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

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

I recently watched the movie Prom on Disney+ and realized that I actually don’t like prom stories all that much? It just feels archaic and stereotyped and generally anti-climactic, but I must say, Leah Johnson managed to breath life into a trope I otherwise find unbearably boring. 
 
First, the intersectionality of Liz as a character. A young black girl that’s still closeted in her relatively traditional town, what is she to do when a spunky and undeniably charming new girl comes to town? Especially when this new girl could pose a threat to her chance at winning the title Prom Queen and the substantial scholarship that comes with it? Then we remember her brother who lives with genetic sickle cell and the emotional toll that takes on their family, especially when they’ve already lost their mother to the disease. It’s layer upon layer, and done in such a seamless way. 
 
I absolutely loved watching the entirely platonic friendship that was Liz and Jordan. Honestly, the friendships in this book feel so underrated?
Gabi’s relationship with Liz should have been capitalized on more in my opinion. It was messier and more complex which could have led to a stronger and even more beautiful relationship after they made up, but it kind of felt brushed off. Like it was a check mark and suddenly, just like Gabi had feared, Liz didn’t need her anymore for plot and suddenly that was over. That was really disappointing to me.
 
 
The romance felt a little too much like insta love to me. I could feel that author trying to pace the relationship, but there was just no real space to do that in such a short book. Liz goes from feeling simple attraction to sounding like she’s about to pledge her soul and her future progeny’s soul this girl within a span of 200 pages. This is just my own personal taste though. I’m very much a fan of the slow burn and the platonic relationship. 
 
I really loved the exploration of allyship and what it means to be a true friend. How good people can still do bad things and that even though they are good, they still need to be held accountable. It’s honestly such a nuanced and underrated perspective that I wish I saw more of everywhere, so I’m really happy it was included in this book. Alas, probably not capitalized on as much as I would have preferred, but oh well. 
 
Liz’s character also struggles a lot with anxiety and I thought the representation of this was just so well done. I loved seeing Liz not be limited by her trauma and the symptom (anxiety) it bore, but how she adjusted and learned to live beside in it a ways. It didn’t go away, but it didn’t overshadow her and it didn’t limit her. So not only is she a black queer woman, but she’s also got that wonderful mental health rep. Oh, and she’s a great person, there aren’t too many of those around anymore are there. 
 
A little pet peeve I did have was when tension was created between Liz and her love interest because of lack of communication. I think if Johnson had explored more deeply the reasons WHY Liz was too embarrassed to properly communicate, then it could have been more understandable and also held a nuanced introspection on something that, again, is not spoken about widely enough. Unfortunately, that fell a little short for me. 
 
Near the end the pacing started to feel a little slow as we all knew what was going to happen and it felt like there was a lot of mental babble just to buy time. I understand that Liz was nervous, but it was a little too much and I wish it had been summed up by the author in a more concise way. We all knew how it was going to end and the rambling just felt torturous at that point. 
 
I also wish that some of the side characters had gotten more development. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the evolution of Liz, but it felt a little wrong that I could not tell apart two of her best friends to save my life. Actually, I think it was three. They just felt so inessential to the overarching plot, it was a bit of a pity. The antagonist’s character could have also used some depth, although if it was Johnson’s point to make her a racist homophobe, then I guess she really didn’t deserve any depth, huh? 
 
All in all, I must commend Johnson’s ability to revive what was, for me, a tired trope. I quite enjoyed this read!
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