What I Like About Me

by Jenna Guillaume

Plus-sized sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin never thought she had the figure to compete in a beauty pageant, but this vacation is about to change everything.

Maisie has spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone: her gorgeous best friend, her pageant-winning sister, and definitely her longtime crush. Never one to jump in the water, Maisie is planning on taking it easy while her friends chill at the beach.

But then her BFF starts flirting with the boy she's always loved, her older sister comes home and steals the spotlight, and Maisie has found herself pushed aside like usual. Except now, she's had enough. After forging new friendships, Maisie takes the deep dive and enters the local Miss Teen Queen. Now, with all eyes on her, can Maisie prove she has a place in the spotlight?

This contemporary young adult novel is as relatable as it is charming and Maisie's realistic journey towards confidence and self-love will draw readers in as she learns how to celebrate all of herself.

• ISBN10: 1682631605
• ISBN13: 9781682631607
• Publish Date: 7 April 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Peachtree Publishers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781682631607

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Maisie had always looked forward to spending summer break at the beach with her family and the family of her mom's best friend. However, this year's vacation was off to a terrible start. Her father was absent, and her best friend was gaining the attention of Maisie's long time crush. But, oddly enough, it was her mandatory writing assignment, which helped Maisie through it all. Who knew that completing her school discovery journal would lead to Maisie discovering herself.

This book was pure joy for me! I swear! I had a smile on my face from beginning to end, and here are five reasons I found this book such an utter delight.

1. Maisie was fantastic! I swear, if Maisie was a real person, I would want to be her friend. She was witty and kind, and her observations, though usually delivered in a humorous way, were spot on.

2. Beamer

[Kelly]

17th March 2019.
The day I fell in love with Maisie Martin.

Good day to you Discovery Journal.

Unlike Maisie Martin, I am writing this journal entry entirely of my own free will. Maisie on the other hand is being forced under extreme parental duress to write in her school appointed, fire breathing teacher approved journal each day. That's what happens when your mother is also a teacher, you can never escape school.

Now I'm sure Maisie will tell you that even though her father is staying in the city, working, this summer promises to be epic as she's allowed to invite totally gorgeous best friend Anna along for company. More like a buffer against her overbearing mother and her almost but not quite estranged yet perfect sister who is bringing her new and probably equally as perfect girlfriend to Cobbers Bay. Not that Maisie plans on spending time with either of them, it's summer which means sun, sand, dodgy barbecues watching others swim like a totally non perverted creeper and summer crushes. For the last few years Maisie has been making serious heart eyes at smoking hot, resting dreamy faced Sebastian Lee. If only his annoyingly flatulent best friend Beamer wasn't always around. That and if Maisie could work up the courage to take a chance.

Discovery Journal, I feel that. At sixteen and convinced I was the ugly friend, you know the one. She's the funny but less attractive sidekick and she most certainly never gets the boy. Even as a married adult who's reasonably confident and no longer the ugly friend, you still convince yourself that people only like you in small doses. Which is bullshit. Sometimes you just need to pull up your Maisie pants and realise that is people don't like you then that's their own damn fault for not spending the time getting to know you. The difference between us at sixteen is that Maisie is about to have the summer of her life.

I think most of us have had a friend like Anna. She's beautiful, popular and although you don't spend much time together any more since she started dating, you'll always be there for her. Especially during the breakup with her dickhead boyfriend when she's utterly miserable. Because that's just what friends do, only Anna seems to be spending more time with resting dreamy face Sebastian than she is Maisie. Maisie is so not okay with this recent development because you should be happy when your hot heartbroken friend starts hooking up with your hot forever crush. Best friends, the reason why we can't have nice things.

Maisie is hitching up those britches and making new friends, proving that you can't keep a good woman down. Leila is a local, a fashion designer and just bloody fabulous. Discovery Journal, this is why you you need friends that empower you and at the risk of breaking into a rendition of Wing Beneath My Wings, friends that help you soar. They don't suck face with your crush fully knowing how so not over him that you are.

Don't get me wrong Discovery Journal, Sebastian is a stand up guy but what happens when all the things Maisie thinks she loves about him, he isn't actually worthy of... Unexpected shit happens with delightful results. Now the real sucking face begins. Like an Italian chef, I am kissing my fingers to show you how delicious these developments are. Have at it girl.

Maisie is the heroine. She's me at sixteen, she's probably you at sixteen, she's the girl that lives next door or the girl that sits in front of you in social studies while you draw genitals in your text book. She's the girl with moxie and doesn't know it, the girl who is constantly evolving and finding herself. She's the girl who'll set the world ablaze, who deserves more than the assholes trying to extinguish her fire. She's the fat, funny and beautiful girl. She's us.

What I Like About Me is a feel great, utterly charming read about friendship, finding love and finding yourself along the way. It's about loving yourself and stuff what anyone else thinks. It's confidence building, it's empowering and it's embracing your inner Maisie and unleashing her on the world.

It's everything.
Love, Kelly.