This one makes me a little nervous because I know there was some controversy before the book came out. It seems as though it was over a bad summary that has since been changed. Some people also took offense at how a lesbian character ends up having feelings for a boy, which is understandable. However, the book also details the journey of a character realizing that she might not be just one thing, that things can change. She doesn’t really use the term bisexual, but […]
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jo-leeene
I had a really shit week, and Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ got me through it. Strong but vulnerable teenage girls, daring adventures, Dolly Parton, good looking boys, and really good writing took me away from most of my woes. The stinky farts after my dog got into some garbage were inescapable. Willowdean, known as Will to most, and Dumplin’ to her mother is growing up in a small town in west Texas. Will is fat. It bothers her mother, a former beauty queen who runs […]
Find out who you are and do it on purpose
3.5 stars Willowdean “Will” Dickson is a teenager in a small town in Texas, with nothing much to recommend it, except being home of the oldest beauty pageant in the state (possibly the country, I don’t remember). The Miss Teen Bluebonnet is a big deal and Will’s mother’s biggest claim to fame is that she won it when she was young, and still fits into the evening dress she wore. She now wears it every year, as she presents the pageant. Will is not skinny […]
Growing up Texas
So this is yet another great read thanks to all of you lovelies. I would never in a million years have picked this one up, but when y’all keep raving I reconsider (as long as it’s not horror, I don’t do horror). The audiobook version is great, and I was immensely entertained for a few days in the car. This is the story of Willowdean Dixon. Willowdean is a teenager in small town Texas just trying to make it through high school. She has a […]
Bringing a little FNL back into my life is always a good thing.
A few years back, when I still had a toddler that took naps, I used to have enough time to watch one episode of Netflix TV (sometimes two, if it was a good sleep day) every morning. I’d fold laundry or do arm weights or something, so I felt like I was getting something of use done. And then I discovered Friday Night Lights. Once I found myself in the world of Mr. & Mrs. Coach, Matt Saracen and Landry, and Tim Riggins, that was […]
I wanna be in the room where it happens
This book was super cute and sort of made me feel like I was on the verge of tears the entire time? Part of that was PMS, sure, but another big part of that is that reading this sort of felt like someone was poking me right in the center of my cold, dead heart. Which is uncomfortable. Willowdean is a fat (she doesn’t say overweight, she doesn’t see anything wrong with describing herself as fat) teenager living in a small Texas town as obsessed […]