What do you think?
Rate this book
Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It
Jolie's a lot of things, but she knows that pretty isn't one of them. She has mandibular prognathism, which is the medical term for underbite. Chewing is a pain, headaches are a common occurrence, and she’s never been kissed. She’s months out from having a procedure to correct her underbite, and she cannot wait to be fixed.
While her family watches worst-case scenario TV shows, Jolie becomes paralyzed with the fear that she could die under the knife. She and her best friends Evelyn and Derek decide to make a Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely But Still, It Could Happen) list. Things like: eat every appetizer on the Applebee’s menu and kiss her crush, Noah Reed. Their plan helps Jolie discover what beauty truly means to her.
While her family watches worst-case scenario TV shows, Jolie becomes paralyzed with the fear that she could die under the knife. She and her best friends Evelyn and Derek decide to make a Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely But Still, It Could Happen) list. Things like: eat every appetizer on the Applebee’s menu and kiss her crush, Noah Reed. Their plan helps Jolie discover what beauty truly means to her.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2018
27 people are currently reading
1850 people want to read
About the author
Kerry Winfrey
7 books1,889 followersKerry Winfrey is the author of the adult romantic comedies WAITING FOR TOM HANKS, NOT LIKE THE MOVIES, VERY SINCERELY YOURS, and JUST ANOTHER LOVE SONG, as well as the teen romantic comedies LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES and THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her family. You can find her on Instagram @kerrywinfrey.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
December 7, 2017
Hey, I wrote this book! It's about a high school girl with an underbite, which is a special topic for me because I WAS a high school girl with an underbite. Much like Jolie, I was afraid I was going to die in surgery. THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT is also about best friends, sisters, amateur low-budget musicals, the ridiculousness of beauty standards, terrible movies, podcasts, attending childbirth classes when you’re not the one having a baby, and those TV shows where surgeries go wrong. Oh, and Applebee’s. And some kissing (duh).
I read somewhere that it's tacky to give your own book a star rating, but guess what? I'm a tacky person.
I read somewhere that it's tacky to give your own book a star rating, but guess what? I'm a tacky person.
March 29, 2019
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
After reading (and fawning all over) Waiting for Tom Hanks, I knew I would need more Kerry Winfrey in my life in short order. Per usual my best friend . . . .
Full Disclosure: That is the branch that is 15 minutes away from my house. My branch (a/k/a The Pornbrary) is not pretty . . . .
But I digress. Long story long, the library had a copy of this one to lend me.
Note to all grown-ups: This is 100,000,000,0000% Young Adult so if you are not a fan, just stay far away. Note to all parents: This is a PG-13 selection that most would probably fine benign for even middle-grade readers.
As the title says, the story here is about Jolie. Born with a severe underbite, Jolie is scheduled to go under the knife in a couple of months in order to realign her jaw and hopefully ease some of the headaches and difficulty eating she has always had to deal with. She’s also banking on a transformation like you only see in the movies . . . . .
After viewing a “medical mishaps” type of reality show, Jolie starts to fear the worst and decides to make a little bucket list of sorts of things to accomplish before she either bites it or bites it . . . . .
Items include eating more than just the Chicken Wanton Tacos on the Applebee’s Happy Hour menu – to which I ask whyyyyyyyy???? They’re pretty perfect and cost like $3 . . . . .
Reading Jane Eyre. Doing something a little dangerous . . . . .
And most importantly of all . . . . .
Having her first kiss with Noah Reed. Little does Jolie know that she’ll find out so much more about herself, venturing out of her comfort zone, discovering that beauty truly does radiate from within and maybe the boy she was looking for was right there the whole time.
This book is for the teen who is simply looking for a sweet little romance. No angst, little drama, just a nice read : )
After reading (and fawning all over) Waiting for Tom Hanks, I knew I would need more Kerry Winfrey in my life in short order. Per usual my best friend . . . .
Full Disclosure: That is the branch that is 15 minutes away from my house. My branch (a/k/a The Pornbrary) is not pretty . . . .
But I digress. Long story long, the library had a copy of this one to lend me.
Note to all grown-ups: This is 100,000,000,0000% Young Adult so if you are not a fan, just stay far away. Note to all parents: This is a PG-13 selection that most would probably fine benign for even middle-grade readers.
As the title says, the story here is about Jolie. Born with a severe underbite, Jolie is scheduled to go under the knife in a couple of months in order to realign her jaw and hopefully ease some of the headaches and difficulty eating she has always had to deal with. She’s also banking on a transformation like you only see in the movies . . . . .
After viewing a “medical mishaps” type of reality show, Jolie starts to fear the worst and decides to make a little bucket list of sorts of things to accomplish before she either bites it or bites it . . . . .
Items include eating more than just the Chicken Wanton Tacos on the Applebee’s Happy Hour menu – to which I ask whyyyyyyyy???? They’re pretty perfect and cost like $3 . . . . .
Reading Jane Eyre. Doing something a little dangerous . . . . .
And most importantly of all . . . . .
Having her first kiss with Noah Reed. Little does Jolie know that she’ll find out so much more about herself, venturing out of her comfort zone, discovering that beauty truly does radiate from within and maybe the boy she was looking for was right there the whole time.
This book is for the teen who is simply looking for a sweet little romance. No angst, little drama, just a nice read : )
May 29, 2019
Did you find this review helpful? Find more of my reviews at Pop! Goes The Reader!
“I think about the things I spent my whole life avoiding, the time I spent hiding, the moments when I tried to make myself small and invisible. If only I’d known that this was on the other side of my fear, that all I had to do was let people see me.”
Sixteen-year-old Jolie Peterson has spent her entire life attempting to hide in plain sight. Born with mandibular prognathism (an underbite), Jolie has always felt insecure about how she looks, especially when compared to her beautiful sister, Abbi, and does everything possible to draw attention away from her painful and often difficult condition. Jolie has always dreamed of how her life would be different after the surgery intended to correct her underbite (a surgery which is scheduled for her seventeenth birthday) and creates a list of things she would most like to accomplish post-procedure. But when Jolie begins to grow concerned about dying during the operation (a fear likely worsened by her family’s obsession with ‘Worst-Case Scenario TV’), Jolie decides to make a second list comprised of the things she feels she absolutely must do before her surgery, just in case. Along with the help of her friends, Evelyn and Derek, Jolie creates the “Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, But Still, It Could Happen)” list complete with goals like “Read Jane Eyre”, “Eat all the appetizers at Applebee’s” and “Kiss Noah Reed”, her crush. In the process, Jolie will learn that to make the most of today, sometimes you have to live like there’s no tomorrow. Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is a quiet, understated story that nonetheless speaks volumes about self-esteem, body image, beauty standards, feminism and the rewards of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone.
