Freaky in Fresno

Written by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Narrated by Madison Lawrence

One pink convertible, two estranged cousins, and a fateful summer road trip. When geeky horror movie fanatic Ricki and makeup guru Lana accidentally switch bodies they will have to work together to straighten out their lives and swap back to their rightful body beforecalamity strikes. Freaky in Frenso is a fresh take that is part?Freaky Friday, part romcom, and all heart.

Ricki has one goal: save the Starlight Drive-in movie theater from going dark forever. Okay, make that two goals … she may also want a first kiss from her cinema-rescuing partner and major crush, Jake. Lana definitely has only one goal: grow her online makeup channel to keep her momager off her back, even if the posts attract ugly internet trolls.

The two cousins couldn’t be more different, but their opposite personalities come crashing to a head when their aunt gifts the girls a vintage cotton-candy-pink convertible.?To share.?Ricki wants the convertible for the drive-in’s grand reopening, but it’s the same day as Digifest, a huge event where Lana needs to shine. After a major fight and a minor electric shock while wrestling over the wheel, Ricki wakes up as Lana, and Lana wakes up as Ricki.

Ricki and Lana have only a day to un-swap themselves, a task made even more difficult as they try to keep up appearances on Lana’s channel and with Ricki’s hopefully-soon-to-be-kissed crush. But it turns out experiencing a day as each other—with a mini road trip and Chihuahua wrangling—may be the one thing that help the cousins see each other and?themselves?more clearly.

Freaky in Fresno:

• Addresses topics such as family and friendship, mental health and self-worth, andonline presence
• Pays homage to beloved 80s movies, hilarious?Freaky Friday?twists, cult horror classics, and scream queens like Jamie Lee Curtis
• Is perfect for fans of contemporary YA, Christian Riccio, and Morgan Matson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blink
• Release date: Feb 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9780310770466

Laurie Boyle Crompton

Laurie Boyle Crompton is the author of several YA books, including Pretty in Punxsutawney, Adrenaline Crush and Love and Vandalism. Laurie graduated first in her class from St. John’s University with a BA in English and Journalism. She has written for national magazines like Allure, survived a teaching stint at an all-boy’s high school, and appeared on Good Day New York several times as a toy expert. And yes, “toy expert” is an actual profession. She grew up in a small town in western PA and now lives near NYC with her family and three fuzzy “dog toy experts."  

Reviews for Freaky in Fresno

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Take a girl who is crushing on a boy. They share the same passion for horror movies and are doing everything they can to save an aging drive-in movie theater. Ricki's determined to have her first kiss with Jake under the stars at the grand reopening. Avoiding his attempts to kiss her ahead of schedule seems like her biggest challenge, but fate has far bigger plans in store. Lana, her social media diva cousin, from whom she's estranged, starts the upset ball rolling when she appears after having no contact for months with news that their hippie aunt has bought an exact replica of the pink convertible their grandmother owned. The girls can own it, but must share in all summer. That's a deal breaker for Ricki as cousin Lana has plans to use it the night the drive-in opens and pretty much all summer. Here's where fate steps in and somehow the car manages to switch the girls into each other's bodies. What ensues involves moments of 'holy cow,' avoiding that first kiss in very creative ways, total fish out of water experiences for Ricki as she tries to 'diva' herself and lots of laughs. I zipped through it an a couple hours and loved every minute.