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Title: You Should See Me in a Crown
Author: Leah Johnson
Sub-genre: Contemporary
Content Warnings: death of a parent (off page); family illness; main character is outed publicly without her consent
Most of my YA reads lately have tended to fall into the fantasy category, mostly because it’s my fave and I’ve been holding onto the comfort reads lately, but given how much all of book Twitter has been raving about YSSMIAC, I figured I had to read it, and I’m so glad I did.
Lizzie has never really felt like she belonged at her mostly white, mostly conservative midwest high school. Which is the reason she’s never come out to anyone other than her friends–she doesn’t want to feel further singled out. So Lizzie mostly sticks in the background and the band room, counting down the days until she can leave for her dream college. But when she misses out on a scholarship, Lizzie has to do something big in order to be able to afford tuition. And at her high school, the biggest prize is awarded to prom queen. Lizzie has to force herself out of her comfort zone in order to have a shot at being elected, but she’s willing to do anything. Her situation becomes all the more complicated when she finds herself falling for Mack, fellow musician and prom queen hopeful. Lizzie endures some intense situations with her best friends and her brother, who has a life-threatening illness, because of course, can’t have a teen book without some teen drama. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a good one.
So as I said, everyone has been raving about this book, and the raving is well deserved. I was completely captured by Lizzie’s story from the beginning, and it was both heart-breaking and heart-warming watching her go through her struggles and the journey to find herself. I think the reason I shy away from YA contemporary is because I still relate all teenagers to my former students and so sometimes it feels weird reading their stories, but as I get a little more distance from teaching, I find myself enjoying them more. This one so perfectly captured the teen experience of always feeling like you don’t quite belong. It was a lovely read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall Rating: 5 stars
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