“I hate seeing fat girls on TV or in movies, because the only way the world seems to be okay with putting a fat person on camera is if they’re miserable with themselves or if they’re the jolly best friend. Well, I’m neither of those things. ..”

I liked the message behind Dumplin’ a lot. It’s great to see a body positive YA protagonist with sass. I also have a weird obsession with beauty pageants. It seems like this should have been the perfect book for me…but it fell a bit short. The pageant really isn’t a huge part of the story. It’s more about relationships: Will and her mother, Will and her coworker/kinda boyfriend Bo, Will and best friend Ellen. The story isn’t bad by any means, but I really wanted to read about the pageant! Will just enters to get back at her mom, who runs the pageant, and then she doesn’t exert any effort to find a dress, pick a talent, anything. Sorry to vent so much, it really frustrated me. Please don’t promise me beauty pageants and give me a heap of relationship drama and not talking about your feelings (Or at least give me a heads up).

You can read my full review here.