*I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher for possible review*Lexi dreams of being a fashion designer, gets dragged to the kiddie beauty pageants that her little sister competes in, and is secretly in love with a Logan, a guy who (inexplicably) also accompanies his beauty queen girlfriend to all her pageants. When Lexi overhears Logan telling a friend that she has a "great personality," she decides to glam herself up. When Lexi sees that pageants are bankrupting her family, she decides to take a stand.It seems to me that this kind of plot could go a couple of different ways. It could a) be a fun escapist read that gently mocks the pageant world (false eyelashes and spray tans and butt glue -- ha ha) and ends in Lexi learning to appreciate her inner beauty and finding true love. Or it could b) offer more of a critique of the objectification of girls and women by the fashion and beauty industry, something like The List by Siobhan Vivian. Or it could be both a) and b), like Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. Because Libba Bray can totally pull that kind of stuff off.I really wish that the book had not wavered ambivalently between a) and b). The weirdness of the whole "Toddlers and Tiaras" world is alluded to but all the blame for Lexi's problems is placed on squarely on Lexi's mother, who, though FAR from perfect, is also recently divorced, overweight, depressed and a compulsive overeater. (Her father, who lives in another city with his new girlfriend, gets let completely off the hook.) Lexi seems mildly outraged at her sister's participation in pageants, but eventually decides that the only way she can make her mother understand the wrongness of it all is to publicly humiliate her. Meanwhile, Lexi dreams of being a fashion designer. Is the fashion runway all that different from the pageant stage? Pot, meet kettle. That aside, there were definitely aspects of the book that made it a fun and enjoyable read. The whole kiddie pageant world is a strange and fascinating subculture -- at least as it's portrayed on reality TV. Lexi's gay BFF is obsessed with the 80s, and nervous about taking his new boyfriend public. And it's unusual to see any YA book these days that resolves a sort-of love triangle with the heroine deciding to ditch both guys and have some "me time," a strategy that Tina Fey recently recommended to Taylor Swift. Though readers who expect this book to fall into the a) category may have issues with that aspect of the book, I though it was great.
