Gimme a Call

Gimme a Call is about a senior who just broke up with her boyfriend and drops her phone in a fountain. Her phone will only call her freshman self. The book is slow but its an ok book. Really makes you think about time travel and every decision you make.

High school senior Devi gets a surprise when she drops her cell phone in the mall fountain -- she's somehow able to call her 14-year-old self. She seizes this opportunity to shape her life, as the actions her past self takes immediately affect her present. And she especially wants to avoid ever

Show More

dating her boyfriend of three years, who broke her heart right before prom. But not all of Devi's past decisions have favorable outcomes and she starts to understand what's really important in her life. Devi's a likable character and it's interesting to see the interactions between the past Devi and the present Devi. The unique time-bending nature of the story adds a fun level to this otherwise typical contemporary YA novel. The premise also lends itself to some fun discussion about what you would tell your past self and how little actions can have big consequences.

Show Less

I loved the idea of this book, and of course, it made me start thinking about what advice I'd give to MY younger self.
17 year old Devorah Banks has just broken up with her boyfriend Bryan (his idea), and she is heartbroken. She is at the mall returning a watch she purchased for him, and is

Show More

standing beside a wishing fountain. She sees a poster on a spa which says, Go Back in Time, and features a wrinkle free older woman. Devorah thinks that it would be wonderful to go back in time and give advice to her younger self, and wishes that it were possible to do that. As she makes that wish, she accidentally drops her cell phone into the fountain. She goes diving for it, and after a few tries, retrieves it, only to discover that it no longer works. She pushes tons of keys, but gets nothing. Finally, in frustration, she pushes send, and actually gets some action. She has no idea who she is calling, but allows the call to go through anyway. Much to her surprise, she reaches her fourteen year old self. After convincing her freshman self that it really is happening, she starts to see some of the benefits. The book alternates chapters - her grade nine self and her grade 12 self. Funny and clever; thoroughly enjoyable, but definitely a book better suited to girls.

Show Less

Gimme A Call is a fun read. Devi is coming to the end of her Senior year. She hasn’t gotten over the recent breakup with her long-term boyfriend, Bryan, when her phone suddenly allows her to talk with “Frosh,” Freshman self. She quickly discovers how mutable past events are and sets her

Show More

younger self to work “improving” their life, trying to get into a better college. Devi is in constant contact and conflict with Frosh–Devi is adamant about removing Bryan from her life almost as much as he is about keeping himself in it. The littlest changes in Frosh’s schedule completely changes Devi’s–and everyone else’s–reality, but always leaves her memories intact. One minute her family is filthy rich and she has a prom date, then next it is back to normal and she doesn’t. When Devi’s phone battery begins to die she must learn to relinquish control of the past and her tired Frosh self.

I enjoyed both of the main characters. The dialogue was fresh and the pace smooth. There are no brilliant revelations hidden between these pages, but the concept of contentment and making wise-but-unanxious decisions is reinforced in a unique way. If you’re thinking of reading this book, give it a go.

Show Less

This is a ridiculously fun, easy to read book. The premise is awesome (what happens if you damage your cell phone and you can now only call one person? And what if that one person is you, three years ago?) and Devi (past and present/present and future, depending on how you look at it) is an

Show More

awesome, fun girl.

High school senior Devi wants to warn freshman Devi not to date Bryan because he will break her heart. And because their relationship (which covers all of high school) consumed everything--she ditched her friends and schoolwork wasn't at all a priority. So when their relationship was over, she had no friends and was heading to a college known for its 100% acceptance rate.

But can you really talk yourself out of falling for someone? And should you try? (Because remember, actions have consequences--and rent Back to the Future if you don't believe me.)

I couldn't stop reading this book, and I bet you'll feel the same way. :)

Show Less

Have you ever wished you could change your future by correcting a mistake of the past? If so, you’re not alone. Meet Devi Banks. She’s weeks away from graduating high school and prom is around the corner. It’s her senior year and she should be happy, right? Well, she’s not.

