There has been a lot of hype surrounding this one, and I’m glad I picked it up finally
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: Semptember 15th, 2015
Page Number: 384
Format Read: E-book (Live-brary Borrowed)
Goodreads Synopsis:
For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel with the most fearless heroine—self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson—from Julie Murphy, the acclaimed author of Side Effects May Vary. With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.
Dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom, Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.
Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.
My Thoughts:
You know how there are those really good books out there that you know you should love but you just couldn’t emotionally connect? That’s what this book felt like to me. That’s why it’s a 4 star rating. The emotion just isn’t there for me.
Like the Miss. Peregrine trilogy, awesome trilogy, great writing, characters and story, but no emotional attachment, so once gain, 4 stars for those books.
That being said, I enjoyed myself a lot reading this.
From looking at the ratings on goodreads, they’re pretty low. Maybe some people had a problem with the fact that Will basically was dating two guys at once. I didn’t have a problem with that at all. She’s 16, obviously she’s confused about the world, especially the world of boys.
One thing that I was confused about was that Will could drive in 10th grade, but I guess there are different driving ages in other states and countries.
I wasn’t very fond of Mitch or Bo, like in the shipping context, and my favorite characters have to be the drag queens, Hannah, Millie, and Amanda. (My apologizes if I mess up any names, I read this about two weeks ago)
Speaking of drag queens, the whole Dolly Parton/Lucy plot line was sweet, and Lee was hilarious 😉
I did really get the whole home town, Southern, beauty pageant vibe going on, which was good.
Ok, Ellie. I had a problem with her occasionally, though Will was sometimes in the wrong too. Which reminds me, I liked how our main character was flawed. She was selfish, something that a lot of people can relate to. I also liked how she took the word ‘fat’, something that people called her as an insult, and turned it into an adjective.
Will is a very strong character, and that last scene with her mom in the end was beautiful!
Verdict:
A different type of book from what I usually read, that though I wasn’t emotionally invested, looked at society from the point of view of a strong girl whose chances were stacked against her.
My Rating:
4 out of 5 stars
And that is all! Yay, I’m nearly all caught up with reviews for this month!
What did you think!? Have you read this book? Did you like it? Hate it? Share your thoughts below so we can discuss!
calliopethebookgoddess.wordpress.com 
It was exactly the same for me!! I liked it a lot and enjoyed reading it, I just wasn’t emotionally attached to the story or characters.
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Ok, good, I’m not alone in that then. It was a good book, just not AMAZING one ;P
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