds some startling things about Stark.
Runaway picks up at the end of Being Nikki where Em realise that the real Nikki is still very much alive (her brain was transplanted in another body) and that Brandon Stark, Nikki's on and off boyfriend has found out the conspiracy truth and is blackmailing Em (in Nikki's body) to come with him. Em doesn't know how but she is determined to take Stark down.
I have really fallen for this series and I am really happy that I loved the third volume as much as the two previous ones! There are classic chick lit themes, but there is also so much more in this series that I really can't encourage you enough to read it!
I have to admit that this series is the first (and only!) Meg Cabot books I have read and I have definitely become a fan of her style! She is funny, witty and has a knack for pinpointing how teenage girls are!
I will only repeat here what I already said about the two previous books so I'll keep this short! I still love the characters, the writing, the pace of the story and the humour!
About the serious issues treated in the background (i.e. the brain transplant and the dodgy dealings of that evil Stark) are really fascinating. You are going to be amazed! I like how in some ways it feels like a futuristic/scifi story and how, when you think about it, this could totally be happening right now without us knowing!
I like how self-perception is portrayed in this book. I feel that it is very important to be said (repeatedly and continuously) to teenage girls not to think there is a single way to be pretty. As Charlotte Brontë beautifully put it in Jane Eyre, "Beauty is in the eye of the gazer".
Emerson is a great heroine to follow and she has a heart of gold. Her sister Frida is wonderful as well as her friend Lulu (I absolutely *love* Lulu!). There are some truly laugh out loud moments as well as some edge-of-the-seat action and you will devour this book in one sitting, not being able to put it down!
Enough gushing! Anyone who likes their YA chick lit and Meg Cabot needs to read this series, the others should honestly give it a try :)
I loved this book too, and I agree about Frida and Lulu! Thanks for a great review that brought back happy memories!
ReplyDeleteThe only viewable problem I had with this series is it could have been a one book storyline. But other than that I sincerely enjoyed reading, Runaway is a fast pace, fun, read that makes you want to smile.
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