The possibility of dying during her operation, however remote, finally gives Jolie the incentive she needs to be more proactive about many of the things she has always longed to do, but was always too scared to pursue. Despite her newfound sense of determination, however, Jolie’s objective to complete her pre-surgery goals is anything but easy or straightforward. Because so much of her self-esteem (or lack thereof) is connected to how she feels about her physical appearance, Jolie is incredibly insecure and finds it difficult to feel worthy of being heard, celebrated, and even loved. It is this journey of self-acceptance that lies of the heart of this novel, a journey which I have no doubt readers of all ages will find familiar and deeply relatable. Jolie also struggles with the implications of her forthcoming surgery and whether moving forward with it is the right choice for her. While there are practical, medical reasons why the surgery is important, as it’s meant to prevent further difficultly as she grows older, including jaw pain, speech difficulty and headaches, because the surgery will also make her more conventionally attractive, Jolie begins to worry that this, coupled with her excitement and anticipation about being ‘fixed’, makes her less of a feminist. Much of the novel is spent interrogating traditional beauty standards and what it truly means to be beautiful, ultimately resulting in the empowering conclusion that beauty is entirely subjective and not solely reliant on physical attributes.
In addition to its positive and empowering message, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is also interspersed with a number of charming ancillary details including Derek’s podcast, “Deep Dive”, which offers an in-depth examination of obscure subject matter, Derek and Jolie’s shared love of terrible films, and “To The Moon and Back”, the school play in which Jolie eventually stars in order to get closer to her crush, Noah, and which is notable both for its inclusion of space travel and a perplexing choir of singing pigs. (As an aside, I would pay an alarming amount of money to see this play performed in full.) Jolie has a healthy, positive relationship with her parents and is able to communicate openly and honestly with them about her fears and insecurities, and her friendship with Evelyn and Derek is both supportive and kind.
Kerry Winfrey’s 2015 young adult debut, Love and Other Alien Experiences, about an housebound teen who is forced to confront her anxiety and agoraphobia when she is unexpectedly nominated for homecoming queen, is a book that’s very dear to my heart and one I consider woefully under-appreciated so I was eager to read the author’s 2018 sophomore novel, Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It. As was the case with Winfrey’s debut, Jolie’s story is earnest, sweet, endlessly enchanting and one I won’t hesitate to recommend to absolutely everyone I know. A novel filled with a generous helping of heart, humour and hope, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is both a delightful romantic comedy and a touching story of a girl learning to love herself unreservedly.
“I think about the things I spent my whole life avoiding, the time I spent hiding, the moments when I tried to make myself small and invisible. If only I’d known that this was on the other side of my fear, that all I had to do was let people see me.”
Sixteen-year-old Jolie Peterson has spent her entire life attempting to hide in plain sight. Born with mandibular prognathism (an underbite), Jolie has always felt insecure about how she looks, especially when compared to her beautiful sister, Abbi, and does everything possible to draw attention away from her painful and often difficult condition. Jolie has always dreamed of how her life would be different after the surgery intended to correct her underbite (a surgery which is scheduled for her seventeenth birthday) and creates a list of things she would most like to accomplish post-procedure. But when Jolie begins to grow concerned about dying during the operation (a fear likely worsened by her family’s obsession with ‘Worst-Case Scenario TV’), Jolie decides to make a second list comprised of the things she feels she absolutely must do before her surgery, just in case. Along with the help of her friends, Evelyn and Derek, Jolie creates the “Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, But Still, It Could Happen)” list complete with goals like “Read Jane Eyre”, “Eat all the appetizers at Applebee’s” and “Kiss Noah Reed”, her crush. In the process, Jolie will learn that to make the most of today, sometimes you have to live like there’s no tomorrow. Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is a quiet, understated story that nonetheless speaks volumes about self-esteem, body image, beauty standards, feminism and the rewards of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone.
The possibility of dying during her operation, however remote, finally gives Jolie the incentive she needs to be more proactive about many of the things she has always longed to do, but was always too scared to pursue. Despite her newfound sense of determination, however, Jolie’s objective to complete her pre-surgery goals is anything but easy or straightforward. Because so much of her self-esteem (or lack thereof) is connected to how she feels about her physical appearance, Jolie is incredibly insecure and finds it difficult to feel worthy of being heard, celebrated, and even loved. It is this journey of self-acceptance that lies of the heart of this novel, a journey which I have no doubt readers of all ages will find familiar and deeply relatable. Jolie also struggles with the implications of her forthcoming surgery and whether moving forward with it is the right choice for her. While there are practical, medical reasons why the surgery is important, as it’s meant to prevent further difficultly as she grows older, including jaw pain, speech difficulty and headaches, because the surgery will also make her more conventionally attractive, Jolie begins to worry that this, coupled with her excitement and anticipation about being ‘fixed’, makes her less of a feminist. Much of the novel is spent interrogating traditional beauty standards and what it truly means to be beautiful, ultimately resulting in the empowering conclusion that beauty is entirely subjective and not solely reliant on physical attributes.
In addition to its positive and empowering message, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is also interspersed with a number of charming ancillary details including Derek’s podcast, “Deep Dive”, which offers an in-depth examination of obscure subject matter, Derek and Jolie’s shared love of terrible films, and “To The Moon and Back”, the school play in which Jolie eventually stars in order to get closer to her crush, Noah, and which is notable both for its inclusion of space travel and a perplexing choir of singing pigs. (As an aside, I would pay an alarming amount of money to see this play performed in full.) Jolie has a healthy, positive relationship with her parents and is able to communicate openly and honestly with them about her fears and insecurities, and her friendship with Evelyn and Derek is both supportive and kind.
Kerry Winfrey’s 2015 young adult debut, Love and Other Alien Experiences, about an housebound teen who is forced to confront her anxiety and agoraphobia when she is unexpectedly nominated for homecoming queen, is a book that’s very dear to my heart and one I consider woefully under-appreciated so I was eager to read the author’s 2018 sophomore novel, Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It. As was the case with Winfrey’s debut, Jolie’s story is earnest, sweet, endlessly enchanting and one I won’t hesitate to recommend to absolutely everyone I know. A novel filled with a generous helping of heart, humour and hope, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is both a delightful romantic comedy and a touching story of a girl learning to love herself unreservedly.
July 27, 2018
A funny, feel-good, total delight of a book. So much happens, and I loved all of it: there's a high school musical featuring astronauts and pigs, a best friend group that holds emergency meetings at Applebee's, and a quest to complete a bucket list with goals like 'kiss the cutest boy at school.' Through all of that, there's a beautiful story about two sisters who learn to rely on each other when life sucks, a girl struggling with self-confidence and body image, and of course, a swoony romance (a VERY swoony romance).
Did I mention this book is really funny? I laughed out loud a LOT while I waited for my faves to finally kiss. This is an ideal summer read.
Did I mention this book is really funny? I laughed out loud a LOT while I waited for my faves to finally kiss. This is an ideal summer read.
