Whatever Life You Wear

Gr 7 Up—Carly and Ashley are unlikely best friends. Ashley's family is very wealthy, while Carly's parents are divorced and she and her mom run the stable where Ashley keeps her horse. Both girls feel ignored by their parents and want to do as they please this summer, so they concoct a plan to do just that. Ashley's parents have paid for her to spend a week in England, which interferes with her plans to compete in the upcoming horse trials, and Carly longs to forget about her alcoholic mother and her recent breakup with her boyfriend. The teens switch places. As Carly tries to navigate the web of relationships among the other students in England, Ashley has to figure out how to stay out of sight from Carly's mom. Things don't go exactly as planned, but the two end up learning some valuable lessons about themselves along the way. While the premise is intriguing and the characters are engaging, the story suffers from too many secondary characters and dated pop culture references. The scenes in England are interesting, and Carly's constant worry about having to hide her identity among the other students does create some drama, which readers will enjoy.