Dumplin'

Title: Dumplin'
Author: Julie Murphy
Type: Hardback
Read: 14th October - 16th October 2016
Rating: 4/5
Published: 15th September 2015 by Balzer + Bray

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) 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 Clover City beauty 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.

I loved this book. Dumplin, or Willowdean (love the name btw!), is a girl who's big. She knows she doesnt fit in with societys view on normal, but she's happy. Her best friend is her polar opposite, but they work well together. So what happens when Willows crush, actually likes her back? What happens, when her best friend doesn't speak to her and her mums set on clearing out aunty Lucy's things before Dumplin has even gotten her head around it all.

She sets out to take part in the Miss Clover City beauty pageant. And because of her "new" found confidence, three other girls tag along with her.

Okay, so what i loved about the story, besides the name Willowdean. The main character knows she's not perfect. Willow loves Dolly Parton. And she learns that you don't have to follow the crowd. It's okay to be slightly behind your friends in all departments of life. It's okay to not be the first to be kissed, its okay to be jealous of your best friend. It's good to find new friends.

What I didn't like, sometimes i felt Willow was a little selfish, espeically when Millie and co are also trying out for the pagent because Willow is. I think at times when they relied on her for support and guidance, she seemd very into herself and didn't think of how serious she should be taking it.

But i do love the message of this book. It's confident, its positive. Society tries to put us all into a category, big, little, tall, short, etc... but really we're just human. We're all alike and different at the same time. Being ourselves is more important than what society wants us to be.

Go Get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
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