September 19, 2023
I LOVE Kerry Winfreys adult books, so someone sent me this book and I have been so excited to read it. This book is about a girl named Jolie (which means 'beautiful' and her journey toward self discovery. She has an extreme underbite and feels anything but beautiful, so she's very excited for her upcoming surgery to fix her jaw. However, she's terrified she's going to die or have something crazy happen while shes under. She has a friend group consisting of herself, a guy named Derek and a girl named Evelyn. Evelyn makes Jolie a bucket list of things to do in case she does die (including kissing her big crush, eating every appetizer at Applebees, etc etc) and we follow her as she tries to do them. She gets the lead in the school play along side her crush so the kiss is checked off. The play takes up a majority of this book as she tries to see the confidence and beauty that others see in her. She also tries to decipher if her crush is really the adonis she thinks he is. Her sister is also pregnant and shes trying to figure out who the dad is. In the end, she finds out who she really has feelings for (romantically), her sister has the baby and it all comes to a head. I really wanted a little more out of this book. It was good, but for some reason it lacked that all in, invested in the characters feeling. I wanted to feel the bond between the sisters, see more vulnerable moments between the friends, etc. Overall, a good read but not on par with her adult stuff.
June 15, 2018
I read this book just about at the perfect time; after reading seven dark thrillers, mysteries, and moody fantasies, I needed something to cleanse my literary palette and get me back to 'bookish square zero'.
This really was a delightful read, taking me to all the right places that I hoped a book like this would. It revolves around Jolie Peterson, who is sixteen, in high school, and has an underbite, which is medical termed as 'mandibular prognathism' (I didn't even know that, and my dog has the most severe underbite; he was my motivator for requesting an early copy of this book - yes, really). Jolie has spent her entire life NOT wanting the spotlight before of her teeth, but also preparing for surgery to 'fix her face' so that she can end the headaches, chew properly, and stop feeling like she's different from everyone else. She wrestles with the questions of what makes someone beautiful, just like a lot of young people do, whether they have a misaligned jaw or not, and it takes her a long time to realize that many people worry if they're good enough, smart enough, pretty enough.
While she prepares for this long-awaited surgery, so many things come up for Jolie, and it may seem like you're reading a book with all the high-school literary tropes crammed into it. But it's DONE SO WELL. She is dreading the surgery and creates a list of things she must do in case she dies under anesthesia, and these naturally include doing things like finally kissing a boy. But she also dares to try out for the school musical, and guess what, she is amazing when she auditions and she gets the lead. She also has the best of friends since kindergarten and one that happens to be a guy, Derek, and she's just now realizing he's hot. This always presents a massive problem.
You may think you have read this before but the author, Kerry Winfrey, writes ALL these scenarios and these characters with so much sincerity and originality, that they are not ones that I'd met before. The male high school boys are ones with honest concern for their female counterparts. The female high schoolers are smart, and Winfrey didn't see it necessary to play the 'mean girl' card, or have Jolie really bash herself into the ground to come to her final conclusions about self-esteem and beauty (although she does a lot of natural questioning and normal comparisons). Characters acknowledge their mistakes in ways that make sense, without being preachy, and I love the tone of the writing throughout the novel because of this. I also totally enjoyed the TV obsessions of the family, and the 'Terrible Movie Night' Jolie and Derek share.
This is a light and funny book, with some bigger issues like self-esteem, and dealing with grief and changing friendships within it, but it's ultimately about Jolie's chance to shine, to change, to grow. Her voice is charming and heartfelt, and the book left me in such a great place, feeling like I knew all these great people!
This really was a delightful read, taking me to all the right places that I hoped a book like this would. It revolves around Jolie Peterson, who is sixteen, in high school, and has an underbite, which is medical termed as 'mandibular prognathism' (I didn't even know that, and my dog has the most severe underbite; he was my motivator for requesting an early copy of this book - yes, really). Jolie has spent her entire life NOT wanting the spotlight before of her teeth, but also preparing for surgery to 'fix her face' so that she can end the headaches, chew properly, and stop feeling like she's different from everyone else. She wrestles with the questions of what makes someone beautiful, just like a lot of young people do, whether they have a misaligned jaw or not, and it takes her a long time to realize that many people worry if they're good enough, smart enough, pretty enough.
While she prepares for this long-awaited surgery, so many things come up for Jolie, and it may seem like you're reading a book with all the high-school literary tropes crammed into it. But it's DONE SO WELL. She is dreading the surgery and creates a list of things she must do in case she dies under anesthesia, and these naturally include doing things like finally kissing a boy. But she also dares to try out for the school musical, and guess what, she is amazing when she auditions and she gets the lead. She also has the best of friends since kindergarten and one that happens to be a guy, Derek, and she's just now realizing he's hot. This always presents a massive problem.
You may think you have read this before but the author, Kerry Winfrey, writes ALL these scenarios and these characters with so much sincerity and originality, that they are not ones that I'd met before. The male high school boys are ones with honest concern for their female counterparts. The female high schoolers are smart, and Winfrey didn't see it necessary to play the 'mean girl' card, or have Jolie really bash herself into the ground to come to her final conclusions about self-esteem and beauty (although she does a lot of natural questioning and normal comparisons). Characters acknowledge their mistakes in ways that make sense, without being preachy, and I love the tone of the writing throughout the novel because of this. I also totally enjoyed the TV obsessions of the family, and the 'Terrible Movie Night' Jolie and Derek share.
This is a light and funny book, with some bigger issues like self-esteem, and dealing with grief and changing friendships within it, but it's ultimately about Jolie's chance to shine, to change, to grow. Her voice is charming and heartfelt, and the book left me in such a great place, feeling like I knew all these great people!
July 16, 2018
I enjoyed this, it was cute and fun but I couldn't rate it any higher than three stars because it's just not amazing or it didn't blow me away.
July 12, 2020
I liked Jolie because I can somewhat relate to her. But I didn't like her lack of confidence and her low self esteem. I get what it's like to not feel pretty. I get what it's like to think someone else thinks your ugly. I get what's it like to like someone and not believe that they like you back. Totally relatable. Maybe not for the same reasons as her story but still I totally got it! But man, she really tears herself down like she is the ugliest person in the world! Drove me crazy through out the whole book! Moral of this story is, you don't have to be the prettiest, the smartest, the prom queen or anything fancy in order to be pretty in your own way! And that's what I took from this book! Stop bringing yourself down and look at yourself as you are the prettiest person out there and that confidence will shine through you and make others see it in you as well because your prettiness isn't on the outside, its on the inside!
July 9, 2018
Jolie had been dealing with her mandibular prognathism, aka underbite, her whole life. There were braces, pallet expanders, and more braces. There were also headaches, jaw aches, a lisp, and foods she could never eat. Finally, Jolie was old enough for corrective surgery, but after one too many "true story" TV shows, she was convinced something could go wrong. Thus, the list was born.
• Pro: Jolie captured my heart. She was that girl, who didn't see what other people saw when she looked in the mirror. She fixed her make-up to draw attention from her jaw, she arrange her hair to hide her jaw, she wore bland and plain clothing to keep herself in the background. It all sort of broke my heart, because she was such a smart, wonderful, and talented young women, and I was glad she learned to see herself a little differently by the end of this book.
• Pro: I love that Winfrey challenged the beauty standard. She also included a secondary storyline, which served to show us how even the "beautiful" ones are not without problems in their lives.
• Pro: The emotions Jolie experienced regarding her mandibular prognathism felt so real, and I am sure it is because Winfrey also had an underbite in her youth.
