You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

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Title: You Should See Me in a Crown
Author: Leah Johnson
Published by: Scholastic
Release Date: August 2, 2020
Format: ebook
Pages: 336
Genres: Young Adult, Coming of Age, LGBT, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Spring, Lenoreo's 2021 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 Monthly Key Word Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.

But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. There's nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she's willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.

The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She's smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?

5 stars — This book blew me away in all the best ways.  It was adorable.  It was thought provoking.  It was emotional.  It was everything I love about YA, with the added bonus of expanding my horizons in multiple ways through double diversity.

I honestly don’t even know what to say, except that Liz was so easy to love and connect with.  I felt for her anxiety, and wanting to fade into the background.  I felt some of that in school.  It was wonderful to see her flourish and grow because of the risks she felt she needed to take.  She faced some tough situations, and didn’t always do the right thing, but she got there in exactly the right amount of time for me.  I believed in her growth.

In some ways the ending was kind of too good to be true, but I don’t even care.  Those are the YA movies I like to watch and the YA books I like to read.  I want those endings.

Mack was pretty adorable in her own right.  It was interesting to see them navigate their different paths, and try to fit together.  She wasn’t as prominent as I was expecting…the romance was definitely secondary.  But it was still there enough to leave my romantic heart super satisfied.

I think it was all the other relationships in this story that made it that much fuller and richer.  I kind of loved that they weren’t perfect, and some of them went to bad places, but they found a way.  I loved seeing her and Jordan rekindle their friendship.  I worried I wouldn’t be happy with Gabi, but it resolved okay for me.  There was a big bad, but I kind of liked that it wasn’t a whole clique, but just one girl who probably had a lot going on influencing her.  And actually, I ended up liking some of the other popular peeps — which was kind of nice.  They weren’t perfect, but there were more dimensions than appear in a lot of books.  Robbie was pretty cute, and I loved their sibling relationship.  And while Granny and Grandad weren’t too prominent, I like what they brought as well.  Just a full cast supporting Liz.  Loved that.

So yeah.  What can I say, it worked for me.