It’s rare when the title of a book makes me what to read it, not the cover, author or summary. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality. Now, that is an awesome title, and I knew once I saw it available to review that I had to read it. And I did. Elizabeth Eulberg’s Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality is a sweet and funny read with super likable lead character. (Well, obviously because she has a great personality.)
The girl with the great personality is Lexi, a teenager living with Honey Boo Boo Child and her mother. Okay, maybe her mom and little sister aren’t as bad the ridiculous reality stars still… her single mom is obsessed with putting Lexi’s seven year old sister, Mackenzie, in pageants. Lexi lets her mom put her wants and needs on the backburner and finds just enough patience to deal with all the pageant drama, even though it’s causing them to get in financial disarray. But the one highlight of it all is that Lexi gets to hang out with Logan, her longtime crush and also boyfriend to one of the older pageant contestants. Lexi is obsessed with Logan, and he likes her enough, just like everyone loves Lexi for how funny and smart she is, a girl with a truly great personality. But Lexi is tired of just being a girl with a great personality; she believes it’s what people say to compensate someone’s worth since they aren’t considered conventionally attractive. At first, Lexi is forced to step up her game with her appearance when her best friend challenges her to the task. Lexi is excited by the reaction it gets, especially from Logan. Will she be revenging girls with great personalities everywhere?
I adored Lexi from the start and was able to relate with her on many levels. She has this longing to be noticed for more than what people see. Her best friends, Benny and Cam, see it, but the rest of the high school population and even her mom and sister don’t. The story starts off as comedy of sorts, and I thought I was settling into a romantic comedy, but halfway, the story changes tone, and the problems that Lexi at first trivialized or tried to remain patient with get serious. Her family life isn’t going well. Her mother’s delusions of pageantry are severing their relationship and family’s well-being. This change in tone could’ve felt like cheap shot for some emotion, but it didn’t. I felt Lexi’s pain at confronting her problems, her own self-esteem and her mother.
The relationships between friends and family are authentically written. Author Elizabeth Eulberg (Take A Bow) writes some charming and not-so-charming characters with real voices. The situations, though somewhat ridiculous, also feel real.
It’s impossible to not enjoy this precious little book. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality has a ton of personality. It’s comedic and dramatic and knows how to weave to the two genres successfully together. It’s also one of those books that makes you feel better about yourself when you finish reading it; how can you beat that?
Rating: 8/10
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Book Info:
- Publisher: Point (March 1, 2013)
- Length: 272 pages (Hardcover)
- Series: N/A
- Source: NetGalley
- Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction
- Completed: March 2013
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