• Pro: The list was precious, and just writing the list pushed Jolie out of her box. She found out there was a lot more to her than her underbite, and she was able to shine even before they "fixed" her face.
• Pro: There is a lot of family focus, and Jolie's sister was dealing with a pretty big life change. Seeing her family banding together to support her was very touching.
• Pro: Evelyn and Derek were fantastic friends. Jolie was lucky to have so many positive people in her life, who genuinely cared for her.
• Pro: Speaking of Derek, I totally loved him. He was a pretty interesting guy with his podcasts and academic team clout. It was very touching watching him work through his grief, as well as his feelings for Jolie.
• Pro: The characters in the book had really fun quirks. Everyone should have a "terrible movie night", and Jolie's family's obsession with true-crime stories was very amusing.
• Pro: This book was funny, but packed with feels. It was sits on the lighter side, but has plenty of substance.
Overall: Another reminder, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I loved being there as Jolie learned to love and appreciate herself. You will laugh with her, and maybe share her heartache, but you will definitely cheer for Jolie to see her inner beauty.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
• Pro: Jolie captured my heart. She was that girl, who didn't see what other people saw when she looked in the mirror. She fixed her make-up to draw attention from her jaw, she arrange her hair to hide her jaw, she wore bland and plain clothing to keep herself in the background. It all sort of broke my heart, because she was such a smart, wonderful, and talented young women, and I was glad she learned to see herself a little differently by the end of this book.
• Pro: I love that Winfrey challenged the beauty standard. She also included a secondary storyline, which served to show us how even the "beautiful" ones are not without problems in their lives.
• Pro: The emotions Jolie experienced regarding her mandibular prognathism felt so real, and I am sure it is because Winfrey also had an underbite in her youth.
• Pro: The list was precious, and just writing the list pushed Jolie out of her box. She found out there was a lot more to her than her underbite, and she was able to shine even before they "fixed" her face.
• Pro: There is a lot of family focus, and Jolie's sister was dealing with a pretty big life change. Seeing her family banding together to support her was very touching.
• Pro: Evelyn and Derek were fantastic friends. Jolie was lucky to have so many positive people in her life, who genuinely cared for her.
• Pro: Speaking of Derek, I totally loved him. He was a pretty interesting guy with his podcasts and academic team clout. It was very touching watching him work through his grief, as well as his feelings for Jolie.
• Pro: The characters in the book had really fun quirks. Everyone should have a "terrible movie night", and Jolie's family's obsession with true-crime stories was very amusing.
• Pro: This book was funny, but packed with feels. It was sits on the lighter side, but has plenty of substance.
Overall: Another reminder, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I loved being there as Jolie learned to love and appreciate herself. You will laugh with her, and maybe share her heartache, but you will definitely cheer for Jolie to see her inner beauty.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
February 14, 2022
2.5/3 stars! This one was cute! I got it from the library and didn’t know it was YA but it was funny!
July 18, 2021
4/5 ⭐️
Okay this was actually good and pretty funny. I laughed more then a few times.
Okay this was actually good and pretty funny. I laughed more then a few times.
May 27, 2020
This was a fun book full of teenage angst. I appreciated the deeper message of loving yourself despite your physical appearance and accepting love from others, even if at times it felt a bit repetitive. I really enjoy the way Kerry Winfrey writes!
June 7, 2019
Full review: https://bookpeopleteens.wordpress.com...
I love this twist on the “girl with a disease” trope (looks at John Green). Yes, this girl has a medical condition, but she’s not going to die. But, just to be safe she’s going to make a bucket list and go on adventures with her friends anyway. Things was light and playful, while also making a powerful statement about how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how we should treat each other in awareness of that. Perfect for fans of aforementioned John Green and basically anyone who wants to know what the best of YA this year is, Things will make you laugh and make you think while you learn to love yourself inside and out.
I love this twist on the “girl with a disease” trope (looks at John Green). Yes, this girl has a medical condition, but she’s not going to die. But, just to be safe she’s going to make a bucket list and go on adventures with her friends anyway. Things was light and playful, while also making a powerful statement about how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how we should treat each other in awareness of that. Perfect for fans of aforementioned John Green and basically anyone who wants to know what the best of YA this year is, Things will make you laugh and make you think while you learn to love yourself inside and out.
January 2, 2019
Kerry Winfrey's books are always a delight. She is one of the funniest writers out there. I loved this story, I loved Jolie and her family and her friends, and wish I could listen to the podcast Deep Dive. The musical in the book is hilarious and I wish I could watch that, too.
July 22, 2018
Jolie, like a lot of high schoolers, is self-conscious about the way she looks. Unlike most high schoolers though, she can get a surgery that she believes will fix all her problems. Now, before the surgery, she is determined to check things off her bucket list, just in case she dies while under the knife.
I loved this book. Kerry Winfrey really captures everything that is great and awful about being a teenager. Jolie is one of those teens with a couple really close, quirky friends, lots of time to chill at the local Applebees while eating appetizers, and a family who is close, but also watches way too much true crime television. With all that good stuff, she also has a severe underbite that has affected both her self-esteem her physical health. Instead of focusing on the good, Jolie can only think about how much better her life will be when her jaw is different. Jolie feels like someone that you knew (or maybe you were) in high school - for better or worse.
The book balances the angst of teenager-dom with a lot of humor and quirkiness, and even with a touch of romance. It's light while still being relatable enough to not just feel like fluff. Highly recommended, especially to teens or anyone with a teen in their life.
Oh, and the cover? A+
I loved this book. Kerry Winfrey really captures everything that is great and awful about being a teenager. Jolie is one of those teens with a couple really close, quirky friends, lots of time to chill at the local Applebees while eating appetizers, and a family who is close, but also watches way too much true crime television. With all that good stuff, she also has a severe underbite that has affected both her self-esteem her physical health. Instead of focusing on the good, Jolie can only think about how much better her life will be when her jaw is different. Jolie feels like someone that you knew (or maybe you were) in high school - for better or worse.
The book balances the angst of teenager-dom with a lot of humor and quirkiness, and even with a touch of romance. It's light while still being relatable enough to not just feel like fluff. Highly recommended, especially to teens or anyone with a teen in their life.
Oh, and the cover? A+
Read
July 30, 2018Graded By: Rosemary
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Deep Dive, Theatre Kids
Relationship Status: Kiss Me
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Deep Dive, Theatre Kids
Relationship Status: Kiss Me
Read the full book report here.
May 26, 2019
Delightful, sugary sweetness. You can feel the “personal”ness of this story in every page. Also, I’m a totally sucker for the “friends first” romances, since I’m living my own. This is my favorite Winfrey book so far, and I can’t wait for more to come!
February 16, 2020
Such a cute and fun read!
Loved the way it showed Jolie and Abby's insecurities, and how it revolves around a process of healing on both parties (+1, may I add).
Really liked it.
Loved the way it showed Jolie and Abby's insecurities, and how it revolves around a process of healing on both parties (+1, may I add).
Really liked it.
November 19, 2020
I had a hard time pushing through this book but I’ve noticed that when it comes to YA, I struggle to connect. I just ordered Not Like The Movies, I’m looking forward to reading it, as I loved Waiting for Tom Hanks.
