Review: Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Title: Where I Belong
Author: Gwendolyn Heasley
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 8th February 2011
Source: Own Copy on Kindle

Meet Corrinne. She's living every girl's dream in New York City—shopping sprees at Barneys, open access to the best clubs and parties, and her own horse at the country club. Her perfect life is perfectly on track. At least it was. . . .
When Corrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a job shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.—before the recession—was as perfect as it seemed.

Corrine is a very unlikable character at the start of this book. She is a character straight out of gossip girl, spoiled, privileged and she thinks the world revolved around her. So that news that her family has lost almost everything through a bad deal and the recession is a devastating blow to Corrine. She handles this news exactly how you think a spoiled brat would take the news that she has to leave her friends and life in Manhattan and move to a small town in Texas. Throughout the course of the story Corrine develops into a more like able version of herself. I like that as a character she does not completely change and do a 180 from spoiled brat to voluntary worker, but evolves into a more tolerant and open version of herself.

I live in the UK and therefore I don't know what a small town in Texas is like but from the descriptions given in this book I can't wait to visit. I loved this book from start to finish. Even when Corrine was not the most like able person you couldn't help but cheer her on. The story also made this very east and quick to read and extremely hard to put down. The only thing I was disappointed about was the ending felt very blunt. It felt like there were a few decisions left up in the air. It made me feel like I was missing a final chapter. This might just be me but I prefer to have everything wrapped up by the last word, however this did not ruin my enjoyment of the book as I can let my imagination run wild.