Dumplin'

Willowdean Dickson aka Dumplin’ is fat. She’s ok with that though - at least she would be if her pageant-obsessed mom would ease up about it, anyway. She’s got more confidence and swagger than most high school girls I’ve known who were half her size and isn’t afraid to love herself, no matter what the rest of the world might think. 

Then she meets Bo, the hottie from work. Their secret-for-no-real-reason romance makes Will feel overwhelmingly self-conscious for the first time. In an effort to reclaim her self-love and get her mojo back, Will enters the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant along with a few misfit friends. 

I loved this book for its honest look at how overweight women are looked at in today’s society. Is Willowdean a flawless character? No. She’s sometimes petty, sometimes selfish and sometimes mean. But she’s also relatable, no matter what you weigh. 

I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this one for anyone who’s ever had their confidence shaken or felt like an outsider. Julie Murphy is going on my list of authors to watch.

Did You Ever Have a Family

Early on in the story, a main character overhears a catty group of lunching ladies gossiping about her tragedy. "How do you recover from that? How would you even begin?" As it turns out, she tells us, you don't ever recover. You just learn to survive.

Did You Ever Have a Family is a story about tragedy. What would you do if your entire family was gone in an instant? How would you react?

The story follows June, Lydia and an assortment of others. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective and by the end, you have the full story of what really happened the night June's house exploded, killing her daughter, her daughter's fiance, her ex-husband and her current boyfriend -- Lydia's son. It's hard to say much without giving everything away, just know that it's a really good book but a little bit of a slow read because it's so detail-rich.

I've been hearing bits and pieces about this one for a year now and am really glad I finally got the chance to read it. Bill Clegg is incredibly talented and I can't wait to read more by him.