March 20, 2022
3.5 stars
May 26, 2018
#ThingsJolieNeedstodoBeforeSheBitesIt #Edelwiess #FiewelandFriends
Wow..oh wow! I can't believe how much I loved this book! I had low expectations when I first started it, but the character is sweet, charming, and disarming! LOL. Jolie is the girl that hides in all of us at one point or another. She is unsure, funny, self-conscious and outright not who she wants to be on the outside. Jolie has an underbite which she is getting surgically fixed. Excited about this, she begins to plan all the "great" things she is going to do afterwards. Until, she realizes in her own silly way that she could "die" in surgery. Now she wants to knock a few things off her bucket list just in case. Kissing a certain boy is front and center!. I loved the friendship of this book and the main character is absolutely adorable.
Wow..oh wow! I can't believe how much I loved this book! I had low expectations when I first started it, but the character is sweet, charming, and disarming! LOL. Jolie is the girl that hides in all of us at one point or another. She is unsure, funny, self-conscious and outright not who she wants to be on the outside. Jolie has an underbite which she is getting surgically fixed. Excited about this, she begins to plan all the "great" things she is going to do afterwards. Until, she realizes in her own silly way that she could "die" in surgery. Now she wants to knock a few things off her bucket list just in case. Kissing a certain boy is front and center!. I loved the friendship of this book and the main character is absolutely adorable.
September 10, 2019
Really cute!!
August 30, 2018
Three Things I Loved About JOLIE...
1. Authentically teen. This book, more than any other I've read lately, felt like high school. Maybe that's because I related deeply to MC Jolie and her desire to avoid taking up space. Or, maybe author Kerry Winfrey's just exceptionally talented when it comes to capturing the voice and spirit of teenagers. Either way, I can't wait to read more of her work.
2. Cuuuuute romance. Without giving too much away, the turn this book took romance-wise was delightful. It turned out to be a really sweet take on one of my favorite tropes , and totally gave me all the first-love butterflies. In addition to the romance, Jolie's relationship with her two best friends, Evelyn and Derek, are perfectly imperfect.
3. Sisters forever. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It has a complex and interesting sister relationship. I loved how it developed over the course of the book, particularly as Abbi's pregnancy progressed. Jolie's entire family, in fact, is pretty fantastic.
1. Authentically teen. This book, more than any other I've read lately, felt like high school. Maybe that's because I related deeply to MC Jolie and her desire to avoid taking up space. Or, maybe author Kerry Winfrey's just exceptionally talented when it comes to capturing the voice and spirit of teenagers. Either way, I can't wait to read more of her work.
2. Cuuuuute romance. Without giving too much away, the turn this book took romance-wise was delightful. It turned out to be a really sweet take on one of my favorite tropes , and totally gave me all the first-love butterflies. In addition to the romance, Jolie's relationship with her two best friends, Evelyn and Derek, are perfectly imperfect.
3. Sisters forever. Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It has a complex and interesting sister relationship. I loved how it developed over the course of the book, particularly as Abbi's pregnancy progressed. Jolie's entire family, in fact, is pretty fantastic.
May 7, 2020
Read my original review on my blog!
Jolie is finally about to have the surgery that she’s been waiting for her whole life: the one that will fix her underbite, thus ridding her of chronic headaches, jaw pain, trouble eating and speaking (not to mention making her look normal). But after watching way too much worst-case scenario reality TV, Jolie becomes obsessed with the possibility that she could die on the operating table. With the help of her best-friends Derek and Evelyn, Jolie creates a bucket list and races to finish it before the big day.
Although jaw surgery may seem like a rather specific subject, the plot of this novel is certainly not one-note. Jolie is also grappling with her older sister’s unplanned pregnancy, and is struggling to be there for her while she pushes Jolie away. And Jolie’s friends are not without problems: Evelyn is struggling in school and dealing with the reality that she may not get into college to pursue her fashion design dream, while Derek is still reeling from his father’s death four years prior. Meanwhile, Jolie finds herself caught up in a school musical while trying not to acknowledge the spark she feels between herself and Derek —a spark that could ruin their friendship. The best-friends-turned-crush isn’t the most original YA plotline, but the charm of the rest of the novel was enough to make me forgive this cliché. There is a lot going on in Things Jolie Needs to do Before She Bites It, but Winfrey seamlessly weaves these storylines together. Winfrey excels at balancing light-hearted humor with a serious subject.
Kerry Winfrey presents a cast of fleshed out characters that feel authentic. Jolie’s two best friends have quirks, passions, and flaws that bring nuances to the book without overpowering Jolie’s story. Winfrey presents characters of color, fat characters, and queer characters, for whom these identities are just parts of their lives and are not treated as problems they must overcome. Jolie herself is an incredibly relatable and believable character. She longs to be rid of the health problems caused by her underbite, but she’s also a teen who desperately wants to be pretty. Throughout the book, Jolie struggles with what it means for her that she wants to change her appearance: is she shallow? Self-absorbed? Is she conforming to society’s expectations? The novel addresses self-worth, confidence, body-image, feminism, and agency. Jolie questions whether she is making the right decision for the wrong reasons, and Winfrey answers with a thoughtful discussion on the ability to make choices for one’s own body and the empowerment that comes with those choices.
While underbites and jaw surgery are perhaps not common problems, readers of all backgrounds will relate to Jolie’s fears, doubts, and her quest to love herself on her own terms. Through the support of her friends and family, Jolie works to understand that getting surgery can improve her health and well-being, but that it won’t “fix” her, because she was never broken. Jolie’s story will strike a cord with anyone who has ever felt different, and she’ll resonate especially with teens who are still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be.
Jolie is finally about to have the surgery that she’s been waiting for her whole life: the one that will fix her underbite, thus ridding her of chronic headaches, jaw pain, trouble eating and speaking (not to mention making her look normal). But after watching way too much worst-case scenario reality TV, Jolie becomes obsessed with the possibility that she could die on the operating table. With the help of her best-friends Derek and Evelyn, Jolie creates a bucket list and races to finish it before the big day.
Although jaw surgery may seem like a rather specific subject, the plot of this novel is certainly not one-note. Jolie is also grappling with her older sister’s unplanned pregnancy, and is struggling to be there for her while she pushes Jolie away. And Jolie’s friends are not without problems: Evelyn is struggling in school and dealing with the reality that she may not get into college to pursue her fashion design dream, while Derek is still reeling from his father’s death four years prior. Meanwhile, Jolie finds herself caught up in a school musical while trying not to acknowledge the spark she feels between herself and Derek —a spark that could ruin their friendship. The best-friends-turned-crush isn’t the most original YA plotline, but the charm of the rest of the novel was enough to make me forgive this cliché. There is a lot going on in Things Jolie Needs to do Before She Bites It, but Winfrey seamlessly weaves these storylines together. Winfrey excels at balancing light-hearted humor with a serious subject.
