Short and...not sweet?

Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I couldn't write a review immediately after reading this book because I honestly couldn't decide what to make of it. On some levels, it was good--it was a fast read, funny at times, an interesting connection to the pageant world for anyone who's seen Toddlers&Tiaras, and explored some emotional issues that a teenager or someone who works with teens could easily connect to.

But...it wasn't entirely believable. In the real world, yes, someone could be friends with a lot of guys and not date anyone, but that doesn't necessarily make them "popular" as the book's summary describes. In fact, that kind of girl usually has a hard time making friends with other girls. And adding a little make-up and the right kind of clothes doesn't suddenly get you a guy and "in." I sort of hated that this was the lesson being portrayed, even if it was later revealed that it wasn't just the make-up that got Lexi the guy. It's just that essentially what this book seems to say is that you need make-up and pretty clothes to make you feel confident enough to have that great personality that then gets you the guy you want.

Plus...and this is what swung it from four to three stars for me, the ending sucked. Majorly. Just dropped us off a cliff with nothing really resolved except how Lexi feels about herself. And even that's not entirely resolved.

General summary: Lexi is emotionally scarred and overlooked in favor of her younger sister, who's been chained to pageants since babyhood. Lexi refuses to make any effort with clothing, hair, etc., until in her attempt to get a friend together with a guy, she finds the tables turned on her. She starts wearing make-up and cute clothes, gets in with the in crowd and gets one of the 'it' guys, but has to figure out not only if this is really what she wants, but also if she can take anymore of being her younger sister's cheerleader as well as the disappointing daughter in her mom's eyes.

I don't know, it was okay, but nothing amazing.

This digital copy of Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality was given to me by NetGalley & Scholastic in exchange for an honest review.

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