Movies? Cousins? A FREAKY FRIDAY-inspired plot?!

I mean, COME ON. This was right up my alley from the get-go. Add in the ADORABLE pink cover with the cutest little chihuahua and... yeah. I was sold.

Honestly, it's so cute -- the characters, the writing, the romance, the plot. It seemed like everything I loved about those mid-to-late-2000s Disney flicks, the PARENT TRAPs -- and, yes, FREAKY FRIDAYs -- of the world.

If you're looking to recapture that DCOM (Disney Channel Original Film) magic, this title is for you -- like me, you'll probably love it!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book read slow and the characters were annoying, maybe teens would connect to them, but I could not.

In this freaky Friday esqe book, cousins switch places, a geeky horror movie fan and a makeup tutorial queen. Will they learn from this experience?

A cute book that keeps you engaged

I loved the whole takeaway from this story and how important family was in this book and the conclusion to everything. The characters were amazing and I loved the two cousins Lana and Ricki and everything that they went through.

If you're looking for a super cute YA contemporary, this book is definitely for you. This was absolutely a great mix of two of my favorite movies, The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday, and I couldn't get enough of it!

*Thanks so much to Blink Books and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review!*

i just wasn't in the right mindset to read this at the time but i look forward to reading it later on! it really did sound fascinating!

Jake leans in to kiss Ricki. She can't believe it. It turns into a awkward moment. I couldn't feel a connection to the characters or get interested in the romance.

I enjoyed this book but as it was so like Freaky Friday I found it too similar.
However, the fact that it was cousins that switched was good. They learnt a lot not only about each other but themselves, that you saw them grow. The side characters were fun as well.
I think this book also had an important message with regards to social media and the pressures it can put people under.

Ricki and Lana may be cousins, but they are nothing alike. At one time inseparable, they have drifted apart over the last year and half. Ricki is still the horror movie/gore queen. Lana is now the social media starlet. When their Aunt May decides that the girls need to reunite, Lana and Ricki get the shock of their lives.

Over the steering wheel of a 1966 Buick Skylark Convertible, pink no less, Ricki and Lana find out what it’s like to live in the other’s shoes. Literally. At the old drive in theater, crazy magic happens and just like the movie Freaky Friday, Lana is now Ricki and Ricki is now Lana. Now the girls will be forced to survive as each other until they can find a way out of this mess.

Adorable story about two teens who need a lesson in love, life and tolerance. Told from Ricki’s point of view, she is the one who felt betrayed by Lana when Lana’s YouTube channel took off. But once she is Lana, she is able to see things very differently. While Lana’s life looks glamorous, maybe things aren’t as rosy. And with Lana in Ricki’s body, Lana is able to do things that Ricki would never dream of doing herself.

This is a story about family as well. Ricki and Lana’s mothers, as well as their Aunt May have some fences to mend. The car is the magnet that brings this whole family back together, for the better. With a little bit of romance and a whole lot of fun, this is a quick and adventurous YA novel. Since this is part of a series of novels loosely based around classic YA movies, it makes for a great summer series. Watch the movie. Read the book. Or the other way around.

The perfect light teen romance to read during a pandemic. Based on the same premise as "Freaky Friday," in this case it's cousins who used to be close and have taken different paths who switch bodies. Even though it's completely predictable, it's fun...and sometimes that's exactly what we need! A novel I can easily recommend to young teens as well as older ones.

Cute if a bit sanitized and young YA/middle grade. Hard to follow when Lana was talking versus Ricki. Dragged with not much happening midway through. I wanted more cute dog stuff.

I received an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Let me preface this review by saying that I was unable to complete this book and marked it as a dnf. I tried on multiple occasions to get into this book but honestly I disliked the characters so much and some of the events that were happening just didn't sit well with me.

The premise of this book is that two cousins are gifted their dream vehicle that they have to share even though they haven't gotten along for a few years now. They both want the car on the same night for different events and reasons and as far as I got in the book they both did not want to concede it to the other. One makes makeup tutorial videos and the other has been helping get the drive in movie theater up and running again. It ends up being a freaky Friday situation where the two will swap places and I'm sure will learn more about their difference and the pressures put on each other.

Now as I said I didn't make it too far into the book. I believe I stopped at about a quarter of the way into it and the swap had just happened but honestly the characters were so whiney I just couldn't be bothered to continue. The one cousin only seemed to care about getting a kiss from her crush but only on one particular night because it was supposedly good luck for the couple to have their first kiss on that night. So she keeps dodging his advances but just makes things awkward between them and doesn't talk to him about what she wants and it was just so frustrating. The other cousin I didn't get as much of a feel for but it seemed like there were some issues between her and her mom but overall her character seemed to just be superficial. Either way, there just wasn't enough in the first part of the book to make me want to continue reading.

Ricki and Lana, cousins and former best friends, are polar opposites. But when their aunt conspires to mend their relationship, they end up switching lives!

I found the book a little hard to get into, and at the beginning I was bored. However, as it went on the pacing picked up and some of the situations the girls got into were brilliantly funny.

The characters are fairly basic, but the book is quite entertaining. An easy, fun read for a quiet afternoon!

This review has been posted to Goodreads and Amazon.

This was a total hit with this reader!! As always I never read what the book is about when I start it. So I didn't realize that this was a take on Freaky Friday and I have to say I fell in love!! The blend of two girls who were like sisters that grew apart was so adorable. I loved how each one was going on with their lives after they grew apart but each was very similar. We have Ricki who loves classic horror films and the make up to match. She's trying to get with her crush and save the drive-in movie theater that she loves. Then on the flip side we have her cousin Lana who is an online start for glamor and glitz makeup. The dynamic between the two of these girls and their families was one that will sick with you for a long while.