Kerry Winfrey presents a cast of fleshed out characters that feel authentic. Jolie’s two best friends have quirks, passions, and flaws that bring nuances to the book without overpowering Jolie’s story. Winfrey presents characters of color, fat characters, and queer characters, for whom these identities are just parts of their lives and are not treated as problems they must overcome. Jolie herself is an incredibly relatable and believable character. She longs to be rid of the health problems caused by her underbite, but she’s also a teen who desperately wants to be pretty. Throughout the book, Jolie struggles with what it means for her that she wants to change her appearance: is she shallow? Self-absorbed? Is she conforming to society’s expectations? The novel addresses self-worth, confidence, body-image, feminism, and agency. Jolie questions whether she is making the right decision for the wrong reasons, and Winfrey answers with a thoughtful discussion on the ability to make choices for one’s own body and the empowerment that comes with those choices.
While underbites and jaw surgery are perhaps not common problems, readers of all backgrounds will relate to Jolie’s fears, doubts, and her quest to love herself on her own terms. Through the support of her friends and family, Jolie works to understand that getting surgery can improve her health and well-being, but that it won’t “fix” her, because she was never broken. Jolie’s story will strike a cord with anyone who has ever felt different, and she’ll resonate especially with teens who are still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be.
March 14, 2019
I think any book lover worth their salt has a large To Be Read pile waiting to be tackled. Over the last year or so, I’ve been trying to work my way through mine, which encompasses an entire bookcase--I may have gone overboard. The book I’ll be reviewing today was acquired on the book convention circuit, picking up free ARCs. I never got to this book before it came out officially, and I, sadly, never even read the description before grabbing it up because the cover looked pretty. I know, I’m bad. I know, I should be more selective. But I’m a very eclectic reader. So I dove in.
Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is a YA Romantic Comedy with a gorgeous cover.
Book Summary:
Jolie’s a lot of things, but she knows that pretty isn’t one of them.
She has mandibular prognathism, which is the medical term for underbite. Chewing is a pain, headaches are a common occurrence, and she’s never been kissed. She’s months out from having a procedure to correct her underbite, and she cannot wait to be fixed.
Jolie becomes paralyzed with the fear that she could die under the knife. She and her best friends, Evelyn and Derek, decide to make a “Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, but Still, It Could Happen)” list. Things like: eat every appetizer on the Applebee’s menu and kiss her crush Noah Reed.
But since when did everything ever go exactly to plan?
What I Enjoyed:
The funny thing about Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It, by Kerry Winfrey, is that its concept strongly resembles the plot of a short story I wrote years ago, “One Percent.” “One Percent” was about a young teen who discovers she needs to have spinal surgery to repair her scoliosis and panics, her anxiety feeding the idea that she would be part of the small percentage of surgeries that failed. Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It starts in a very similar way but becomes so much more as the story evolves from its basic concept (and quickly becomes nothing like my short story.
This book hit all of my happy notes. Each character, even the oddball side characters, felt like a person, each with wants, needs, desires--and nobody was a bad guy. This wasn’t that kind of novel. Jolie is actually her very own antagonist, in a very real way. As Jolie struggles with the very idea of what it means to be beautiful--inside or out--she struggles to create new relationships, and salvage the ones she needs to keep.
Her relationships with her family are well drawn, and we get to see a YA book with a family that acts like a real family. Sure, there’s drama, but the characters are loving and warm to each other, and they are not the bad guys in Jolie’s life. Jolie’s best friends, Evelyn and Derek, are uniqueand come with real problems that aren’t really even the point of the story, but are interesting side stories that become important to us because of how important they are to Jolie.
The romance here is a spoiler, but it’s so well done, and it doesn’t go anywhere you would think it was going to go based on the book blurb.
One of my favorite things about this book was that there weren’t enemies--there were competitors, and there were people who cause trouble obliviously, and there are people getting in their own way. But there aren’t bullies and an arch nemesis. Just life, in all the way that it is difficult, and in the ways it becomes more difficult when you have a physical deformity, a struggle I tangled with as a teen myself, as I coped with scoliosis.
What I’d Avoid: I honestly don’t have anything for this section. This book had a strong plot, strong characterizations, strong theme, humor and was just plain lovable. I’ve got no complaints.
Would I Recommend It: Absolutely! Hell, my nine-year-old son wants to read it and I told him to go for it (it’s always a miracle to hear him ask for something he actually wants to read, versus being forced to read). It’s a sweet story and a sweet romance, with only two small detours into subject matter that may be questionable, although when I say that, I mean it skirts the edge of what you’d probably see on your average prime time television show.
What Can I Learn From It: It’s rare to see a book where all of the characters were well-rounded, and not in any way the bad guy. I mean, we’re not even speaking about characters that are the bad guy, but have redeeming qualities. We’re speaking about characters that simply get in their own way, as we as people are wont to do. And not having a clear villain does nothing to damage the conflict of the story--it’s there and it’s strong. I’m eager to try something similar in a different setting, just to see if I can accomplish it.
All in all, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It was a fun, well-told story I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a book that is about real life--ups, downs, quirks, and insecurities.
Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It is a YA Romantic Comedy with a gorgeous cover.
Book Summary:
Jolie’s a lot of things, but she knows that pretty isn’t one of them.
She has mandibular prognathism, which is the medical term for underbite. Chewing is a pain, headaches are a common occurrence, and she’s never been kissed. She’s months out from having a procedure to correct her underbite, and she cannot wait to be fixed.
Jolie becomes paralyzed with the fear that she could die under the knife. She and her best friends, Evelyn and Derek, decide to make a “Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, but Still, It Could Happen)” list. Things like: eat every appetizer on the Applebee’s menu and kiss her crush Noah Reed.
But since when did everything ever go exactly to plan?
What I Enjoyed:
The funny thing about Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It, by Kerry Winfrey, is that its concept strongly resembles the plot of a short story I wrote years ago, “One Percent.” “One Percent” was about a young teen who discovers she needs to have spinal surgery to repair her scoliosis and panics, her anxiety feeding the idea that she would be part of the small percentage of surgeries that failed. Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It starts in a very similar way but becomes so much more as the story evolves from its basic concept (and quickly becomes nothing like my short story.
This book hit all of my happy notes. Each character, even the oddball side characters, felt like a person, each with wants, needs, desires--and nobody was a bad guy. This wasn’t that kind of novel. Jolie is actually her very own antagonist, in a very real way. As Jolie struggles with the very idea of what it means to be beautiful--inside or out--she struggles to create new relationships, and salvage the ones she needs to keep.
Her relationships with her family are well drawn, and we get to see a YA book with a family that acts like a real family. Sure, there’s drama, but the characters are loving and warm to each other, and they are not the bad guys in Jolie’s life. Jolie’s best friends, Evelyn and Derek, are uniqueand come with real problems that aren’t really even the point of the story, but are interesting side stories that become important to us because of how important they are to Jolie.
The romance here is a spoiler, but it’s so well done, and it doesn’t go anywhere you would think it was going to go based on the book blurb.
One of my favorite things about this book was that there weren’t enemies--there were competitors, and there were people who cause trouble obliviously, and there are people getting in their own way. But there aren’t bullies and an arch nemesis. Just life, in all the way that it is difficult, and in the ways it becomes more difficult when you have a physical deformity, a struggle I tangled with as a teen myself, as I coped with scoliosis.
