Julie Murphy

Pumpkin

faith hurren

Veerendranath

Alexa M

"I hate myself for spending all these years trying to blend in. I'm done hiding." 

so so much fun! i love Julie Murphy and especially love the Dumplin' "series" and will forever pick up books in this universe. Waylon was such a great addition to this cast of characters and i was obsessed with the romance in this. Julie Murphy is the reason i keep coming back to this genre, she is the QUEEN of YA contemporary. and no matter how old i get, i continue to adore these books! so much cute moments, so many important moments. highly recommend!

Eliana Mor

Honestly, Julie Murphy was my main reason for reading this book, I mean I had an entire Dolly Parton phase because of Dumplin'. the plot sounded great, I would've read it anyways but I will die for Julie Murphy's books. I honestly loved all our main characters, there's quite honestly nothing I love more than mlm/wlw solidarity. I know it's a theme with Julie Murphy's books but seeing a fat queer drag queen main character was everything I wanted. Especially because Waylon didn't hate being fat. Obviously, I know that this is the theme for her books but he did drag and became homecoming queen and did all these incredible, courageous things and he didn't try to diet or lose weight to do those things and that was inspirational. Murphy's books take these things that society tells us aren't ok, being fat, doing drag, being queer, and shows us that not only is it ok, but it's incredible. I wish that I could've had this book when I was younger because it would've been amazing for younger me.

Okay this was super cute! The teenangst was high in this one, but so freaking cute 🥰 Wayland is an icon and he is honestly so fierce🙌🏻 This was a cute, short book and such a worth reading!

Maegan Kennedy

Return to the beloved world of Julie Murphy’s #1 New York Times bestselling Dumplin’—now a popular Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Aniston—in this fabulously joyful, final companion novel about drag, prom, and embracing your inner Queen. Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth. So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape getting accidentally shared with the entire school. . . . As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king. Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson. Waylon will need to learn that the best plan for tomorrow is living for today . . . especially with the help of some fellow queens. . . .

Flavia Louise

Eliza Gonzalez

There are times when I feel like I can’t be me. I can’t simply exist. I have to offer something in exchange. Something that absolves me of being fat and gay and even worse—both of those things at once.

Really, honestly had a good time reading this. Since it's a companion to Dumplin', you don't even need to read the other two books set in Clover City first, so I'd highly recommend this one if the first or second don't seem like your thing. 


Characters: 4/5

Plot Concept: 4/5

Plot Execution: 4/5

Pacing: 4/5

Writing: 4/5

Romance: 4/5

Overall Enjoyability: 4/5

Elena

2.5/5 stars

- I think that the title of this book was unoriginal because it is another name and I think Julie Murphy good have found another way to title the book 
- I also feel like his life was better without Tucker Watson (i laughed so hard when I read his initals TW) because he focused on his self and making the city a better place but when he was with Tucker he did not care if someone is having the same problem as him because his life was all fixed now that Tucker was in it
- the book dragged on for to long and kept having the same problems

Pumpkin

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