Read This Book…

Liz Lighty is a Black, awkward, over-achieving, adorkable senior in high school in Campbell, Indiana, a small midwestern town that is pretty white and affluent and obsessed with prom. You know how some high schools are obsessed with football? Well, Campbell is out of control obsessed with prom and this has gone on for generations.

Liz (or Lighty, as some folks call her), is desperate to get out of this small town and go to Pennington college. Liz’s family does not have a lot of money and the scholarship she is depending on to get her to Pennington falls through; however, not all hope is lost. The people crowned prom queen and prom king get a nice chunk of scholarship money.

The absolute last thing Liz Lighty wants to do is join the competition for prom queen. She hates being the center of attention. Of course her nemesis (and the nemesis’s crew) will try to do everything to stop Liz from winning, which given Liz’s gpa, she might actually have a chance at with the help of her friends. It also means that she is going to have to cooperate with an ex-friend, Jordan.

Liz and her brother live with their grandparents. Her mom passed away young and her brother has sickle cell anemia. Liz intends to become a doctor, like her mom, to do sickle cell research.

But that’s not all! There’s a new girl in town, named Mack. Mack is also an outsider, a skater girl, and not necessarily prom queen material and she’s joined the competition as well, which complicates things because every time she is near Mack, Liz Lighty gets major butterflies. This book is queer and sweet and funny and when Liz and Mack are around each other, even I got butterflies. Also, I went into this book thinking that I was going to be able to predict everything but it’s full of surprises.

Content warnings for racism and homophobia and a deceased parent.