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Blog Tour: You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

9th November 2020
Cover of You Should See Me In A Crown (Leah Johnson)

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

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Hey y’all! I am Hsinju (she/they/他), a queer Taiwanese book reviewer and blogger currently residing in Illinois. Today (November 9th, 2020) is my Hear Our Voices Book Tours blog stop for the uplifting sapphic YA with a Black teen lead You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson! Set in the Midwest (hi neighboring Indiana), we follow Liz’s journey of running for prom queen.

Contents

  1. Synopsis
  2. Review
  3. Favorite Quotes
  4. Book Recs
  5. About the Author
  6. Tour Schedule

Synopsis

Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay — Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.

But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down . . . until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.

The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?

Review

Content warnings: racism, parental deaths, anxiety, outing, homophobia, chronic illness of family member, several references to the HP series

This story needs to be a movie right now! It makes me so incredibly happy that YAs as joyful as this one exist for teens nowadays. I’m smiling so hard I’m sure my face is going to hurt for days to come!

Told in the first-person point of view, You Should See Me in a Crown follows Liz Lighty’s (17, queer, Black, anxiety) high-school days and train of thoughts throughout the timespan of seven weeks. When her scholarship application to Pennington College is rejected, her hope of this fast track of life is gone. But her brother, Robbie (15, Black, sickle cell anaemia), suggests that she competes for the prom queen scholarship. Liz! With her social anxiety! Encouraged by her friends, Liz signs up for the mission, but little does she know just how much her life is going to change.

I think for a second about what it would be like to have my likeness plastered next to Eden Chandler’s, Emme’s older sister, the crown nestled into my tight black curls, my hair all defiance where hers is tradition.

What makes Liz’s story so precious is not only the joy it radiates but also all the difficult subjects it deals with. Liz, who is Black and queer in a small town, experiences instances of racism and homophobia from her peers and school officials. While this is not a heavy book, Johnson skillfully included these scenes only to turn all of them into beautiful moments. Since we see the story through Liz’s viewpoint, we feel everything with her, including her anxiety and panic attacks, her love for her family and friends, as she fights for her deserving place in the world.

“You’re the best part about all of it.” [Mack] looks down at where our hands are linked. “I would deal with the long hours and the bad volunteer gigs and the diatribes by Madame Simoné all over again if it meant we would end up here.”

I love that the story touches upon toxic friendships, too. That, and understanding that it’s okay to try and fix them. I love Liz, her adorkable love interest Mack, and all their friends. There are so many wonderfully sweet moments that had me grinning and laughing, and grinning again. We see Liz’s close friend group as well as all the acquaintances who end up rallying for her. We see the pain of the bystander effect until someone decides to stand up and declare that enough is enough, and know that we are not as alone as it might seem.

There are a lot of flashbacks in the story, especially in the beginning. They read like Liz’s thoughts as she makes connections between her past and present but are sometimes hard to follow. A lot of things happened in this relatively short YA, yet it didn’t feel as eventful since the focus of the story is Liz’s mission of winning that crown.

The ending of You Should See Me in a Crown is way more adorable than I could have imagined. I think I might burst with happiness! While I usually love a heavy book, this book is anything but. The overall vibe is overwhelmingly happy. This wonderful YA with a queer rom com storyline is so full of hope that it will leave you smiling for hours on end.

I received an e-ARC from Scholastic Inc. via Hear Our Voices Book Tours.

Favorite Quotes

Apart from the two quotes within the review above, here are three more powerful sentences in the book.

We feel, but we always fight.

 “We deserve good things too. No matter how we have to get them.”

Mack

I never needed this race or a hashtag or the king to be a queen.

I was born royalty. All I had to do was pick up my crown.

Book Recs

While I was reading You Should See Me in a Crown, there were a couple of scenes that reminded me of these four amazing books I have read or want to read.

Click on the book cover for more info on Goodreads.

Cover of This Is What It Feels Like (Rebecca Barrow)

This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

  • Publisher: HarperTeen, November 6th 2018
  • Page Count: 400 pages
  • Connections: Black girl lead, music, competition for prize
  • Other Keywords: grief, alcohol addiction, YA f/f romance
  • Reps: Black lesbian main character
Cover of Mutant Pride by SJ Whitby

Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride by SJ Whitby

  • Publisher: SJ Whitby, July 27th 2020
  • Page Count: 416 pages
  • Connections: pure queer joy, wonderful friend group
  • Other Keywords: superpowers, YA sci-fi
  • Reps: pansexual maybe-gray-ace-genderqueer main character, trans boy secondary character, Korean lesbian secondary character, maybe-demisexual Kiwi Chinese secondary character
Cover of Not the Marrying Kind (Jae)

Not the Marrying Kind by Jae

  • Publisher: Ylva Publishing, April 17th 2019
  • Page Count: 314 pages
  • Connections: food fight
  • Other Keywords: coming out, small-town, adult f/f romance
  • Reps: pansexual main character, lesbian main character
Cover of Listen (Kris Bryant)

Listen by Kris Bryant

  • Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, February 12th 2019
  • Page Count: 223 pages
  • Connections: music, anxiety, panic attacks
  • Other Keywords: Chicago, adult f/f romance
  • Reps: lesbian main character with anxiety

About the Author

Leah Johnson

Leah Johnson (she/her) is an editor, educator, and author of books for young adults. Leah is a 2021 Lambda Literary Emerging Writers Fellow whose work has been published in BuzzFeed, Teen Vogue, Refinery29, and Autostraddle among others. Her bestselling debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown was the inaugural Reese’s Book Club YA pick, and was named one of Cosmo‘s 15 Best Young Adult Books of 2020. Her sophomore novel, Rise to the Sun is forthcoming from Scholastic in 2021.

Twitter | Instagram | Website | Goodreads

Tour Schedule

For more of my reviews and other whatnots, follow my blog, Twitter, Instagram, and friend me on Goodreads.

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