What I’d Avoid: I honestly don’t have anything for this section. This book had a strong plot, strong characterizations, strong theme, humor and was just plain lovable. I’ve got no complaints.
Would I Recommend It: Absolutely! Hell, my nine-year-old son wants to read it and I told him to go for it (it’s always a miracle to hear him ask for something he actually wants to read, versus being forced to read). It’s a sweet story and a sweet romance, with only two small detours into subject matter that may be questionable, although when I say that, I mean it skirts the edge of what you’d probably see on your average prime time television show.
What Can I Learn From It: It’s rare to see a book where all of the characters were well-rounded, and not in any way the bad guy. I mean, we’re not even speaking about characters that are the bad guy, but have redeeming qualities. We’re speaking about characters that simply get in their own way, as we as people are wont to do. And not having a clear villain does nothing to damage the conflict of the story--it’s there and it’s strong. I’m eager to try something similar in a different setting, just to see if I can accomplish it.
All in all, Things Jolie Needs To Do Before She Bites It was a fun, well-told story I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a book that is about real life--ups, downs, quirks, and insecurities.
July 11, 2018
Jolie Peterson has been reasonably happy for most of her life. She has a loving and supportive family, reliable grades in school, and some great best friends. However, she’s never felt perfect. She has a mandibular prognathism, another way of saying an underbite. Jolie’s never felt as pretty as her older sister Abbi or even pretty enough to participate in things like speeches in front of her class. She gets regular headaches, chewing is a painful issue and she still dreams of a first kiss.
Two months away from the final surgery where Jolie hopes to be “fixed” with her underbite, something noticeable enters her mind. After watching worst-case scenario television and a few minutes on Google, Joli develops a fear that she could die on the table. Feeling an urge to get some things done in the unlikely event that she will die (again, very unlikely, but still), she enlists the help of her two longtime best friends, Derek and Evelyn. They come up with a list of “Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, but Still, It Could Happen).” On it are about 10 or so things that Jolie wishes to do before she dies, and she doesn’t want to wait for after the surgery. This includes kissing the very popular Noah Reed (whom Jolie has had a crush on since his bright eyes met hers). As the surgery gets closer the list begins to unfold, in some ways that weren’t planned. Jolie begins to question what the surgery really means to her, and how important it is to have value in her individuality. Guided by her friends and family, THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT really is a story about taking chances and following your heart, even when it’s not what you expected.
THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT followed a very clear and delightful path. The story was laid out very smoothly and I got to know the characters in a special way. One of my favorite parts of the story was how the author chose to incorporate Jolie’s friends in her life. When I read other young adult novels the protagonist often has a best friend or a close group. In this book, Jolie had two close friends that chose to comfort her and guide her in different ways. Derek was the supportive and familiar friend she’s known since kindergarten. Evelyn was her feisty girlfriend who Jolie could share laughs with and get compelling advice from.
As I said earlier, the story did follow a clear plotline. One critique that I could give to this area is how many parts, or the whole book, were a bit cliché. The foreshadowing or hints are things I’ve heard before and I found the ending exactly how I expected. In some ways, it was comforting for a story to follow what you’d expect. I found it ironic how the book followed a very clear path but the story with Jolie’s list didn’t go as planned for her.
Overall, the book was fun and light. It would be great for a vacation away or an easy car ride. It was simple enough to pick up and leave for a while, so a reader wouldn’t have to worry about following if they had something like school or another book in the way. The author gave me a fun book filled with heart, and an interesting take on today’s standards of “pretty” with self-confidence. It was a feel-good story, and after finishing it I was left with a genuine smile.
Reviewed by Lillian B., Teen Board Member
Two months away from the final surgery where Jolie hopes to be “fixed” with her underbite, something noticeable enters her mind. After watching worst-case scenario television and a few minutes on Google, Joli develops a fear that she could die on the table. Feeling an urge to get some things done in the unlikely event that she will die (again, very unlikely, but still), she enlists the help of her two longtime best friends, Derek and Evelyn. They come up with a list of “Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It (Which Is Super Unlikely, but Still, It Could Happen).” On it are about 10 or so things that Jolie wishes to do before she dies, and she doesn’t want to wait for after the surgery. This includes kissing the very popular Noah Reed (whom Jolie has had a crush on since his bright eyes met hers). As the surgery gets closer the list begins to unfold, in some ways that weren’t planned. Jolie begins to question what the surgery really means to her, and how important it is to have value in her individuality. Guided by her friends and family, THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT really is a story about taking chances and following your heart, even when it’s not what you expected.
THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT followed a very clear and delightful path. The story was laid out very smoothly and I got to know the characters in a special way. One of my favorite parts of the story was how the author chose to incorporate Jolie’s friends in her life. When I read other young adult novels the protagonist often has a best friend or a close group. In this book, Jolie had two close friends that chose to comfort her and guide her in different ways. Derek was the supportive and familiar friend she’s known since kindergarten. Evelyn was her feisty girlfriend who Jolie could share laughs with and get compelling advice from.
As I said earlier, the story did follow a clear plotline. One critique that I could give to this area is how many parts, or the whole book, were a bit cliché. The foreshadowing or hints are things I’ve heard before and I found the ending exactly how I expected. In some ways, it was comforting for a story to follow what you’d expect. I found it ironic how the book followed a very clear path but the story with Jolie’s list didn’t go as planned for her.
Overall, the book was fun and light. It would be great for a vacation away or an easy car ride. It was simple enough to pick up and leave for a while, so a reader wouldn’t have to worry about following if they had something like school or another book in the way. The author gave me a fun book filled with heart, and an interesting take on today’s standards of “pretty” with self-confidence. It was a feel-good story, and after finishing it I was left with a genuine smile.
Reviewed by Lillian B., Teen Board Member
September 19, 2020
This story was super cute and I can totally see it being made into a Netflix movie adaptation. Kerry Winfrey does a good job talking about teenage insecurities and how a lot of girls feel they are broken just because they do not look like the models in magazines. I mean, Jolie literally had a scrapbook full of women she cut out of magazines. She also learns that "fixing" one problem will not change who you are as a person, and most the time it just causes a small change that is barely noticeable. For her, she had an underbite and thought so poorly of herself she assumed everyone thought the same thing about her.
I struggled with self esteem issues due to what I was being told inside my own home, and it caused a lot of issues for me for a long time. I thought nobody could think I was attractive or want to date me because I did not think that way of myself, so I can relate with Jolie and her feelings. And since she rarely spoke them out loud, it is not like that thinking could have been stopped and corrected earlier on. Derek said Jolie was phishing for comments at one point, when she was really just trying to project her own feelings onto him in the assumption that her underbite was really the bane of her existence.
I loved Jolie's mom too, not because she was a school counseler but because she is the kind of patient and understanding mother every person wants in their life. Her older daughters literally came home from college one day and announced she was pregnant and that she did not want to talk about it, and her mom understood her wishes and was supportive in any way she can. She was the same for Jolie, and at one point stated she never called her daughters "pretty" or "beautiful" because she wanted them to see there is so much more to them as a person than their looks. Jolie is smart, and brave, and people seem to be naturally drawn to her; even with the "atrocious" underbite she was still relatively popular and people liked her for who she is.
