Reviews

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

eileenrwerst's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

swanne_h_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

indigoivee's review

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3.0

This fast paced novel is both the cutest and charming thing ever! It hilariously awkward and super adorable.

To paraphrase the author, this is the type of novel kids needed when growing up. Not only does it show the difference between being infatuated with someone and being totally head over heels in someone, it also showcases what is means to be lesbian and bisexual in a way that isn’t degrading or over proud.

The way out main character schemes her way through life, deals with her mother leaving her, figuring out her feels for her true friend and realises that sometimes being a friend is better than being a crush, shows more dimension and character than perhaps half the novels I’ve read.

I honestly love the way she is proud of being bisexual but also doesn’t allow it to be her only defining character, because yes you can be both bisexual and a girl who had to wear a hot dog suit in the summer heat to her minimum wage.

She also learns a lot of lessons by finding out her scheming to prevent the closure of her Magic Castle park is truly in the towns best interest, she learns her father has moved on and that her mother would never come back. But with terrible losses comes great gain, as proven by the new love interest, new friends and the perfect ending to a summer.

And can we please give the author a pat on the back for giving a near accurate description of what the inside of a teenagers mind looks like - complete mess with sticky notes everywhere, old food under the bed and there’s music playing somewhere but we can’t find it? Yep.

Super cute read!

Favourite quote: “She looks up at me and smiles the kind of smile that you could just fall into forever and still never get sick off.”

rapgod13's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

danicampbell0506's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

theo_rhi's review

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1.0

DNF at page 90 when Lou wanted to fake date her bestfriend to get with another guy. Really?!?!?! I can't believe this book got published. This book is really pushing that generalization that bisexual girls only like girls for male attention. As a queer person, I was so happy to pick up a book with queer characters, but this is just disgusting. EWEWEW. Wasted my time with this book. If I could give this 0 stars, I would.

sk_thrillerreads's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

ajb24's review

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3.0

Actual rating closer to 3.5 stars.

I think there's a nice, positive message in this book. It's definitely cute, but for a lot of the book I was really annoyed with Eloise's character. At times I could remind myself that "wow, even though these logic jumps she makes are frustrating, it's very reminiscent of how teens think (i.e. everything is a Big Deal, hating Jessa for no real reasons other than she's "perfect" etc.)"
But Eloise's lack of self-awareness about her actions towards Ceeley and Nick really grinded my gears and it's something I couldn't rationalize as just a symptom of "teen drama". Of course, by the end she realizes where she went wrong and apologizes, but holy shit, listening to her confusion about why Ceeley is mad at her and being stubborn about getting Ceeley to talk was painful and I wanted to scream at her for being so dense!

Another thing I wasn't a huge fan of was her stubbornness to save the park. Her determination to "save" it and raise 2 MILLION dollars in ONE summer was honestly kind of annoying. It had a distinctly "Disney Channel Original Movie" kind of optimism that I guess I'm just too old for

krakow54's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

abfark's review against another edition

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funny hopeful relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0