Review: Skinny by Donna Cooner

SKINNY
By: Donna Cooner
Published By: Point
Release Date: Oct. 1, 2012
Series: None
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Find your voice.

Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.

But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.

With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.



I don't always read books about body image, but since I was tired of seeing every main character make it a point to say she was small, and being in the process of trying to lose weight myself, I decided that this would be my next book to read. Now, not only am I glad I read it, but also I am beyond thrilled that there is a YA book like this out in the world for others to read.

Ever Davis is fifteen years old...and weighs 302 pounds. Since her mother's death, she's found comfort in and relived memories through food, and the effects show in the numbers on the scale. Wanting a chance at a normal life, and with the support of friends and family, she decides to have the surgery. Only the surgery isn't quite a magical fix - Ever still has work to do. And even the surgery couldn't get rid of Skinny, the voice in Ever's head telling her that she will never be thin enough, that she simply isn't good enough. Skinny has made Ever believe the worst about herself and most of those around her. As Ever begins to lose weight, she finds herself accepted by new people and leaving some of those from her old life behind. But will that really make her happy? More importantly, can she ever truly recover without confronting Skinny?

While reading Skinny, I kept being struck by how believable and accurate this book was. The teasing and hardships Ever endured when she was overweight, the struggle that came with her weight loss, and the feelings of alienation she dealt with all felt very real. Even the characters seemed real; almost all of them were portrayed not as overwhelmingly good or bad, but rather as normal people with their own perceptions and their own issues. Throughout the book, I really felt a kinship with Ever. Being overweight myself and also a singer, her struggles reminded me of some of the things I've been through. I appreciated how Ever began to confront Skinny over the course of the book, how she started to question the perceptions she'd always held and became open to new ideas. In addition to Ever, I really liked how Briella's character was developed. Briella showed that sometimes you have to look beyond appearances to truly see a person, and that sometimes you could be pleasantly surprised by what you find. Then there was Rat, the adorable nerdy guy who was always such a good friend. It was nice to see a guy like that in the male lead for a change, and I loved what a good friend he was to Ever.

There are so many reasons to read this book. If you're overweight, while reading the book you don't feel alone, and if you're thin, for a while you see what it's like when weight really is an issue. Yet Skinny is really one of those books that everyone should read, regardless of size. Everyone has something that makes them feel bad, some way that they wish they could be better, and Skinny looks at these issues. It was a good reminder that we are always our own worst enemies, but we have the power to change the things that we tell ourselves.

This book was a fast read, but I've found myself thinking about it in the days since I finished it. I'm sure this story will stick with me for a long time. Skinny is definitely worth reading, and I will look for more from Donna Cooner in the future.

Review: Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg

REVENGE OF THE GIRL WITH THE GREAT PERSONALITY
By: Elizabeth Eulberg
Published By: Point
Release Date: March 1, 2013
Series: None
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Netgalley
Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads Summary: A hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom.

Don't mess with a girl with a great personality!

Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup).

Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection.

The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it.



I have most of Elizabeth Eulberg's books, but this is the first one that I've read. I was looking forward to this book, but it didn't turn out to be quite what I was expecting.

Since her little sister Mackenzie came along, Lexi's life has revolved around beauty pageants. Her mom makes sure that Mac has whatever she needs to compete and spends countless hours planning and competing in pageants, leaving things with Lexi to fall by the wayside. Still, Lexi has great friends, Benny and Cam, and as so many have told her, a "great personality." But Lexi wants more. She wants to be someone who could capture the attention of a guy like Logan, pageant-queen Alyssa's boyfriend. When she makes a deal with Benny to start wearing makeup and dressing up, she thinks nothing will happen. Was she ever wrong. Before she knows it, Lexi has to decide which is more important - having a great appearance or truly having a great personality?

When I started this book, I was hoping for some Toddlers-and-Tiaras-esque laughs and a girl who broke stereotypes by not being beauty pageant material and still ending up with the guy she wanted. Instead I found myself annoyed with both Lexi and the "pretty girl who doesn't know she's pretty" stereotype early in the book. I'm not sure if this was a case of "wrong book, wrong time," or if I just couldn't connect to Lexi the way I wanted to. Either way, I spent most of the book feeling like there was a disconnect, and by the time that I began to care about the characters, the book was almost over. In addition, one character really disappointed me at the end, and it left me with an unsettled feeling. Many things about this book may have been realistic, but in the end I mostly wished they weren't. There was a good message there, but I felt like it got somewhat lost in the story.

That being said, there are some good things about this book, as well as events and emotions that give it depth. Lexi does not always agree or get along with her mother, and things come to a head with them more than once. She misses her dad, and though she loves her friends, at sixteen sometimes she still needed a parent who would care for her. It was easy to sympathize with Lexi in those moments as she dealt with unfair situations. Lexi was a good person when it counted, which I appreciated. There were also some lighter moments to the book, including learning about flippers and watching Lexi apply mascara for the first time. Even still, I just couldn't get into the book the way I wanted to.

I still plan to read Elizabeth Eulberg's other books, and I know other people enjoyed this book more than I did. See reviews at these blogs:

A Blog About Nothing
Ex Libris