You see, her

Show More

boyfriend, Bryan, of three plus years just broke up with her. Technically, they’re not broken up yet, but they will be when college starts in the fall. Devi heads to the mall to return a present she just purchased for him prior his decision to end their relationship. Angry, confused and hurt she listens (yet again) to his voice message to her. She begins thinking if only she never met Bryan. If only they never were a couple, then she wouldn’t feel so miserable right now. It’s at that very moment, Devi accidentally drops her cell phone in the fountain and her life changes.

When she recovers her wet phone, at first glance it appears to be working, however when she tries to dial a number it flashes her number on the screen. Devi soon realizes she’s able to talk to her freshman self, days before she meets Bryan.

Devi, as a freshman, is skeptical when she receives her first phone call from Devi, as a senior. After several conversations, she realizes she’s speaking to her future self. Too make things less confusing, senior Devi is known as “Ivy” and freshman Devi is known as “Frosh”. Ivy is able to persuade Frosh into not agreeing to go out with Bryan when he first asks her out. As a result, Ivy begins to notice changes in her life and begins having Frosh alter other areas as well. Finally, Ivy is free of Bryan and their relationship. But is that a good thing? Or what she truly wants?

Gimme a Call is a fun read. It brought back high school memories and made me think about what I would have changed in my senior year based on my decisions I made as a freshman. Mlynowski did a fantastic job of setting up the plot and never once confusing the reader. It was entertaining to see how much Ivy altered her life through her conversations with Frosh.

Although Gimme a Call is classified as young adult fiction, I think adults would also enjoy this one. It’s a good pick for those lazy, summer days. Fans of Mlynowski’s previous novels will not be disappointed.

Show Less

There are certain books that feel like an old friendship. You know what you’ll get with them, but that’s the joy of reading them. This is one of those books. Yes, I had a good idea of where the story was going, but I didn’t want to stop reading it. Devi (and Devi) were addicting.
In the story,

Show More

freshman Devi gets the short end of the stick, really and truly. Senior Devi (who they decided should be called Ivy, to avoid confusion) issues edicts to her younger self, then sits back and waits for the results. Since Ivy doesn’t remember anything that Devi does that changes the future, she has no clue what to expect. Former friends are suddenly back in her life, and her prom date is constantly changing. Sure, it’s hard for her to keep up, but she isn’t doing any of the heavy lifting. Devi, though, she’s working to attain the goals Ivy didn’t even try to achieve, watching out for her friends, and desperately trying to ignore the crush she has on Bryan because Ivy’s told her where that ends.
It’s a little strange to pick apart two versions of the same person, but I have to do it since Devi and Ivy really are two distinct characters. Ivy is whiny, and it got annoying, but it was in the way that someone you love annoys you. It’s obvious that she’s made some bad decisions in her life, and it’s good that she wants to work to correct them. Devi takes everything in stride. When Ivy tells her she needs to try to work on something, she does it, even though she’d rather not. In a way, that part of her personality is what leads to the problems Ivy faces. But somehow Devi learns an important lesson before Ivy does, which makes me wonder how someone that smart could make the poor decisions that would lead to the isolation Ivy faced at the beginning of the book.
This is definitely a book with a positive message. I know that “message books” can often be trite, but this book overcomes that label by being entertaining throughout.

Show Less

What would you do if you could call your 14 year old self and give her advice - and your advice starts changing your life? Devi's about to graduate from highschool, when her phone breaks,a nd will only call he past self. And this is her chance to save her friendships, get into a better school, and

Show More

most importantly, not go out with the boy who broke her heart.
This book was much better than its blurbs, the focus is not just on Devi's romantic relationship, but her family, friends, and attitude to school her future, and life in general. And the ending was more graceful than I imagined possible. I'd give this to fans of light and fun high school realism.

Show Less

When her perfect boyfriend Bryan breaks up with her just weeks before their high school graduation, Devi is crushed. If only she could speak to her freshman-year self, she'd tell herself not to date him and spare herself the heartbreak! Well, when Devi accidentally drops her cell phone into the

Show More

wishing fountain at the mall, she finds that she's able to call her 14-year-old self. This is going to change everything! Devi tells her younger self not to go out with Bryan... but little changes make big differences for senior-year Devi. Has she made things better or has she ruined everything?

