Miss Meteor

This fun, fresh take on regional beauty pageants, magical realism, and friendship really hit the spot when I read it. With a dual POV alternating between two friends–Lita and Chicky–as they rediscover their lost friendship, find love, and try to win the 50th Annual Miss Meteor Pageant and Talent Showcase.

Chicky is the daughter of hard-working parents who run the local dinner, and the youngest of four sisters. But she’s not the beauty queens her sisters are–she cuts her hair short, etc, and she’s “weird” at school and often picked on for her perceived sexuality, even if it’s not exactly what she knows about herself. Her former best friend, Lita, is dealing with her own issues. It doesn’t help that she’s slowly becoming more stardust than girl, returning to her natural form that brought her to this planet and this small town where she’s known for being eccentric, but everything is going to get even weirder when she decides that the only way to fight the stardust is to win the Miss Meteor pageant.

Over the course of the novel, Lita and Chicky rediscover their friendship, fall for local boys, and fight discrimination, straight up bullying, the old boys club in town, and the ridiculousness of the pageant system in general. This book is super well written–the 2 authors POVs blending together well–and while the pacing in the second half is a little off from the first one, I liked it a lot! It felt like a fresh take on contemporary, the magical realism was well done, and I was compelled by all the characters! I also think there’s a lot to be said about a book that ends at the right time! Plus, this book has a lot of great representation that’s both well-integrated into the story but also teaches readers something along the way.

This was definitely a five star read for me, and I hope others love it too!

Miss Meteor is on sale everywhere September 22, 2020.