Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Point
Publication Date: March 1, 2013
Pages: 272
Source: Hardcover/Library
A hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom.
Don't mess with a girl with a great personality!
Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup).
Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection.
The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it.
Review: I really enjoyed this book! So I'll be honest. This book wasn't even on my radar until I went to the Tucson Festival of Books and actually met Elizabeth Eulberg. But I went to two different panels that she spoke in and she just sold the book to me. So if any one else has seen her in a panel or signing since the beginning of March then she probably has talked a lot about this right? And she probably told you the story about being told she has a great personality, which kind of means your fat and ugly. (Seriously, if you haven't seen her tell this story, your missing out!) She tells this story with such fun and she really gets into and with just how much excitement she put off telling this story just sold the book to me right then!
Anyways, on to the book! So Lexi, the main character, is the sister of a 7 year old pageant girl. Let me start out with this. I felt so bad for her. Her sister is literally what the blurb says she is, A TERROR! Growing up in the pageant scene made her an absolute spoiled brat! She complained literally about almost everything and got upset over the stupidest things. And what was worse is that her mom let her get away with it! Lexi pretty much had to deal with constantly getting put down by both her mom and her sister but still be forced to do everything for them. I was just so unfair. And then when Lexi tried to do something nice for herself they get all pissed off at her. Like Lexi has a job, she bought herself something nice to wear and they jump down her throat! And then they think she's trying to purposely make Mackenzie feel bad and outshine her when she wears a little bit of makeup. It was freaking ridiculous. I got so tired of reading about them doing that.
I loved Lexi! She... She is like me. Like with the way she acted in dealing with her sister and mom half the time is how I would have dealt with it too honestly. She didn't take crap from her family. She did what she had to for them, but she also did what she wanted for herself. She wanted to buy herself something nice, so she bought herself something nice and didn't let her mom and sister bring her down about that. She wanted to wear a little makeup. She did that too and didn't let her mom and sisters comments get to her. She did so much for her family and got nothing for it, so she deserved to treat herself to something when she earned the money for those things herself. She also deserved a little happiness. I mean she actually met a guy and got to date him for a while. She deserved the happiness she found in that when her home life was so miserable. I cant even begin to think about living Lexi's life. She did so much for her family only to be used and treated like garbage! She had every right to happiness and doing what she wanted to do as well as her sister. I also wanna give a shout out to Lexi's friends Benny and Cam, but especially Benny. He really helped her in coming out of her shell and in return, she did the same for him. That was also a really huge part of the story is their friendship and how they help each other be more confident in themselves! I loved that as well!
One thing I have to get off my chest is that I absolutely hated her mom. Not only did she treat Lexi like trash, but she was always forcing her to use the money she earned from work on her sister! WHAT THE HELL!!! She had no right to do that at all. And then when she took all the money out of Lexi's bank account, that Lexi was saving for COLLEGE, and paid for other things with it..... I don't blame Lexi for the way she went off on her mom for that. Her mom had absolutely no right to do that and Lexi had every right to go ballistic on her mom for stealing her money. But what was even worse, was her mom tried to rationalize stealing Lexi's money!!! Are you freaking kidding me??? There is never a rational reason to steal money from your children! Lexi's mom seriously got what she deserved at the end of the book! She deserved every ounce of pain she felt from Lexi going off on her and then Lexi helping Mackenzie get out of the pageant scene. She deserved it! I mean come on, we found out Mackenzie didn't even want to be doing pageants anymore but her mom was literally forcing it on her. I'm sorry, but if you are as bad a mom as Lexi's was, forcing one kid into doing one thing she doesn't even wanna do anymore (and not listening to her REPEATEDLY when she says she doesn't want to do it anymore) and then stealing from the other AND treating her like trash at the same time, you definitely deserve the pain inflicted upon you. She should have listened to her children and stopped trying to run their lives the way she thought they should be run, and doing what she saw fit with everyone's money, money that wasn't even hers to begin with!!!! I feel no sympathy whatsoever for her mom.
4 Stars!
