danimae1981 's review for:

4.0

Woke Up Like This was my September early access pick through Amazon Prime First Reads. I often pick a book and save it to read later, but this one caught my interest enough that I decided to read it right away.

The main character of this book is Charlotte, who is only weeks away from graduating high school. She is hoping for the perfect experience to end high school, especially a memorable prom. She’s a planner and takes charge. But she feels like her nemesis, J.T. Renner, is out to ruin everything for her. Honestly, at the beginning of the book it felt like Charlotte was a bit immature and was unfairly putting the blame on J.T. for everything that didn’t go right for her. I was afraid that this book might be a little too “high school drama” for me. But I kept going and it did improve. There were definitely some funny moments, especially when Charlotte wakes up and is suddenly 30 years old.

An interesting theme in this story was the “coming of age” look at teens vs adults – Charlotte thinks adulthood will be fun because there won’t be curfews and you can do what you want, plus you’ll have all the answers. But then once she experiences life as a 30-year-old, she sees that that’s not necessarily the case. Also, it’s important to appreciate the present, because you really can’t predict how things might change in the future.

Overall, this was a fun, quick read that kept me wanting to read more. While the book might be more directed towards a younger audience, there were some things that Charlotte learned along the way that spoke to me personally.