Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
10:30:00 AM |
| Goodreads |
"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.
With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart."
I gave this book a 4 out 5 star rating on Goodreads, but really it's like a 3.5. There were certain moments that were not the best, but overall the good parts balanced them out. If you're looking for a fun yet touching read, I recommend Dumplin' to you. If you're a bigger girl looking for someone to look up to, I would say "meh". While Will's struggles with her self-image in her relationship seem pretty realistic to a not-so-skinny girl like myself, I think the actual relationship is a little far fetched. Right off the bat, our love interest is set up to be so far out of the main characters league, yet he conveniently falls madly in love with her? I don't really buy it to be honest, but if you're into a whirlwind-dream type of romance, maybe you will. Another problem I had with this was Ellen, Willowdean's best friend, and Will's entire relationship. It started off very cute and I thought it would be a highlight of the book, but it took a really disappointing turn. Will has a lot of jealously towards Ellen because Ellen is so much skinnier and therefore "prettier" and takes it out and a really unfriendly way. That whole situation really bothers me. There are so many different aspects and plotline in this book that I can't even begin to describe without spoiling them, but one really heart warming plotline is Willowdean's aunt Lucy, who was over 400 pounds and died of a heart attack. I thought the story was tragic, and the different ways that Will and her mom were dealing with the tragedy really hit the spot in the feels department. Comedy-wise, the book definitely has more than a handful of funny moments, but it isn't what I would call a funny book. The book is definitely on the more serious side with a sprinkle of just complete silliness. Like I said before, I think this is 3.5/4 star book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone on the fence about reading it or whoever else who wanted to see if it was any good!
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-Tyler|@perfectabeth__
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