may ➹'s Reviews > You Should See Me in a Crown

gay culture be like [locks eyes with a girl] wow she has pretty eyes....... oh no I think I’m in love

—★—

- to be honest, I thought this was going to be a 3-star book the entire time I was reading this but by the end I was surprised by how much I was enjoying it!
- this book follows a Black queer girl with anxiety named Liz who must run for prom queen in her school’s prom competition in order to win the money she needs to get into her dream college. but she has to figure out how to put herself out there and deal with a crush she got on her opponent??
- I loved Liz as a character so much! her growth was really great to watch over the course of the story, and I really loved the message of deserving to take up space as someone who normally isn’t allowed any in a less tolerant small town
- I really, really adored Liz’s and Jordan’s friendship. it made me smile all the time and I love platonic boy/girl relationships!
- the female friendship was also great—conflicts arose but then were resolved and I appreciated that a lot, considering how YA contemporary has a tendency to pit girls against each other (though there was still a stereotypical mean girl but oh well)
- cute (f/f) romance too!! realistically portrayed, and they were both so sweet to each other. the blurb makes it seem like the romance is a big part of the story, and while it is important, it’s definitely not centered—Liz as an individual character is—and I loved that
- I thought this book did a really good job of introducing, handling, and resolving conflicts overall? there were definitely some things that felt like could have been developed just a tiny bit more but I was generally pretty impressed
- I ended up crying at one point, but I think that was due to me being triggered by the parts about a family member’s illness, rather than this being a hugely emotional book. but there were still a lot of sweet moments! I wish the family moments that were portrayed at the end had been more present throughout the book because I really loved them

tl;dr: surprised me! enjoyed all the character relationships, fun to read, and made me smile a lot. definitely recommended!

—★—

ownvoices reviews:
- Fadwa
- will be adding on to this as more reviews are posted!

—★—

:: rep :: Black queer MC with anxiety, wlw LI, Black side character with sickle cell anemia, Black side character

:: content warnings :: death of a parent (off-page), loved ones with chronic illness, a character being outed, homophobia (challenged), panic attacks