Author: Julie Murphy

Recent DNFs: American Panda and Meet Cute

February 21, 2018 / 1 Comment / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Recent DNFs: American Panda and Meet Cute

Hey guys, hope you’re doing well. Today I have a couple of reviews for books that just didn’t work for me: American Panda by Gloria Chao and Meet Cute, a YA anthology. Check them out and let me know if you agree with my thoughts or not! ***** REVIEW: American Panda by Gloria Chao Oh man. American Panda is one I seriously wish I’d loved more. It’s got an Asian-American protagonist going to college with the baggage of a tiger mom, jilted dreams of being a dancer, tons of Mandarin, and a cute Japanese-American love interest. And yet, Mei’s story […]

Keep Reading! »

Three Swoony Summer Reads That Get It Right | Ramona Blue, Coming Up for Air & When Dimple Met ..

June 27, 2017 / 5 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Three Swoony Summer Reads That Get It Right | Ramona Blue, Coming Up for Air & When Dimple Met Rishi

Review: RAMONA BLUE by Julie Murphy Beautifully intersectional, Ramona Blue is equal parts complex family dynamics, small-town poverty, friendship goals, and swoony romance. Julie Murphy has an incredible gift of being able to bring all of these pieces together in a way that never feels forced, but always lyrical. Ramona Leroux is 17, entering her senior year of high school, with no plans for the future other than staying in Eulogy, Mississippi. She’s got her part-time jobs, her friends, and her sister Hattie, who is pregnant at 19. And she has a summer romance with Grace, a vacationer who’s not […]

Keep Reading! »

Waiting on Wednesday: Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

December 7, 2016 / 2 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Book Memes, Waiting on Wednesday
Waiting on Wednesday: Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

RAMONA BLUE. *grabby hands* As some of you may know, I ADORED Julie Murphy’s last book, DUMPLIN.  It’s about a fat girl living in a pageant-obsessed Texan small-town who gets the guy. And it’s so much more than what I just wrote, and one of the best contemporary YA books out there. So obviously, Ramona Blue and ANYTHING JULIE MURPHY WRITES is on my auto-buy list. I already love how complex Ramona’s sexual orientation is going to be. DUMPLIN was also weighty with responsibility and expectations placed on teens, so I’m excited to see how Ramona deals with these pressures. Basically, […]

Keep Reading! »

“Beauty Beyond Compare” Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

August 24, 2015 / 8 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Review, Uncategorized
“Beauty Beyond Compare” Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Dumplin completely and utterly spoke to me. I cried two times reading it – that, right there, should tell you just how emotional and resonant a book it is. It’s not that it’s sad – it’s that it’s relateable, and the issues that Willowdean was facing were ones I faced as a teen, especially with her mother, her friends, and feeling good enough to be with a guy. Let me explain: When I was eight, my mom showed me an article in the newspaper that showed Princess Diana and how she wore a lot of pink and purple, and told me that […]

Keep Reading! »