by Julie Murphy
First published 2015
Willowdean Dickson has always felt comfortable in her skin, even when her beauty queen mother calls her "Dumplin'." She believes the perfect bikini body means putting a bikini on whatever body you have. Everything changes when she starts working at Harpy's fast food restaurant and meets Bo, a former jock from the private school. Willowdean expects to be attracted to him, but his interest in her catches her off guard. Instead of boosting her confidence, dating Bo makes her question herself for the first time. To reclaim her self-assurance, Willowdean decides to enter the Miss Clover City beauty pageant. She recruits other unlikely contestants to join her mission to prove that girls like her deserve the crown as much as anyone else. Set against starry Texas nights with Dolly Parton music and red candy suckers, Willowdean's journey becomes about more than winning a contest. She discovers what it really means to believe in herself.
Genres: fiction, romance, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Clover City, Harpy's, Texas
Period: 21st-century
375 pages · Hardcover · Balzer + Bray