by Laurie Boyle Crompton Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publication Date: January 15, 2019 by Blink
Format: eARC
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Source: FFBC Tours
A Groundhog Day meets Pretty in Pink mashup from author Laurie Boyle Crompton, Pretty in Punxsutawney tells the tale of a girl willing to look beneath the surface to see people for who they really are.
Andie is the type of girl who always comes up with the perfect thing to say…after it’s too late to say it. She’s addicted to romance movies—okay, all movies—but has yet to experience her first kiss. After a move to Punxsutawney, PA, for her senior year, she gets caught in an endless loop of her first day at her new school, reliving those 24 hours again and again.
Convinced the curse will be broken when she meets her true love, Andie embarks on a mission: infiltrating the various cliques to find the one boy who can break the spell. What she discovers along the way is that people who seem completely different can often share the very same hopes, dreams, and hang-ups. And that even a day that has been lived over and over can be filled with unexpected connections and plenty of happy endings.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
First off, wow what a mouthful the title is!
Pretty in Punxsutawney follows our main character Andie as she relives her first day of senior year over and over again. Immediately the premise intrigued me, a book about a girl who keeps living the same day, and references to 80s movies like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club? Definitely something I want to read. As Andie keeps reliving her first day of school, she keeps trying to figure out why she can’t move on, and is cycling through possible reasons she can’t move on.
I really enjoyed Andie’s characterization in this novel. She’s obsessed with movies and it’s brought up many times throughout the book. There are also so many movie references, and the whole reason she gets stuck is because of something having to do with Pretty in Pink. She also grew throughout the time she relived her first day of school because she learned more not only about herself, but about her peers as well. During this time some of her biases were challenged, and her views on different social groups were changed.
“Connecting with a group and trying to do something really well together can make anyone feel less alone.”
Pretty in Punxsutawney is a great novel for teenagers/highschoolers because it discussed how people view cliques and how they may have preconceived notions on individuals in certain groups just because of the group they’re in. The story also made Andie (and hopefully younger readers) understand that even though people may belong to different groups that seem very different, people have a lot of the same beliefs and may be similar than they realized. This can be especially helpful to younger readers to understand and feel okay about high school, and not be afraid to branch out of their regular friend group.
“I realize this is still happening with students today, and we’re doing it to ourselves. Judging each other based on appearances. Divided by assumptions. Blind to how desperate we all are just for a place to belong.”
My one critique of the story is that it started dragging a little bit in the middle and I felt that some of the things Andie did were a little ridiculous and didn’t really fit in with the her character or the rest of the story. I did enjoy that she spent so much time (MONTHS) repeating the same day, and trying to figure out why it kept happening. She learned so much along the way and matured from the experience.
About Laurie Boyle Crompton
Laurie Boyle Crompton is the YA author of the upcoming PRETTY IN PUNXSUTAWNEY (Blink/HarperCollins 2019) as well as ADRENALINE CRUSH (Macmillan/2014, Square Fish/2016), BLAZE (or Love in the Time of Supervillains), THE REAL PROM QUEENS OF WESTFIELD HIGH and LOVE AND VANDALISM (Sourcebooks/2013, 2014, 2017). Growing up in ‘Pennsyltucky’ in the 1980s, Laurie couldn't wait to escape rural life. After saving up her tips from waitressing at a local greasy spoon at 18 she packed up her acid wash jeans and moved to NY. Where everyone else had stopped wearing acid wash.
She graduated first in her class from St. John’s University with a BA in English and Journalism. Since then she’s written for national magazines like ALLURE, survived a teaching stint at an all-boy high school, and appeared on Good Day New York several times as a Toy Expert. And yes, ‘toy expert’ is an actual profession. Really.
She has lived in places like Orlando, Florida where she and her husband spent all of their spare time and money visiting theme parks before moving to the Cotswolds in England for six months, which was every bit as cool as that sounds. The Cromptons are now back in New York where their two children resent never going to Disney.
Laurie occasionally enjoys hanging out in fields of blooming flowers
and also refering to herself in the third person.
Victoria
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I thought this book was cute, and as with all those reliving-the-day stories, she went and learned some skills, did some questionable things. I wish there had been more Tom, because I really liked him.
I’m glad the whole focus wasn’t on the romance and that she grew as a person, but I do wish there was more Tom because I liked him too!
I just got approved for this! It sounds cute. I love the concept!
It was very cute! I thought the time loop thing lasted a little too long, but overall it was a fun book.