A review by ramunepocky
Mighty Millie Novak by Elizabeth Holden

hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Favourite quote: “People can be different from each other and still understand each other.” 

This review is not spoiler free 

I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was very fun, and sweet. I don’t know much about Roller Derby, but I feel like it was descriptive enough that my lack of knowledge didn’t hinder me at all, and I feel like I understand a lot more about the sport now without ever actually having seen a game. I also like the way that none of the characters are perfect and that they’re all flawed in some way. 

General opinion on the main character: 

Millie really frustrated me to begin with, especially when she’d constantly complain that she was bored. That’s like one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when you have as much freedom as Millie did, you can just go out and do things, or find something to do around the house, there’s so much you can spend your time doing so it irritates me to no end when people whine about being bored. I understood and related to Millie’s anxieties and self-doubt, especially when she didn’t think she was talented or worthy enough to be on the team, and I liked seeing her work to better herself and take other people’s advice into consideration. I really liked the dynamic she developed with Gables, especially as she’d been so intimidated by her to begin with, I feel like they developed a sweet team-mate bond and Gables was always helping Millie improve her skills. I didn’t like Millie’s initial crush, the age gap was a big yikes, and it was so wrong of Millie to lie about her age and pretend that she was two years older. I’m not sure how she’d managed to convince herself that Spiny would be okay with that when she found out, but Spiny flipping her shit was definitely appropriate. I really loved Millie’s developing friendship with Stork though, and how she didn’t even realise at first that she was developing a crush on her because it was so gradual and natural, and not intense like her crush on Spiny had been. It was so gross though when Millie betrayed Stork’s trust and told Pumpkin about Stork’s home life, especially considering she knew that Pumpkin never had a good thing to say about Stork and would obviously use it against her. Millie’s naivity and selfishness irritated me a lot, but I feel like she did grow up a lot over the course of the book and she is a teenager so I get where it comes from. I appreciate too that she owned up to what she’d done to Stork when she apologised, and that she apologised about/owned up to other nasty things she’d said too. 

I loved Stork from the moment I met her, she was so sweet and dedicated and she was never pompous or arrogant about it. It irritated me to no end that Pumpkin and Millie would make fun of her for being passionate and dedicated, and then be mad that she was better/more skilled than them. Like of course she is, she puts the time and effort in! I really felt for her with her home life, and I love that she still had a loving relationship with her father, even if his hoarding tendencies made her home life more embarrassing for her. I feel like Stork was almost definitely autistic coded and I just loved her so much. The only thing that irritated me a bit was the way that she completely ignored Millie/stopped hanging out with her after she’d seen Spiny kiss her, and I get she was hurt and jealous or whatever, but like bro, come on, you made zero indication that you liked Millie for her to know that, and why can’t y’all just be friends anyway. I know of course she did start hanging out with her again before Millie actually told her that she’d broken up with Spiny, and I get it was because she was hurt, but I do think it was a bit shitty to just be so off with her like that and take it out on her, without actually explaining anything or giving a reason. Again, I know they’re teenagers, and none of them are perfect, but like dayum bro. I’m glad that the two of them ended up together though because they were really sweet together and I enjoyed their dynamic a lot, and I loved that they were both able to be entirely themselves. 

By the end of the book, I really couldn’t stand Pumpkin. She was so hypocritical. Considering that she accused Millie of being selfish and only thinking about herself, Pumpkin was actually so selfish. Maybe it’s just me, but I remembered a bunch of times that Millie asked about David and maybe she didn’t engage as much in the conversation as Pumpkin might have wanted, but how is that Millie’s fault?? She asked about him a whole bunch of times, and yet Pumpkin made out like she’d never asked about him ever. Also, Pumpkin was the one that essentially forced Millie on Spiny so how can she then be mad that Millie constantly consults her about it/wants her advice/wants to tell her about it. YOU’RE THE ONE THAT BROUGHT IT UP. Millie has no real concept of friendship so she’s literally going off what you’ve given her and you made her “relationship” with Spiny so ofc Millie is gonna think bringing it up and involving Pumpkin is a way of spending time with her/showing that they’re friends. God, it frustrated me so much. And the fact that Pumpkin was so defensive about the fact she started dating Millie’s brother and never tried to understand where Millie had been coming from/understand why she was upset, and never once apologised. She wasn’t a good friend, and constantly pushed the blame onto everyone else for it. I cannot stand people like that. And when she weaponised what Millie had stupidly told her about Stork, that was so disgusting. 

Overall, this was a fun read and I enjoyed it a lot.