Mammoth by Jill Baguchinsky

Mammoth

by Jill Baguchinsky

The summer before her junior year, paleontology geek Natalie Page lands a coveted internship at an Ice Age dig site near Austin, Texas. Natalie, who’s also a plus-size fashion blogger, depends on the retro style and persona she developed to shield herself from her former bullies, but vintage dresses and designer heels aren’t compatible with digging for fossils.

But nothing is going to dampen her spirit. She’s exactly where she wants to be, and gets to work with her hero, the host of the most popular paleontology podcast in the world. And then there’s Chase, the intern, who’s seriously cute, and Cody, a local boy who’d be even cuter if he were less of a grouch.

It’s a summer that promises to be about more than just mammoths.

Until it isn’t.

When Natalie’s paleontologist hero turns out to be anything but, and steals the credit for one of her accomplishments, she has to unearth the confidence she needs to stand out in a field dominated by men. To do this, she’ll have to let her true self shine, even if that means defying the rules and risking her life for the sake of a major discovery. While sifting through dirt, she finds more than fossils—she finds out that she is truly awesome.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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Right before entering high school, Natalie underwent a transformation from Fat Nat to Awesome Natalie. Makeup and fashion became her armor, protecting her both physically and emotionally from the judgement of others. However, during her summer internship, she discovered she was more than the hair, clothes, and makeup, and she was awesome with or without it all.

• Pro: Natalie was driven, determined, and resilient. She was very likable and her exuberance for vintage clothing and paleontology made me excited about vintage clothing and paleontology. I also felt her struggle with her body image was realistic, because I know I feel the same way and exhibit many of the same behaviors as those described in the book.

• Pro: Our fine protagonist made a few bad decisions over the course of this story. However, Baguchinsky did not let her get away with anything. Nat suffered consequences for her actions, and I was glad to see she had to pay for her mistakes.

• Pro: I love science, and was therefore, very excited to see such a fabulous STEM-girl story. Not only did we hear of Natalie's love for paleontology, but there was a lot of science incorporated into the story. My area of study were the physical sciences, so I really enjoyed learning more about paleontology.

• Pro: Fossilista was awesome! Natalie's blog posts were a fun touch to the story, and the Look of the Day graphics were a nice peek at Nat in her full armor.

• Pro: Growth! Natalie was living by the motto "fake it, till you make it", but over the course of the internship, she grew more confident, and began to show more of her true self. I loved watching her slowly shed pieces of "Awesome Natalie" as she grew to realize her true worth.

• Pro: Though it was a smaller part of the story, there was a cute romance in there, and I totally shipped Natalie and this guy.

Overall: A story of one girl's journey to find her true self, which was filled with fun, fashion, and "paleo-squeals".

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 9 October, 2018: Finished reading
  • 9 October, 2018: Reviewed