Review - The Girl Who Became A Beatle

THE GIRL WHO BECAME A BEATLE
Greg Taylor

Regina Bloomsbury's one wish is to be a successful musician, but when her band, The Caverns, breaks up, she makes a different sort of wish. She wishes that The Caverns were as famous as The Beatles and it happens -- just not the way she imagined. Instead of being as famous as the fab four, Regina's band has replaced them. They sing all the old songs (written, in this crazy wish-world, by Regina) and even have the same album covers. In this new world Regina has one week to make a decision -- to replace The Beatles forever and live in this wish-world, or go back to her ordinary life.

I'm a sucker for books with a strong Beatles influence, but this one didn't live up to its incredible premise. Though the story is centered around Regina and her band we don't really get a chance to know her bandmates -- not even the one she has a crush on. I realize that these people were important to Regina and that she shared a huge part of her life with them, but there were so few scenes with them that it's hard to really see their relationship or personalities. And despite a good plot, I found it hard to enjoy a book where the rules of Regina's wish-world weren't clearly defined. Was it magic? Was it a dream? Was it real? We aren't given answers to any of these questions and while that might not be a problem for some readers, it definitely bothered me. As for Regina herself, she seems to get caught up in the madness of fame pretty easily for someone who's supposed to be calm, cool, and in control... and for someone who knows this isn't her real life.

There are plenty of variations on the ordinary-girl-becomes-super-famous theme in YA these past few years and in order to stand out a book really has to have a unique spin on the concept. With the Beatles-mania going on here, this book is definitely different, but it's not enough to distract from the dull characters and predictability. On the whole, this was an easily forgettable book with a fun, easy plot and plenty of Beatles references. But beyond that it didn't have much to offer and I don't think it's one I'll be rereading.