Raised on comic books and classic novels, Leigh Ann developed an early love of science fiction and literature. As an adult, she rediscovered her love for not only reading, but also writing the types of fiction that enchanted her as a teen. Her debut novel, ONE, is about a girl with only half a superpower, the boy who makes her fly, and her struggle to make herself whole.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
First World Problems by Leigh Ann Kopans was one of my favorite reads this month. I loved how Kopans took this girl (Sophia) and put her in a situation that was completely foreign to her but somehow she survives and ends up making an impact. Sophia is a character in Kopans’ book Solving for Ex which meant I was going in with feelings about her – I don’t think that necessarily hurt anything but it absolutely made it more difficult for Sophia to win me over.
Sophia is very obviously spoiled. When her mother died, Sophia’s dad basically threw money and things at her and her brother Vincent to compensate and it essentially created a monster….and I mean this in the nicest way. I say this mostly because Sophia sees it and doesn’t call him out for it. I can’t really blame her for that either but when she takes things too far by expensing a birthday trip for her and a bunch of friends to Paris, her dad has had enough.
This is where I have mixed feelings about Sophia because Kopans does a wonderful job of showing us that she is someone who really just wants things back to the way they were when her mother was around and her father was more engaged in her life. Ever since he remarried, her dad has checked out even more and when he blows off her birthday (something that they had a bit of a tradition around) I couldn’t blame Sophia for holding it against him and making him pay.
When Sophia’s dad finds out just how much she spent on her party and he gives her an ultimatum which Anne, her stepmother, had a hand in coming up with. The ultimatum is she either spends a year doing service for I.D.I. (International Development Initiatives), a company Anne works for, or he will cut her off. That means regardless of her decision, her original plan of studying in Paris is off the table.
So clearly there isn’t really a choice to be made here so Sophia decides that she will head to Guyana and try to manipulate her father to try to get out of it as soon as she possibly can. Once she gets to where she is going Sophia realizes she is definitely in for a rough time. There is no electricity, the plumbing is questionable, and the food options aren’t what she is used to. Despite all that, the people she is to live with over the next year don’t seem that bad. The girls, Lena and Arielle, both understand what she is going through because it took them time to adjust when they came to Guyana so they do cut Sophia some slack.
Callum on the other hand isn’t as forgiving and immediately puts Sophia into the “spoiled” category (he’s not wrong) and expects the worst from Sophia. So…Callum is an interesting character. He has been in Guyana for two years and although his parents are rich, he prefers the life he has in Guyana to anything else. He is doing something he loves that he feels will bring a better life to those who live in the area…unfortunately his parents don’t see that and image is everything to them so he knows he is there on borrowed time because any day now they will make him come home.
Let me pause here to say that while Callum is somewhat standoffish to Sophia at first, their relationship changes over time. I loved the way that Kopans built this out because Callum had been burned before and while Sophia was used to guys falling over themselves for her, she needed a dose of Callum to bring her back to earth…or Guyana. I need to also tell you that Callum is from New Zealand and has been building gardens for 2 years…what I’m telling you is he has a nice body and an accent. Don’t judge me for calling it out. In addition to that, he wants to do something good with his life and make an impact that doesn’t revolve around his parent’s money.
As Sophia and Callum’s relationship changes, so does Sophia. She begins to realize just how different life is for those who live in Guyana and she realizes she wants to make a difference too. After she meets Riya, a fourteen year old girl who has a way with plants, Sophia comes up with an idea. I do have to say that Sophia isn’t stupid. She knows what she wants and she tries to get it and this is no different. She begins to develop an idea for a beauty line that revolves around the natural products in Guyana and in order to get it moving, she knows she is going to have to ask her dad for help. With that in mind, she begins to think of a way to get home so that she can sell him on the idea. Because Callum is the lead project manager who reports to Anne, he is also responsible for providing reports on Sophia’s progress and Sophia is counting on him to help her get home.
I loved seeing the change in Sophia and then ultimately the change in Sophia’s relationships with those around her. She definitely had some growing up to do and I don’t know what kind of person she would have turned out to be if she hadn’t gone on the trip. In my mind, this story is about Sophia finding out who she really is and what she is truly capable of.
If you haven’t read one of Leigh Ann Kopans’ books yet, I encourage you to do it as soon as you can. She writes real characters and wonderful stories that pull you right into the pages. She is one of the authors I have on my auto-buy list and I should mention that list is pretty exclusive so that should tell you something. While I mentioned that Sophia was in Solving for Ex, I don’t necessarily think you have to read that book before you read this one but please note that there are some references to things that happened in that book so if you are going to read both (which I absolutely recommend) you should read that one first. If you like a fun contemporary definitely check this out as soon as you can!
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