Rating: 4 / 5
I received MISS METEOR by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore in my YA Once Upon a Book Club box. This wasn’t a book I was familiar with, but it sounded like fun!
MISS METEOR takes place in a small town named for the meteor that crashed to earth nearby. What no one knows is that Lita came down to earth with it and she’s worried that she’s slowly turning back into stardust. Lita makes an impulsive decision to enter the beauty pageant as her last big act on earth and he enlists Chicky for help. Chicky and Lita were once the best of friends, but they’ve had a big falling out. Still, Chicky was the one who coached her through all of their childhood make believe pageants and she’s ready to show up for for former friend along with her pageant obsessed sisters.
This was a very fun read! The synopsis was pretty vague so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but I really enjoyed it. We get two alternating POVs from Lita and Chicky and I really enjoyed both characters. They are both pretty closed off in the beginning between their broken friendship and their own personal identity struggles, but they open up more and more to themselves (and the reader) and eventually to each other and their friends.
The pageant story was a lot of fun. There are a lot of fun moments as Lita tries to maintain her own identity while fitting into the pageant expectations. There is also a lot of commentary on how no one has ever won who was latinx or otherwise outside of the pageant perfect norm. The book also takes on homophobia and bullying. It also clearly showed that having one queer relative or friend doesn’t exempt you from being an intolerant bully.
In spite of some serious subjects, this really was an uplifting read and one I’d recommend!
DG Reads 