This is a fun and fluffy chick lit novel and would make a great beach read for tweens. You don't have to think too hard about it and it's no more or less than a pleasant diversion. I had fun reading it and I think it would make a great Disney Channel movie.

Show Less

As Devi's senior year comes to an end, she looks back on her years in high school and wishes she could change the way she lived them. Her boyfriend, Brian, of three years has broken up with her just before graduation. She has alienated her friends and family. And the only college she got accepted

Show More

into is the local one. Her future looks bleak. When her cell phone falls into the mall fountain and the only number it will call is her own phone and the person who answers is herself, three years younger, she thinks her wish might just have come true.

This was a fun book. I enjoyed Devi as a Senior and as a Freshmen and and she grows in both the future and the past. Though I liked the younger Devi better. She wasn't bitter.

Show Less

Excellent, adorable book. I loved both Devi and Ivy and their separate, but similar personalities. The way that the story was written was extremely engaging and I couldn't put it down. Definitely a must-read!

GIMME A CALL is a fun, quick read about second chances, learning from your mistakes, and how to not lose yourself in a boy.

There are two main characters, but they're actually the same girl. Devi, the senior, manages to call herself in the past, just as she's starting high school. She's in a rough

Show More

spot and regrets the choices she's made over the past three years and relishes the chance to change things (via her past self) for her present and future.

I really enjoyed following along with the switches that occurred in the future as a result of younger Devi making changes in the past. Sometimes they were good (like a better prom dress!) and sometimes they weren't good at all (marital trouble for the parents).

GIMME A CALL is a cute, fast-paced story full of well-developed characters and an interesting look at how high school, and what comes after, can turn out very differently with just a few small changes. It would make a fantastic teen movie!

See more of my reviews at StoryboundGirl {dot} com.

Show Less

What kind of advice would older teenage you give younger teenage you? How could it change your life?The premise of Gimme a Call was quite clever, and the working back and forth of cause and effect was well done, if sometimes oversimplified.I really liked the young Devi, who felt like a nice but

Show More

realistic young lady. She doesn't quite know what her goals and priorities are, which isn't unusual for someone just starting high school.The older Devi is another story altogether. She's finishing up high school, and she didn't make the best of choices throughout her time there. She's blown off her studies, alienated her friends, lost touch with her sister, with all of her energy going toward her boyfriend. And he's now broken up with her.These choices aren't what bother me about her. It's her relationship with her younger self. She never tries to work together with her younger self. She's bossy, demanding, and very much looking at it in terms of the ends justifying the means. She's just overall very unpleasant. I wish she'd been a little more balanced, while still having room to grow.Overall, it was a short fun read. It was one of those YA books where I felt while reading it that I wasn't the target audience, and I suspect the appeal will be higher for those of the intended age. My 12 year old daughter liked the book quite a big, although she didn't love it.

Show Less

"If I could go back in time, the most important thing I would tell myself would be this: never, ever fall for Bryan... Imagine that. Talking to my fourteen year old self. I wish."Devi is a senior in high school, and when her boyfriend Bryan breaks up with her right before prom, she realizes that

Show More

she's wasted her entire high school career paying attention to him -- instead of studying, keeping up with friends, trying out activities and clubs... and now she's alone at the mall. When she accidentally drops her cell phone into the fountain, it barely comes back on after being drowned. Once it does, it will only dial one number. Her own. And the voice on the other end is none other than Devi's freshman self. If you could contact yourself a few years ago, what would you tell yourself? What would you try to change? What Devi discovers is that every change on her freshman self's side of the phone leads to incredible consequences on the senior self side, some wonderful (getting into UCLA and Harvard), and some horrible (discovering her parents had divorced and both remarried). As long as she can contact her younger self, they can work to change things and make the future the best it can be... right? Well, maybe after a trip to the mall and a mani-pedi. 7th grade and up.

