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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Have you ever read a book and said "OH MY GOSH THIS IS MY LIFE!!" ? This is that book. Now I do not have all of the struggles Lexi had, but I do have the whole "you have a great personality!" bit down pat. If you ever have felt at all like a Great Personality Girl (we are a rare breed) read this book to feel ten times better about the struggles!
I read this last night since I was up all night with puking child. It's about Lexi, a 16 year-old girl who has a seven year old sister who competes in beauty pageants. Her mom is completely obsessed with the pageant life, spending time and money on the pageants that the family doesn't have. Meanwhile, Lexi hides her own beauty from the rest of the world because she's also been considered the one "with the great personality", the funny one who wasn't actually pretty. I enjoyed it, it was an easy read and has a good message--looks aren't everything. It's ok to look good, to give yourself confidence, but your looks do not define you. The mom in the books is a villainous character, however, and I always hate that. I know it's true, plenty of moms are crazy obsessive about pageants, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable to read about.
Really fun and cute book with a lot of character development from Lexi. LOVED IT
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog
My awesome baby-sitting skills have become sort of a running joke in my family. My sister even mentioned them in her maid of honor speech at my wedding. My name is Estelle and I used to tie my sister to a chair in front of the television. For the record, it wasn’t because she was a snot to me. She just would not sit still. And hey, she turned out okay? So really, this was not traumatic at all.
A few pages into Elizabeth Eulberg’s new book and let me tell you, my sister was a saint compared to Mac. While my sister and I are five years apart, Lexi and Mac have a staggering 9 years between them and their upbringing couldn’t be more different. Even though Lexi’s parents fought a ton, she was brought up with two parents. Upon Mac’s arrival, Dad peaces out and Mom decides to bond with her youngest by signing her up for beauty pageants. And, hence, Mac the brat is born.
So not only is Lexi reeling from her parent’s divorce (still), she is forced into assisting with all the details of Mac’s pageants too. It’s not often that we have a character who is cast in the shadow of her younger sibling, and I liked this change. The age gap between the two is so apparent, especially when Lexi sees that their mom is spending ALL their money on this obsession (even after Mac can’t win back their entry fee many times). But Lexi’s mom doesn’t want to hear it. I was appalled (APPALLED) by how she dismissed Lexi’s worries and continually accused her of being jealous of Mac.
Luckily, Lexi has some great best friends to turn to. (The kind of friends that always make me miss high school.) Cam and Benny are very supportive, awesome people and I love that Benny convinces Lexi to show the world what she is made of. They both challenge each other to dive into something new: Benny is going to ask out a boy he likes (he’s gay but not completely “out”) and Lexi is going to primp and polish her appearance and see herself as beautiful for once.
In some ways, this plan soars and, in others, it backfires. Mac sees Lexi as competition, and becomes even more of a whiny brat (if possible). But, on the other hand, Lexi starts to be more social with her peers and even gets to go on her first date with the adorable Taylor. (Even though she can’t stop thinking about Logan, who has a girlfriend and never looks at her like that.) While I know a makeover is not the answer to esteem issues, I do like the way it helped Lexi build her confidence and figure out how she wanted to present herself to the world.
But, at the heart of this book are some deep, intense family issues and I applaud Eulberg for giving a lot more depth to her storylines and characters this time around. (This was one of my reservations with Take a Bow.) Lexi and Mac’s mom was so resistant to her daughters’ pleas to change their life for the better. Their mom was severely obese, and goes to some disgusting lows to keep the appearance of their “beauty pageant” life going. In the end, though, this storyline seemed to suffer with a quick ending and not enough resolution. I’m not sure their mom was capable of being a good mom. She was emotionally and physically unhealthy, unwilling to see her family for what it really was, and used the pageants as a distraction from reality. I finished the book still worrying about the well-being of both girls. (Especially for Mac, who wasn’t lucky enough to have college to escape to.)
While The Lonely Hearts Club still holds my heart as far as Eulberg’s work goes, I was really pleased to see growth in both plot and characterization in Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality. The author brings up some great points when it comes to appearance and the strength it takes to be honest (especially when others don’t want to hear it). While Lexi has a few more opportunities than the average person to tell it like it is in a public forum, I respected her for her patience, honesty, logic, and willingness to try new things.
My awesome baby-sitting skills have become sort of a running joke in my family. My sister even mentioned them in her maid of honor speech at my wedding. My name is Estelle and I used to tie my sister to a chair in front of the television. For the record, it wasn’t because she was a snot to me. She just would not sit still. And hey, she turned out okay? So really, this was not traumatic at all.
A few pages into Elizabeth Eulberg’s new book and let me tell you, my sister was a saint compared to Mac. While my sister and I are five years apart, Lexi and Mac have a staggering 9 years between them and their upbringing couldn’t be more different. Even though Lexi’s parents fought a ton, she was brought up with two parents. Upon Mac’s arrival, Dad peaces out and Mom decides to bond with her youngest by signing her up for beauty pageants. And, hence, Mac the brat is born.
