Airhead by Meg Cabot

Title: Airhead
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: Airhead #1
ISBN-10: 054504054-X
Pages: 337
Year Published: 2008
Genre: YA Fiction (Series)
Date Finished: June 18

From the back cover:

No one cares what’s inside.
EM WATTS IS GONE.

Emerson Watts didn’t even want to go to the new SoHo Stark Megastore grand opening. But someone needed to look out for her sister Frida, whose crush, British heartthrob Gabriel Luna, would be singing and signing autographs there—along with the newly appointed Face of Stark, teen supermodel sensation Nikki Howard.

How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her—and life as she’d known it—forever? One devastating accident later, and Em Watts, always the tomboy, never the party princess, is no longer herself. Literally.

Now getting her best friend Christopher to notice that she’s actually a girl is the least of Em’s problems.

But what Em’s pretty sure she’ll never be able to accept might just turn out to be the one thing that’s going to make her dream come true….

NIKKI HOWARD IS HERE TO STAY
It’s what’s outside that matters.

First Sentence: "Emerson Watts," called my first-period Public Speaking teacher, Mr. Greer, startling me from the light doze into which I'd drifted.

Last year I started my journey with reading Meg Cabot's young adult books. I had read several of her chick lit books (The Boy Next Door - highly recommend) and her Heather Wells mystery series. I read great reviews about her young adult novels and because I was reading more in this genre, I picked up The Princess Diaries and immediately was hooked. I became so engrossed in this series, that I found myself reading more of her stand-alone books. So when Airhead was released in hardcover last year, I added it to my TBR List.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read it last year and it was pushed further down until recently when I learned book two was being released. I had no idea that Ms. Cabot had plans for making Airhead into a series. Upon learning this, Airhead moved to the top of the TBR List.

Emerson Watts is a plain high school girl. In fact, after meeting her, you will probably forget her. She's attending Tribeca Alternative High School in Manhattan and is secretly in love with her best friend, Christopher. Em isn't your typical high school girl: she's not into fashion, make-up or gossip. Instead she likes gaming and playing JourneyQuest with Christopher.

Em appears to be comfortable with her life until the fateful day when she goes to Stark grand opening. From that day forward, her life will forever be changed. Literally.

Also attending the grand opening, is Stark's face and teen model, Nikki Howard. Nikki is THE It Girl. She's famous, rich, beautiful and everything that Em despises. That is until one tragic event will bond these two girls forever.

What happens to Em and Nikki is a little far-fetched (ok, it is far-fetched), however Airhead is still an entertaining read. Em realizes that she's quick to judge based on her assumptions without checking to see if they are true or not. She quickly learns that not all is not what it appears to be as she becomes more involved with Nikki's life and has to let her former life slip away.

Airhead is a fun, light read. My only complaint is Ms. Cabot repeated herself a lot throughout the book. Having said that, a fan of Ms. Cabot's works will enjoy this one. I'm looking forward to reading Being Nikki.