28. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality - Elizabeth Eulberg

2013, Scholastic

paper $9.99

265 pgs.

YA Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Finished 5/18/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.65

My Rating: 3/ I guess I'd have to say I liked it

TPPL

Setting: Dallas suburb

1^st sentence/s:  "Applying butt glue to my sister's backside is, without question, not the first way I'd choose to spend a weekend."

My comments:  This story definitely got its point across.  There were some parts that were a little difficult to handle (the mom was such a mess!) that I was just plain pissed part of the time I read this. There are so many parents out there that use their children.  This is really a story of abuse and bullying.  It also has the component of learning about yourself as your grow older, a "coming-of-age" sensibility, with all character-types covered - the gay kid, the great friend, the bully, the crush, the perfect-person-for-you-but-you-don't-see-it-till-the-end, the difficult sibling that you really do love - no minority, though.  But this is coming from an adult.  I wonder what teenagers will think of this book?
     There was another element that made me wonder.  Lexi's mother doesn't listen to her, or her sister Mackenzie, but she is clever and strong and at the end comes up with an in-your-face-no-holes-barred way.  But why doesn't she take a stand - a real stand - before that?  Just saying no.  She wants to please, I guess.  This book really does get one thinking - enraged, too.....

Goodreads Summary:  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.