The whole thing from family to internet fame felt so real. From Lana having to deal with internet trolls and haters (which by the way never let them win!) to Ricki learning to go with the flow and dealing with rejection. It all felt very real. I know that I feel so much for Lana as I have been in her shoes from getting death threats and more a few years ago when the internet trolls started up.

This was a laugh out loud, good feeling, sisterhood story with a twist that I could not put down! Must READ!!


Go Into This One Knowing: Makeup, Classic Horror, Humor, Sisterhood

I really liked this version of Freaky Friday. Freaky in Fresno shows that age difference isn't the only gap between two people, different paths in life can cause the same distance between them. I loved the happy ending.

A hilarious and very creative story to show the complications of the apparent glamor that surrounds the lives of digital influencers in addition to showing the strength of family ties.

I was just saddened by the way Ricki treats Jake and hoped in the end for a different behavior from him. Apart from this detail, I loved all the love stories that permeate the story, the drama involving the car and the drive-in and the powerful presence of the evil Chihuahua.

4/5 stars

Much as I love a formulaic Freaky Friday retread, some are better executed than others. This one is not bad by any means, but it wasn’t as engaging as others I’ve read. I found it really long after about 75% where I was just anxious for the girls to switch back. And once they did, the promises to always be friends from now on, and the words of wisdom they shared with others along the same lines, ran long.

I enjoyed the author's book Pretty in Punxsutawney so much, I couldn't wait to read this one. I thoroughly enjoyed this send up of the Freaky Friday movies! I thought it was interesting that the author chose to tell this from only one of the girl's perspectives, but it totally worked. In some ways, Ricki was the emotionally "healthier" one of the two (not entirely, but at least with regards to having the freedom to live her own life and make her own choices), and it made sense to process the story and Lana's life through her perspective.

I enjoyed how the author chose to deal with the anxiety parts of Lana's story - How Ricki woke up as Lana with that weight on her chest and didn't recognize it initially while Lana reveled in the freedom of being Ricki. I also liked that the girls' moms and their aunt were part of the resolution of the story. There's lots to love here about social media influencers, family, mental health and stress, romance, makeup, identity, etc.

Don't miss this YA treat!

Rating: 4 stars

I ended up rating this book higher than I had initially planned on because I blew through the second part of this story like a guilty pleasure read. The writing was so-so, and the end was fairly unrealistic, but it was a super enjoyable book full of family, love, and magic.

Quote: I truly believe the Starlight is magic. But the magic doesn’t come from some enchanted ability to protect hearts against heartache. It doesn’t make a no-risk love guarantee. The magic of the Starlight comes from the time spent here and the memories built.

Unspoilery Blurb

Ricki and Lana were as close as sisters. That is, until Lana’s makeup channel on YouTube took off and caused a rift between the girls. Years later, Ricki and Lana couldn’t be any more different. Ricki is obsessed with horror movies and anything scary, and she is donating her time to plan a grand reopening of the local drive-in movie theater where she works with her crush, Jake. Lana on the other hand is now an up-and-coming beauty guru who is always aware of her image- especially since her mom started managing her site in the most overwhelming way possible. The girls hardly see each other anymore, and when they do, they barely get along. But when their Aunt offers them their dream car- a vintage, pink convertible- which is theirs as long as they learn how to share it, the girls must find a way to put aside their differences and get along.

Unspoilery Blurb

Freaky in Fresno is a comedic, Freaky Friday-like story about Lana and Ricki’s struggle as they learn how to see from the other’s perspective. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a sweet, hilarious book- great for middle and high school ages!

This book was really enjoyable! It wasn’t serious or depressing or anything, but it was a fun, light-hearted story about the importance of family, self care, and determination. The characters were interesting, and I really loved watching the girls work through their problems. Both love interests were amazing, and I enjoyed getting to know the boys- especially since we kept seeing them interacting with the wrong girl! I grew up watching the Freaky Friday movie, so I adored all the references and just the plot in general! I found myself blowing through the second half of this book because I wanted to make sure it ended how I wanted it to!

Overall, this was a fun, sweet book that emphasized sister (and family) connections and not giving up on loved ones. I appreciated the magical elements in this book, which is why I tried to ignore the pretty unrealistic part at the end. But I did have a good time reading this story, and I think our characters came a long way!

This book felt a little average to me. Not really amazing, but also not particularly bad either. I liked the storyline fine, and the writing style was really addictive, but some of the characters felt a tad flat to me. I did like how it centered on family A LOT, though, which definitely improved my opinion of the story! My only wish was that I wish the formatting included Lana's perspective, instead of only getting to hear Ricki's perspective,

All in all, while I still think I prefer Pretty in Punxsutawney (a similar book by Laurie Boyle Crompton published last year), I did enjoy this one and am excited to see what Laurie comes up with next!

Over all, this is a fun story that is a unique twist on the Freaky Friday movie. I like that it was about two cousins who were once best friends, but who have become enemies as they drifted apart. I felt like it could of had a little more depth to why they drifted apart and some of the issues that Lana was facing that Ricki becomes privy to when she switches places with her. I did find this to be an enjoyable story to pick up and read through, since it was fun with some surprising depth to it.
I received this book through Netgalley. This my honest review.