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chantaal 's review for:

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
2.0

2.5 stars.

I enjoyed this enough to zip through it, but that was about it. Sometimes it felt like the book was trying to be too funny, too quirky, too satirical, and overshot the mark more than it hit. The major LGBT themes tackled didn't have much depth (which is sad, because I appreciated their inclusion), and everyone felt like they were character sketches that were never quite inked in.
SpoilerEspecially the pirates that showed up -- of course they were all off putting until one of them said something to make one girl totally fall for him. It was the boys with a secret heart of gold trope ten times over, ugh.


The "commercials" were annoying at best, and I skipped over every one of them. The final chapter just felt like the author really, really wants this to be filmed in some way.

It's a great idea for a book, but it never quite reaches its potential.

(The extra .5 star is for Miss Texas's awesome breakdown, however. That, I absolutely loved.)