content warnings: racism, homophobia, complications during pregnancy, infidelity
representation: questioning main character, black love interest, latino (mexican-honduran) side character, homoromantic demisexual side character, black side character, gay side character, lesbian side character, minor f/f relationship, side f/f interracial relationship

Holy fuck, I really loved this book a whole damn more than I thought I would. This is a sweet but serious book about a girl who is 100% sure she's a lesbian, until she reconnects with a boy from her childhood and begins to question her sexuality. First of all: no, this is not a book about a lesbian who becomes straight, it's a book about a girl who discovers her sexuality is fluid. People calling this book lesbophobic have clearly never read this book.

I loved the exploration in the book of Ramona's sexuality, in large part because she ultimately doesn't come to a conclusion. Lowkey spoilers, but at the end of the book she says "I'm still trying to figure out what I want to call myself. Gay? Bi? Queer? Pansexual? I'm not sure, but I'm going to figure it out as I go along" and I can't tell you how refreshing it is to have a character unlabeled at the end of a book. All of the LGBTQ+ rep in this book was really good, and I loved how many side queer characters there were.

The diversity of this book as a whole was really great. In fact, other than Ramona's family and Burt there isn't a single major character in this book who isn't a person of colour and/or queer, and it's done so naturally that it never feels manufactured. Julie Murphy utilises her diverse characters perfectly for both humour and social commentary, and it was such a nice balance.

I loved all the main characters. I literally cannot pick a favourite. Even characters like Tyler had somewhat grown on me by the end. All the relationships - platonic, familial and romantic alike - were so well done and always felt very authentic. The stand-out relationship for me was easily Ramona with her older sister, Hattie, who's pregnant. Their bond was so beautiful, and all my favourite parts of the books were their quiet moments were they were just lying in bed together or Hattie was brushing Ramona's hair. Not gonna lie, I cried when Hattie said "You're my nine-one-one" to Ramona.

Also, this book is the only one that has ever done 'absent parents' right, because it gives legitimate reasons for said absence. Ramona's mum is a flake who left the family after Hurricane Katrina and the sisters now see her a couple times a month for dinner, and her dad is struggling to make enough money to support them at the hotel he works at so is rarely home when Ramona is. He's there when it counts, though.

The setting of this book is also incredible. It's a small beachfront town in Mississippi that's no middle-class families' first choice for a vacation, and I loved it so much. I also loved the discussions of being working class, as Ramona's family lives in a trailer park and a lot of her motivations come from her families lack of money.

In short, I loved this book and even though I've heard very mixed things on it, I'm kind of excited to read Dumplin' now.