I loved this book. It’s a wonderful exploration of misfit growing up. It’s hilarious and sweet, but not too sweet. I devoured it in one sitting, and stayed up way too late because of that. This is a couldn’t put it down book, and those are just the best kinds of books.
Willowdean Dickson isn’t the skinniest kid in her small Texas town, where beauty pageants and football reign supreme, but she’s happy. She’s got her best friend, a decent job, and a crush who may be reciprocating her crush feelings. And even though her aunt, a second mother, passed away just a few short months ago, Willowdean is pretty happy. And then life starts throwing curveballs in her direction. Her best friend starts acting weird, she’s got some weird feelings about the boy she’s casually kissing, and worst of all her mom decides to clean out her aunt’s old room in order to use it for her Pageant Director duties. While trying to salvage as much of her aunt’s life as she can, Willowdean finds an old pageant form with her aunt’s name and gets a jolt as she never thought her aunt cared about those kinds of things. Feeling emboldened, Willowdean fills out the form and inspires a few other girls who don’t fit the pageant mold to do the same.
It is just the most lovely coming of age story. There are drag queens, Dolly Parton, and rebellion against the ‘acceptable girl’ mold. I highly enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.