So not only is Lexi reeling from her parent’s divorce (still), she is forced into assisting with all the details of Mac’s pageants too. It’s not often that we have a character who is cast in the shadow of her younger sibling, and I liked this change. The age gap between the two is so apparent, especially when Lexi sees that their mom is spending ALL their money on this obsession (even after Mac can’t win back their entry fee many times). But Lexi’s mom doesn’t want to hear it. I was appalled (APPALLED) by how she dismissed Lexi’s worries and continually accused her of being jealous of Mac.
Luckily, Lexi has some great best friends to turn to. (The kind of friends that always make me miss high school.) Cam and Benny are very supportive, awesome people and I love that Benny convinces Lexi to show the world what she is made of. They both challenge each other to dive into something new: Benny is going to ask out a boy he likes (he’s gay but not completely “out”) and Lexi is going to primp and polish her appearance and see herself as beautiful for once.
In some ways, this plan soars and, in others, it backfires. Mac sees Lexi as competition, and becomes even more of a whiny brat (if possible). But, on the other hand, Lexi starts to be more social with her peers and even gets to go on her first date with the adorable Taylor. (Even though she can’t stop thinking about Logan, who has a girlfriend and never looks at her like that.) While I know a makeover is not the answer to esteem issues, I do like the way it helped Lexi build her confidence and figure out how she wanted to present herself to the world.
But, at the heart of this book are some deep, intense family issues and I applaud Eulberg for giving a lot more depth to her storylines and characters this time around. (This was one of my reservations with Take a Bow.) Lexi and Mac’s mom was so resistant to her daughters’ pleas to change their life for the better. Their mom was severely obese, and goes to some disgusting lows to keep the appearance of their “beauty pageant” life going. In the end, though, this storyline seemed to suffer with a quick ending and not enough resolution. I’m not sure their mom was capable of being a good mom. She was emotionally and physically unhealthy, unwilling to see her family for what it really was, and used the pageants as a distraction from reality. I finished the book still worrying about the well-being of both girls. (Especially for Mac, who wasn’t lucky enough to have college to escape to.)
While The Lonely Hearts Club still holds my heart as far as Eulberg’s work goes, I was really pleased to see growth in both plot and characterization in Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality. The author brings up some great points when it comes to appearance and the strength it takes to be honest (especially when others don’t want to hear it). While Lexi has a few more opportunities than the average person to tell it like it is in a public forum, I respected her for her patience, honesty, logic, and willingness to try new things.
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I initially picked up this novel because the title had me thinking it was to be a light and delicious tale of a spiteful teen ready to, playfully, get back at her peers for perhaps ignoring her for most of the years they attended class together. Some real, dishy revenge — you know?
But it wasn’t. And although that is what originally drew me in and made me think this was a to read novel; it isn’t what kept me around and while I was wrong about the general idea behind this story, it wasn’t a bad thing. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality is a light, feel good novel that will be good for the soul as you turn the pages for insight on our narrator, Lexi’s, day to day life. It’s a great read in the contemporary young adult genre that will sure to have you laughing and loving the characters.
Through the novel you also see a bit of behind the scenes of those (rather disgusting) pageants for little kids and what living with a stage mom can be like. Lexi deals frequently with the oddities of that world via her seven year old sister and her overly enthusiastic, divorced and overweight mother who clearly loves beauty pageants more than her daughters.
I initially picked up this novel because the title had me thinking it was to be a light and delicious tale of a spiteful teen ready to, playfully, get back at her peers for perhaps ignoring her for most of the years they attended class together. Some real, dishy revenge — you know?
But it wasn’t. And although that is what originally drew me in and made me think this was a to read novel; it isn’t what kept me around and while I was wrong about the general idea behind this story, it wasn’t a bad thing. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality is a light, feel good novel that will be good for the soul as you turn the pages for insight on our narrator, Lexi’s, day to day life. It’s a great read in the contemporary young adult genre that will sure to have you laughing and loving the characters.
Through the novel you also see a bit of behind the scenes of those (rather disgusting) pageants for little kids and what living with a stage mom can be like. Lexi deals frequently with the oddities of that world via her seven year old sister and her overly enthusiastic, divorced and overweight mother who clearly loves beauty pageants more than her daughters.
Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I've read all of Eulberg's previous work and I feel like I really click with her writing style so I was thrilled to check this one out especially as I would certainly consider myself a girl with a great personality (ahem :)
Our main character is Lexi and she has long bemoaned the way that boys skip over her, recognizing that she's fun and funny but paying attention to the pretty girls. In an effort to encourage boldness in her friend, she is dared to give herself a style makeover, amping up her look and soon garnering that attention she's always desired. But does Lexi want a boyfriend who only likes her because of her looks? Adding to her situation is her younger sister's beauty pageant entries, which her mother insists they entirely rearrange their lives around and which is bankrupting the family.
So there are sort of two main stories here: Lexi's outer makeover (because her inner personality is fabulous!) and the family's involvement in pageants, with the two colliding and overlapping but which I wanted to address separately. The makeover storyline is pretty predictable with me calling most of the plot points far in advance (re: the boys) and feeling comforted when they did in fact come to pass.
