Kaavya Viswanathan, the 19 year old Indian author of the “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life” novel was criticized for copying 40 passages from McCafferty’s novels:

Crown has now documented more than 40 passages with “identical language and/or common scene or dialogue structure” from McCafferty’s novels. (LINK)

However this controversy brought positive effect to her novel:

The controversy, however, has given a big boost to the sale of both Kaavya’s How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life … (LINK)

The “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life” is a lively and irresistible first novel about an overachieving teenage girl who discovers that, in order to get into the college of her dreams, she needs to have more fun. Since Opal’s birth, the Mehtas have raised their only daughter with one goal in mind: to get into Harvard. They even concocted a rigorous game plan they called HOWGIH–How Opal Will Get Into Harvard. There were flowcharts, diagrams, and endless lists to track her progress.

At 16, Opal is her high school’s valedictorian, president of three honor societies, and first chair in the regional orchestra. She even took welding classes to appear well-rounded. Her admission to Harvard looks like a sure thing. But at Opal’s interview with Harvard’s Dean of Admissions, he sets aside her impressive resume and asks the one question she never saw coming: What do you like to do for fun? Opal flubs the interview, but the Dean offers her another chance–if she can show that she is more than her GPA.

Opal and her parents respond to this setback with the same rigor, calculation, and focus they applied to creating the perfect academic resume, and design a whole new plan: HOWGAL–How Opal Will Get A Life. The Mehtas excel at anything they set their mind to, and Opal’s calculated rise on her high school’s social ladder–full of pop-culture cramfests, fashion makeovers, and a semester of nonstop partying–leaves Opal impossibly popular…and very confused.

For the first time in her life, Opal finds herself asking two fundamental questions, “Who am I, and what do I love to do?” In this brilliant and outrageously funny debut novel, Opal’s journey is a delight from the first page to the last.

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