I tore through the book this morning after getting it on my Kindle a week ago. From the very beginning I was hooked by the voice of the book: it's really fresh and down-to-earth. These are two girls who are exceptional in their situation, but they're still just like anybody else: raised in a small town in California, they have their own unique (and individual) dreams and desires.

Where the book shone, I think, was in the depiction of the town. It didn't go for the easy hooks and the easy plot points. There weren't mean girls and soul-crushing embarrassment. The characters didn't feel by-the-numbers, and the conflict felt like it arose from their individual desires and circumstances. And, in the end, there weren't easy answers, especially when it came to romance, but there was also plenty of hope, which is exactly, I think, why you read a book like this: in order to experience faith in other people and hope for our futures. ( )

Sooooooo boring.. you think a book about conjoined twins would be more interesting. This book follows the standard YA formula and is primarily about crushes on boys, "big" dreams to escape a small hometown, and petty girl drama.

If you want to read about conjoined twins, you need to check out [b:The Girls|47076|The Girls|Lori Lansens|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442872394s/47076.jpg|1007854]. ( )

This was just... yeah, not good. I was originally intrigued by the conjoined twin thing but the characters were just flat and unappealing. There were a lot of lines that were... very questionable. "I've always wanted a lesbian friend." "She's been a tramp since kindergarten." Yikes. ( )

I gave this book a 4.5 rating because it was interesting to see what life is like for conjoined twins, and how they do every day things. Its was a cool adaptation of two completely opposite people and the problems they run into with the ultimate idea of what to do after high school. One thing I didn't like about this book is how they didn't include how they probably would've gotten bullied in the real world, and in the book, it seems as if everyone at school likes them.

The book starts out with them setting up the story by each of them listing off the things you can and can't do when being a conjoined twin, and well as the struggles and ups and downs.They then begin to explain how they are complete opposites of each other. Hailey, the pink-haired extrovert who loves painting and exploring, and Clara, they shy blonde girl who loves everything to do with astronomy. Clara is convinced she'll never leave the town, until she meets the new kid Max. She then discovers he is an aspiring astronomer as well. Hailey then develops a crush on this kid named Alek, and she ends up asking him to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and he says yes. Clara overhears Max saying man things about the twins after they formed a bond,and is crushed. She then talks to Max and clears things up. Hailey gets an internship to go to San francisco to an art school, and ends up not going because of Clara. In the end the girls learn how to dance and face their fears by doing it in front of the whole school. ( )

Senior year in high school hosts a number of decisions for most teens but maybe not as many as Hailey and Clara. Joined at the bottom of their backs they each have two arms and two legs but their nervous system and digestive systems are linked. When they were young their family moved to a small town in California and tried to give them as normal a life as possible.

They were very distinct in talent and personality. Clara was artistic and dyed her hair pink. Hailey loved science, especially astronomy. They each allowed each other to spend time with their passions. Things became complicated and new questions arose when the possibility of Clara attending a summer art school in San Francisco came up.

The author includes tidbits about other historical conjoined twins except for one notable exception - Chang and Eng. Since Hailey and Clara were feeling the first stirrings of love and contemplating the possibility of relationships, I find it odd that these twins were never mentioned since they both married (sisters) and went on to have a family of 22 children between them.

I finished this book shortly after watching Lady Gaga at the Superbowl halftime show so I was not totally surprised when the twins used her anthem of "Born This Way" to create a video. I couldn't help but like how the story ended and I had hope that they would continue to thrive. ( )