The plot with her mother and sister was a bit more surprising to me. The younger sister Mackenzie initially seems to be a huge brat with the mother catering to their every whim (the parents are divorced with the father basically dropping his family) but as the story progresses, there are more nuances. Mackenzie doesn't seem to love pageants as much as she used to and the mother is seeking solace in the competitions that she can't find elsewhere. She is a bit on the villainous side (wait til you read what she does to Lexi!) but they do have some good confrontations that will hopefully lead to a better home life. When I read, I sometimes feel a little overprotective of characters and this was the case here, indicating to me that Lexi is a very sympathetic girl. I think a lot of readers will be able to empathize with at least part of her situation.
Overall: Another great entry from Eulberg, tackling some deeper issues in a smart and mostly humorous way.
I've read all of Eulberg's previous work and I feel like I really click with her writing style so I was thrilled to check this one out especially as I would certainly consider myself a girl with a great personality (ahem :)
Our main character is Lexi and she has long bemoaned the way that boys skip over her, recognizing that she's fun and funny but paying attention to the pretty girls. In an effort to encourage boldness in her friend, she is dared to give herself a style makeover, amping up her look and soon garnering that attention she's always desired. But does Lexi want a boyfriend who only likes her because of her looks? Adding to her situation is her younger sister's beauty pageant entries, which her mother insists they entirely rearrange their lives around and which is bankrupting the family.
So there are sort of two main stories here: Lexi's outer makeover (because her inner personality is fabulous!) and the family's involvement in pageants, with the two colliding and overlapping but which I wanted to address separately. The makeover storyline is pretty predictable with me calling most of the plot points far in advance (re: the boys) and feeling comforted when they did in fact come to pass.
The plot with her mother and sister was a bit more surprising to me. The younger sister Mackenzie initially seems to be a huge brat with the mother catering to their every whim (the parents are divorced with the father basically dropping his family) but as the story progresses, there are more nuances. Mackenzie doesn't seem to love pageants as much as she used to and the mother is seeking solace in the competitions that she can't find elsewhere. She is a bit on the villainous side (wait til you read what she does to Lexi!) but they do have some good confrontations that will hopefully lead to a better home life. When I read, I sometimes feel a little overprotective of characters and this was the case here, indicating to me that Lexi is a very sympathetic girl. I think a lot of readers will be able to empathize with at least part of her situation.
Overall: Another great entry from Eulberg, tackling some deeper issues in a smart and mostly humorous way.
I loved Lexi's voice. She made me laugh out loud. This is a terrific book that really captures the hallways of a high school.
This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes
Cover Impressions: The cover is cute, though a bit simplistic for my taste. I might prefer if it had something in the background, like a mirror that the lipstick was scrawled on...
The Gist: Lexi has spent years catering to her 7 year old sister turned pageant princess. She sews, she primps, she meets the ever-increasing demands of her overbearing mother. She is known as the girl with the "great personality" and she is ready for a change. When her best friend challenges her to put some serious effort into her personality, she reluctantly relents, if only to prove that she is a hopeless case. Armed with perfectly coifed hair and fabulously fake lashes, she receives more attention than she ever dreamed, including one very cute guy - even if it isn't really the guy she wanted. As her world changes, she begins to doubt which Lexi is the real one: the beautiful girl, or the one with the great personality?
Review: Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality was a fun read with a few flaws. I loved the premise and the glimpse into the world of the sister of a pageant princess. Lexi had an interesting voice and I loved that she didn't buy into the whole pageant world. She was a but too whiney for my taste and she constantly lamented her lack of beauty (which was easily solved by a modicum of makeup - really, you're hideous and a touch of concealer fixes everything? I don't think so.) I thought the sometimes rocky but always backed by love, relationship between the sisters was pretty realistic. Even though it was sometimes painful to read about, so was the relationship between the divorced mother and her daughters. The mother was truly damaged and looking for validation in all the wrong places. At one point, she made a move so heinous that I was left feeling shocked and betrayed along with Lexi and it amped up my feelings of disgust and re-engaged me with the plot of the novel. Unlike the familial relationships, I didn't feel any real connection with either of the love interests but, to be fair, I don't think Lexi really did either. They mostly served as a backdrop against which she could make new discoveries about herself. Her friends, however, had a lot of unrealized potential. They were interesting, but fell flat and undeveloped while we followed Lexi through the "popular" world.
The thing that irked me about this novel was the way in which Lexi preached to pageant parents at the end. Being in a profession where I, occasionally, come across entitled, know-it-all children, I found her lecturing to be very off-putting. Her experiences with her sister and mother give her an insight into the beauty and ugliness of the pageant world, but they do not make her an expert on each family's situation not do they give her the right to judge parents who have twice (or more) her life experience.
Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality is, ultimately, a cute novel with a good message about self-love that would be enjoyed by most teenage girls.
Teaching/Parental Notes:
Age: 12 and up
Gender: Female
Sex: Kissing
Violence: Teen gets slapped by parent
Inappropriate Language: None
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage Drinking