This book was a buddy read with Evelina @ AvalinahsBooks. Read my full review with Evelina's questions, on my blog: Flipping Through the Pages.

I totally loved this book. It was not a 5 star read for me but was definitely close. I loved it right from the first page. Though it usually takes some time for me to get into a book, it was not the case with this one. And have I told you I like this kind of reads? 😀 For the beginning itself, I was right into a high school drama with some adorable and witty characters.

Characters
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This is mainly a story about Willowdean (Will) Dickson, who is fat an decides to compete in the Miss Bluebonnet Pageant. My first feeling for Will was – I love this girl! Then came her best friend, Ellen and I loved her too. There was Bo (Will’s on-and-off boyfriend), Mitch, Hannah, Millie and other interesting characters. I have to say I loved almost all of these characters. But when you go into mid of the story, then you can feel that a few of them are outstretched especially Bo’s character. I think there was no clear focus given to his character as much it was required. But in the end, it was a book about Will and I am glad her character was well developed. There is only one character that I wish had some fair ending. That is Mitch. My heart broke for him in the end.

But my absolute favourite was Millie! I just loved her. Sometimes, I felt, she was even overpowering Will. She was fierce and strong headed. At many places, Will seemed confused about her decisions, but Millie? She was so determined about this whole pageant thing (yes she was also the part of the pageant) and even she give courage to Will at some point. GOSH, I really loved her.

Diversity
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Dumplin’ presents the story of Will who is fat and felt as if Julie Murphy has tried to portray some instances from her life too. So if you consider it as a #OwnVoices read, then you can easily relate to all the diversity. And sugar-coated? No, it wasn’t! Dumplin’ exactly shows what it is. I loved that Murphy didn’t try to write a character who tries to solve her issues, instead, Willowdean doesn’t solve her issues with losing weight. She’s like, fuck it, this is who I am and if you want to accept me, accept me as I am. I kept waiting for the scenes where she would try to lose her weight after her mother scolds her, but fortunately, those scenes never came! Will’s best friend, Ellen is conventionally beautiful and she finds herself a bit jealous of Ellen sometimes. I liked how this was shown as a real stuff and was not at all sugarcoated. All the jealousy, competition, and stuff were shown really well.

Quirky romance
Okay so here comes the exact reason for not giving this a full 5 star. Well, the reason is this – romance and the representation of romantic relationships. Millie was attracted to Bo and their relationship was going good, till she becomes self-centered? I know, the feelings and insecurities of a fat girl can come in the way, but I think that was overdone. She loses the boy she loves all because it was all about HER? Also, despite her insecurities, Will has another admirer, Mitch. He likes her and tried to become her friend but guess what she is not even okay with this. She becomes quite self-centered. There were actually some old good romance scenes (typical John Green’s style) which I wished to end well. But again, the insecurities of Will made the ends bad. I really liked Bo’s character as a lover but then I guess the execution was not up to that point as it should have been. There was so much potential in his character but I guess he was overshadowed by Mitch. So definitely, the romance was the weakest part of this book.

FInal thoughts
I would really like to praise Julie Murphy for writing such an incredible story. I would like to recommend this book to pretty much everyone. I would like to pass this book to everyone who has ever made fun of someone just because how they look. This book gives you a simple but fierce message about loving yourself and accepting yourself the way you are. It is about a relationship of a girl with her aunt and her grief. It’s about the complicated relationship between mother and daughter. It’s about friendship and what happens when it goes through rough time. It’s about the fangirling moments. It’s about enjoying the little moments in your life. It is about first love and insecurities. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

I have so many expectations for the sequel Puddin’, after all, it includes the story of my favourite character Millie along with others. I am totally looking forward to it. I so wish that there is not such quirky romance. I am so waiting for its release.

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