A review by penofpossibilities
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

hopeful lighthearted

2.0

This was rather a disappointment. Everyone in the book community was raving about this book recently, and I  had high hopes based on what I'd heard about this. The first few chapters failed to grip me, though, if not for extreme curiosity to find out what made this book stand out to people, I would have dnfed it. Only after I got halfway through did I seem to enjoy myself while reading this, because the plot had finally picked up. Let's talk about the plot however; it was a string of unimaginative clichés piled on top of one another. Now I understand the author was probably trying to make a point here, using well-known tropes and plot devices but putting them in a story about people who don't usually get the spotlight they deserve. I wholeheartedly appreciate and encourage books with sapphic relationships and poc main leads, also (and maybe even especially) when they're cute, fluffy, hopeful young adult books. But the predictability and absolute lack of subtilty in this one did not provide me anything of real substance to love and envelop myself in, and this was worsened by the fact that none of the characters were fleshed out or nuanced, at all. I could not root for any of them, because they felt like copy-and-paste archetypes. Yet again, I can see the reason for it, I really do, but that does not mean that your characters should be boring. I felt like loads of side-characters got introduced only to play absolutely no important role in the narrative and it made me wonder why they were there at all.
There was an antagonist who was just plain evil. No character depth, no real addition to the story except to provide the nessicary dramatic turmoil here and there, and it made me figuratively roll my eyes. I mean, really? I expected more from you.
Personally I also didn't click with the writing style very much. It was very un-literary and gave me the impression that I was reading a wattpad fanfiction or a rough draft (no shame on wattpad fanfiction! but they often barely have any description of atmosphere and focus solely on the character interactions, which is why I draw the comparisation). This was unfortunate for me, because there was not anything else that could redeem this reading experience for me, since I already did not care for the plot or characters.
Now, on to the good things! Because yes, I did think this was not a problematic or even a very bad book.
I want to be clear that this rating is almost entirely based on my own opinions, but I might still recommend it to you if you feel like giving it a try.
The romance was cute. I didn't think it was swoonworthy, which for me had something to do with the build up and interactions between them prior to them getting together- I wanted more tension, obvious sparks, some pining, a few 'are-they-gonna-kiss-now?' moments.
The friendship between the mc and her male best friend was really nice and sweet (
allthough, the whole discourse was s t u p i d as hell. I mean, I get that the letter got lost and bla bla bla but SERIOUSLY? you are gonna pretend like you didn't have one thousand opportunities to talk to each other and apologise in FOUR YEARS? that makes zero sense to me. It would imply that Jason was a huge coward but all his behaviour from te moment on that he is introduced to us suggests otherwise? Make it make sense.
).
Overall, though? I expected more from this book, these characters, and the relationships between them.
I don't regret reading it, but it is not my cup of tea.
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