Show Less

GIMME A CALL is a fun, quick read about second chances, learning from your mistakes, and how to not lose yourself in a boy.

There are two main characters, but they're actually the same girl. Devi, the senior, manages to call herself in the past, just as she's starting high school. She's in a rough

Show More

spot and regrets the choices she's made over the past three years and relishes the chance to change things (via her past self) for her present and future.

I really enjoyed following along with the switches that occurred in the future as a result of younger Devi making changes in the past. Sometimes they were good (like a better prom dress!) and sometimes they weren't good at all (marital trouble for the parents).

GIMME A CALL is a cute, fast-paced story full of well-developed characters and an interesting look at how high school, and what comes after, can turn out very differently with just a few small changes. It would make a fantastic teen movie!

See more of my reviews at StoryboundGirl {dot} com.

Show Less

I can see why some people would dislike this book and others would like it. I definitely think I would have enjoyed it more when I was in high school, but it's still a cute, fluffy read. I do think there could have been a much deeper exploration of the themes of regret, trying to balance the

Show More

past/present/future, the bigger impact knowledge of the future can have, but for a high school fluff book, it's a fine read to kill a few hours. I'm a little frustrated at some of the body negativity, but the sad thing is that it's pretty much the norm. Still, I'd like to see YA authors making steps to lessen the acceptability of critiquing other peoples' bodies rather than normalize it. Honestly though, minor end spoiler, I wish the characters had been aged up like at the very end. It would have been so much more interesting, there are more changes happening in a person's life around college, and I could imagine a cool Jessica Darling-like story there. I hope the possibility for an aged up sequel is still around!

Show Less

This is a cute YA novel about Devi, as a high school senior, having the ability to call on her cellphone (mysteriously) back to her freshman self -- time travel! It is about how senior Devi tries to tell freshman Devi how to live her life to make things turn out better for her at the end of her

Show More

senior year (got that?). However, every time freshman Devi does something different than she did in her original history, things change immediately for senior Devi which turns out to be pretty funny -- sometimes! But in the end both freshman and senior selves learn important lessons about life. It was light and enjoyable. I listened to the audio book and Cassandra Campbell did an excellent job of reading, as usual :)

Show Less

I loved the premise of this book - what would I tell my younger self, if I could actually talk to her? The actual execution of the book was at times annoying - older Devi was constantly in a state of flux with no idea from day to day who her friends were or what she was doing. And she was sometimes

Show More

mean to her younger self (which is a bit interesting when you think about all the negative self talk we are sometimes prone to). I really liked the way that Devi began to see the need to make her own decisions and not lean on others. Overall, I ended up liking the book.

Show Less

I loved this book. The main character was great and the premise was spot on. I don't know anybody who wouldn't love to exactly what Devi did at some point in their lives. What I liked most is that she eventually learned that she needed balance in her life. I think that's something we all need to

Show More

remember, no matter how old we are.

Show Less

What would you do differently if you could go back in time? Don’t we all have something we’d like to change? Some decision? Some incident? Mlynowski takes an unbelievable premise and makes it plausible and funny to boot. Devi Banks and her boyfriend Bryan have broken up after dating since 9th

Show More

grade and right before the prom. The book opens with Devi staring at an advertisement for a spa urging her to “Go back in time.” And Devi begins to think about how all of her problems would be solved if she could go back and tell herself a thing or two to avoid like not letting Karin cut her bangs in third grade. And not throwing out her retainer in sophomore year. And…definitely not falling for Bryan her freshman year. Then her cell phone falls into the mall fountain. When she fishes it out, it doesn’t work except when she presses send, it comes to life and she has no idea who she is calling until someone answers who sounds vaguely familiar. Hilarity ensues as senior Devi tries to figure out who she has called and then convinces her freshman self that it’s her, three years later. Preposterous? Sure, but somehow it works. This funny, light novel explores the path taken and what would happen if another avenue were chosen instead. Instead of Devi losing all her best friends because she was with Bryan, freshman Devi turns Bryan down and the course of her high school career, including where she gets into college, is altered.

Show Less