rattybluestocking's review against another edition
5.0
So I was conflicted about this book. I did like it, there were some awesome elements, but there were some things I didn't like about it. After giving it thought for the past day I decided what I really liked outweighed the few things I didn't like. Five stars! And I would read this book again.
I loved the girl power and be yourself elements. It was great seeing girls banding together inside of fighting and cattiness. What I especially loved was the LGBT element and that romance. It was also refreshing for a YA novel to have romance take a backseat. But having LGBT be part of the story and having it treated so normal was awesome!
So in all this book is great! I love it! Everyone should read especially young girls. :-)
I loved the girl power and be yourself elements. It was great seeing girls banding together inside of fighting and cattiness. What I especially loved was the LGBT element and that romance. It was also refreshing for a YA novel to have romance take a backseat. But having LGBT be part of the story and having it treated so normal was awesome!
So in all this book is great! I love it! Everyone should read especially young girls. :-)
roseybot's review against another edition
3.0
I'm hovering between a 3 and a 4. I'm more on the side of the three though. I really did want to like this book -- satire, feminism, etc. -- but me and Libba Bray have had some issues in the past (see how I still haven't finished the last of the Gemma Doyle books... it's staring at me, asking me why I moved on), and this book just exacerbated them.
I felt cheated of the story when, and the romances were all... it was just very contrived in the end. And .
I kind of felt like she was trying to throw every kind of person into this story. Some were interesting and good and it was great to see representation, but it also felt very divorced from reality. Maybe I don't know enough about beauty pageants, but it all felt contrived.
If the satire had been better it might have carried the contrivances, but it wasn't quite enough, and Bray did a lot of "Oh hey, look, I'm pointing a bright light at this message and flashing it on and off, pay attention here", which bothered me.
Overall, I think it was good. It was funny in parts. Nicole's story made me cry, cause I had a lot of feelings about it. I just think it tried to do too much without paying attention to the details that could have made it great.
I felt cheated of the story when
Spoiler
the pirates appearedSpoiler
what she did to Taylor upset me, which is silly cause I didn't like her all that much, except for a book that proclaimed so many feminist views, it was weirdly ableistI kind of felt like she was trying to throw every kind of person into this story. Some were interesting and good and it was great to see representation, but it also felt very divorced from reality. Maybe I don't know enough about beauty pageants, but it all felt contrived.
If the satire had been better it might have carried the contrivances, but it wasn't quite enough, and Bray did a lot of "Oh hey, look, I'm pointing a bright light at this message and flashing it on and off, pay attention here", which bothered me.
Overall, I think it was good. It was funny in parts. Nicole's story made me cry, cause I had a lot of feelings about it. I just think it tried to do too much without paying attention to the details that could have made it great.
thatoneseason's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
gingeraffe21's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
geo_ix's review against another edition
2.0
This was most definitely not my cup of tea at all. The writing style left me confused all the time, while I still thought it was clever.
The first 50-60% of the book I ached to put it down and never read it again. It literally took more than a month to read because I had to keep putting it away and picking something else, but I refuse to be a quitter, I mean I can't like everything I review. And I refuse to review something I never finished like I know some people do.
I did kind of like it, the characters ended up being fun, my favourite was Tiara and Taylor but only Taylor towards the end. I liked the Pirate captain sinjin, and I liked agent jones's man flower drugged alter ego.
The first 50-60% of the book I ached to put it down and never read it again. It literally took more than a month to read because I had to keep putting it away and picking something else, but I refuse to be a quitter, I mean I can't like everything I review. And I refuse to review something I never finished like I know some people do.
I did kind of like it, the characters ended up being fun, my favourite was Tiara and Taylor but only Taylor towards the end. I liked the Pirate captain sinjin, and I liked agent jones's man flower drugged alter ego.
woodendress's review against another edition
2.0
Eh, this book was just ok. I felt that it tried too hard with the satire and I agree with the Book Smuggler. It was more of a spoof than a satire.
ajlacassie's review against another edition
2.0
I got till 20% and couldnt take it more. Its not a bad book its just that this kind of books are not for me. Im sorry but i really tried.
jessicabeel's review against another edition
2.0
The book was okay, but definitely not a book that I want to read again. The jokes are funny but not laugh-out-loud funny. The story was interesting but I wanted it to be soo much more than it was.
My favorite part was the Miss Rhode Island story-line. Everything involving Miss Rhode Island was wonderful and felt fully fleshed out - while some of the other characters felt like cardboard cutouts there for the jokes or brief brilliant insight.
My favorite part was the Miss Rhode Island story-line. Everything involving Miss Rhode Island was wonderful and felt fully fleshed out - while some of the other characters felt like cardboard cutouts there for the jokes or brief brilliant insight.
vivianne's review against another edition
1.0
I did not enjoy this at all and I cannot continue reading this, DNF at 40%.
I was listening to this as an audiobook which was overall great with the sound effects and music, but it was very hard to follow with all the different scenes in between that I just did not get. Who were the random people in the scenes that just didn’t matter to the plot; like the random producer or the stalker guy. I didn’t care for the stupid annoying commercial breaks in between the story. Same with the footnotes, they were just utterly useless and kept getting me out of the book. If all these things were left out the book would have been a lot better. I could also not keep track of which character was which.
And then the worst was just the overall story. Even though the concept sounds cool and I love people stranded on an island, mix that with beauty queens and pageants would be totally my thing. However it was really boring, almost nothing happened and the majority of this story was just learning about the characters and their background, I felt like this story did not go anywhere and I don’t care if they’ll be stranded there forever. When arriving at 40% I was just done.
But even more worse were the characters. I could just not keep track of who I found the dumbest and the stupidest. The whole time I was listening to this I just kept rolling my eyes. And I know this book is meant to be cynical and it’s supposed to make fun of pageants and beauty queens but I just didn’t get it. If I hear one more time “Miss Team Dreamers” or “Sparkle Ponies’ I swear I’m going to scream.
It was also simply too long, 400 pages of this? I cannot deal with another 8 hours of audiobook with these stupid girls and dumb commercial breaks.
I was listening to this as an audiobook which was overall great with the sound effects and music, but it was very hard to follow with all the different scenes in between that I just did not get. Who were the random people in the scenes that just didn’t matter to the plot; like the random producer or the stalker guy. I didn’t care for the stupid annoying commercial breaks in between the story. Same with the footnotes, they were just utterly useless and kept getting me out of the book. If all these things were left out the book would have been a lot better. I could also not keep track of which character was which.
And then the worst was just the overall story. Even though the concept sounds cool and I love people stranded on an island, mix that with beauty queens and pageants would be totally my thing. However it was really boring, almost nothing happened and the majority of this story was just learning about the characters and their background, I felt like this story did not go anywhere and I don’t care if they’ll be stranded there forever. When arriving at 40% I was just done.
But even more worse were the characters. I could just not keep track of who I found the dumbest and the stupidest. The whole time I was listening to this I just kept rolling my eyes. And I know this book is meant to be cynical and it’s supposed to make fun of pageants and beauty queens but I just didn’t get it. If I hear one more time “Miss Team Dreamers” or “Sparkle Ponies’ I swear I’m going to scream.
It was also simply too long, 400 pages of this? I cannot deal with another 8 hours of audiobook with these stupid girls and dumb commercial breaks.