#Review: MISS METEOR by Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia
Jamie @ Books and Ladders
03 October
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MISS METEOR
Author: Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia
Source: Audio from Kobo
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 22, 2020
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Summary:
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There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or why her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.
Witty and heartfelt with characters that leap off the page, Miss Meteor is acclaimed authors Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s first book together.
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Content Warning: racism, xenophobia, lesbophobia (including lesbophobic slurs), fatphobia, transphobia, bullying
Because I am a girl worth the space I take up. I am a girl this world, this town, and most of all, the people who love me, will not let go of. Because I am a star they won't let the sky take back.
MISS METEOR follows Lita and Chicky as they fight against small town racism in a truly unique way: trying to get Lita the first place in the Miss Meteor pageant. But Lita and Chicky are no longer friends so their goals only align because of their desire to take the bullies down a notch (or twelve). And hopefully it’s possible or else Lita will turn into stardust and vanish.
LGBTQ+ and POC novel about friendship, racism, and self-acceptance told in alternating POV. Somehow these issues are all tackled in a super light-hearted way. Really fascinating writing style. The concept and plot of this story are wonderful and the characters feel alive.
There is so much love pressed into the pages of this book; not to sound cheesy, but this truly feels like a story that embodies love in all its forms. It is full of friends and sisters who support the protagonists, sometimes in their own, unconventional ways, but steady no matter what. The parents in this story are also loving and understanding, and it was refreshing to see both Lita and Chicky care so much for them too. And perhaps one of the loveliest surprises of this book for me was the romances, full of just so much… joy. They care so deeply for each other as friends and also yearn for each other, and some of the scenes genuinely made me feel butterflies over how sweet they were.
Long story short, I just adored this book about small towns, breaking out, pageants, best friend breakups, love, family, found family, tradition, and poverty written by two of my favorite Latinx writers. It tore down beauty and social status quos with glee and made me clap and shout along the way. I know we’re committed to reading with Pride all year long, so would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there was trans and pansexual main characters whose story lines were about so much more than coming out. It’s the type of representation I would love to see more of in YA literature. Basically, I hugged this book when I finished it and hope you’ll consider picking it up.
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