Review of You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (+ Bookstagram!)

Item: You Should See Me in a Crown
Rating: 5
Author: Kaity

Posted August 21, 2020 by Kaity in Book Review, Bookstagram, Reviews / 0 Comments

Happy Friday and welcome to my review of one of my FAVORITE books of 2020! This book is truly wonderful and I’m so so excited to share my review with you today, plus more info about the book and author! And now without any further ado, today’s post is all about…

Review of You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (+ Bookstagram!)

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Published on June 2, 2020 by Scholastic Press
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA, Queer
Pages: 328
Format: Kindle
Source: Amazon
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Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. There's nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she's willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.
The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She's smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?

Today’s review is NOT a Rapid Fire Review, because I have a LOT to talk about!!! But I think it’s probably still important for you to know the answers to these questions first…

DID I LIKE IT?

oh my gods I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!!

FAVORITE CHARACTER?

Liz!

WILL I RE-READ IT?

DEFINITELY! Like… probably soon.

THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE BOOK

rom-com, music, joy

Okay, now for the actual review… kinda. Here’s where I’m going to put my goodreads review because I think it’s important:

How do I take these happy tears and turn them into words? This book was amazing. And wonderful. And perfect. It hit every beat, it had me sobbing and giggling and everything in between. And I know this is like the most cliche thing in all of YA, but- reading this book truly felt like I was letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Favorite book of 2020 BY FAR. I can only hope that everyone who reads this book loves it as much as I do.
🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍

YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN is just simply AMAZING. I devoured this book in two days and when it was over I was sobbing happy tears. Just… if what you’re looking for is something to make you cry happy tears and sad tears and actually cheer out loud when good things happen, then have I got the book for you! Basically, you should read YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN. Right now. What are you still doing here? This review will still be here after you finish. Now go read it!!!

I’ve talked before about how much I LOVE purple covers because purple is my favorite color, yes? Well look at this purple cover because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! also, that crown? I am IN LOVE with that crown, and how PERFECT is Liz on the cover? Just… perfection.

1000/10 stars!!!

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Leah Johnson was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana—a tried and true, lifelong Hoosier (and as you can perhaps imagine, much of her work now features more cornfields and soybeans than any one human has business writing about). She began her writing career with a spiral notebook full of short stories in Mrs. Peacock’s fifth-grade class and could never quite bring herself to stop.

This summer, Leah will be a visiting writer at New England College and is currently a staff contributing editor at Catapult. She is 2021 Lambda Literary Emerging Writers Fellow whose work has been published or is forthcoming in BuzzFeed, Autostraddle, Catapult, and Electric Literature among others. When she’s not writing or ranting about pop culture and politics on Twitter, Leah teaches creative writing and composition to undergraduate students in and around New York City. Her bestselling debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown was an Indies Introduce and Junior Library Guild selection. Her sophomore novel, Rise to the Sun is forthcoming from Scholastic in 2021.