Overall, I believe Kerry Winfrey did a good job discussing insecurities and helping find ways to get over them, even if it does take a while or you need a whole support group. Her cast of characters is diverse without feeling overwhelming, and this is a story I can see taking place in real life. Every girl has one insecurity they clung to in high school and have (hopefully) since learned to embrace, and hopefully this book will help teenage girls with that. Well done, I look forward to reading more of her books.
I struggled with self esteem issues due to what I was being told inside my own home, and it caused a lot of issues for me for a long time. I thought nobody could think I was attractive or want to date me because I did not think that way of myself, so I can relate with Jolie and her feelings. And since she rarely spoke them out loud, it is not like that thinking could have been stopped and corrected earlier on. Derek said Jolie was phishing for comments at one point, when she was really just trying to project her own feelings onto him in the assumption that her underbite was really the bane of her existence.
I loved Jolie's mom too, not because she was a school counseler but because she is the kind of patient and understanding mother every person wants in their life. Her older daughters literally came home from college one day and announced she was pregnant and that she did not want to talk about it, and her mom understood her wishes and was supportive in any way she can. She was the same for Jolie, and at one point stated she never called her daughters "pretty" or "beautiful" because she wanted them to see there is so much more to them as a person than their looks. Jolie is smart, and brave, and people seem to be naturally drawn to her; even with the "atrocious" underbite she was still relatively popular and people liked her for who she is.
Overall, I believe Kerry Winfrey did a good job discussing insecurities and helping find ways to get over them, even if it does take a while or you need a whole support group. Her cast of characters is diverse without feeling overwhelming, and this is a story I can see taking place in real life. Every girl has one insecurity they clung to in high school and have (hopefully) since learned to embrace, and hopefully this book will help teenage girls with that. Well done, I look forward to reading more of her books.
August 30, 2018
This was a really cute story and is so relatable for me. Not the underbite part-- mine is an overbite, and it does indeed make chewing hard-- but the part of not seeing yourself as pretty and not feeling like you can measure up to the world's standard? I can completely relate to that. I can also relate to being scared of change and not wanting to be in front of people and making up these fantasies about your crushes.
All of that was really well done, as was her friendships and her relationship with her parents. It's about damn time we get a supportive and healthy relationship between teenagers and their parents. And I did like how it was showing that people who Jolie thought had all their shit together really didn't, and they too were going through a lot of things that they just didn't talk about.
While I appreciate that other characters called her out on it, I still really wanted to smack Jolie for being so focused on her own "flaw" that she was oblivious to what other people were struggling with. Like she goes on these long rants to her friends about "oh you never hated how you look in the mirror" blah blah blah and I was thinking "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! HOW DENSE ARE YOU". Again, it's not like I haven't hated my appearance or dismissed compliments about how I look, but my god. I got so sick of that bullshit.
Alas, I also have to complain about the romance. I hate always complaining about this in YA, but it just annoys me every time. Why couldn't they just be friends? I had lots of guy friends in school and them being attractive didn't change that in my mind. I hate how sudden it always is when character A realizes their best friend is hot. Not saying that doesn't happen; I'm just tired of reading about in YA. Also, I can't stand it when characters get jealous because their best friend/crush dares to be friends with someone of the opposite gender. I appreciate the honesty of it but it still makes me roll my eyes. Not saying that leaving out the romance would've made this better or worse. I just wish it didn't have to be part of the story.
For the most part, this book is a very real and honest look at how the world perceives beauty and how we perceive it in ourselves, plus how others see us. It was cute, fairly good at capturing the voice of a teenage girl, and also showed that nobody has it all together no matter what they show the world.
All of that was really well done, as was her friendships and her relationship with her parents. It's about damn time we get a supportive and healthy relationship between teenagers and their parents. And I did like how it was showing that people who Jolie thought had all their shit together really didn't, and they too were going through a lot of things that they just didn't talk about.
While I appreciate that other characters called her out on it, I still really wanted to smack Jolie for being so focused on her own "flaw" that she was oblivious to what other people were struggling with. Like she goes on these long rants to her friends about "oh you never hated how you look in the mirror" blah blah blah and I was thinking "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! HOW DENSE ARE YOU". Again, it's not like I haven't hated my appearance or dismissed compliments about how I look, but my god. I got so sick of that bullshit.
Alas, I also have to complain about the romance. I hate always complaining about this in YA, but it just annoys me every time. Why couldn't they just be friends? I had lots of guy friends in school and them being attractive didn't change that in my mind. I hate how sudden it always is when character A realizes their best friend is hot. Not saying that doesn't happen; I'm just tired of reading about in YA. Also, I can't stand it when characters get jealous because their best friend/crush dares to be friends with someone of the opposite gender. I appreciate the honesty of it but it still makes me roll my eyes. Not saying that leaving out the romance would've made this better or worse. I just wish it didn't have to be part of the story.
For the most part, this book is a very real and honest look at how the world perceives beauty and how we perceive it in ourselves, plus how others see us. It was cute, fairly good at capturing the voice of a teenage girl, and also showed that nobody has it all together no matter what they show the world.
January 28, 2019
I wanted to love this for for the cute romantic contemporary that it was supposed to be but there were too many YA tropes and........when you don't like the main character that become a hard. Here are my notes from reading because I loved parts and hated others so I had to start making notes or my review would have been nonexistant. (these are in no particular order)
- There is only so many times I can read about Jolie's insecurities. Its clear her friends are over it to
- I know how this is going to end and im not sure I care enough to follow through
- I like Derek more than I like Jolie, his story line seems more interesting. I wish this book had split POVs
- I get that she feels ugly but no matter how many times people tell her she's not she doesn't believe them, this is a repetitive area of the story line that I started to skim. Evelyn even points out that she is "fishing for compliments" and even though I understand that it is genuine insecurity, its over the top voiced.
- I cannot stand Abbi.
- Why do all YA stories have a massive complication that could have been solved in the first 50 pages. Evelyn has lied to Jolie to spend time with Marla. Yet Jolie doesnt just say "I was with Derek and we saw you with Marla, you didnt have to lie about it" its been made into a bigger deal than it is for the story lines benefit which is a trope I can't stand.
- Do I like anything about this book apart for Derek?
- I love that the author decided that there is no reason for a romantic relationship to happen between Noah and Jolie and stuck to that. Had they ended up together I would have been really unimpressed.
- I like that when Derek admits to liking Jolie she reacts the most realistic way - knows she likes him but doesnt know if it will last or its just a crush and doesnt want to ruin anything encase she is wrong so doesnt do anything hasty
- this book gets points for not making tge ending all about the romance and actually about the original plot line.
-did Jolie do anything on her list? In fact after the list was made apart from kissing Noah was it really mentioned again?
3 stars.
I had issues with this book. Sorry
- There is only so many times I can read about Jolie's insecurities. Its clear her friends are over it to
- I know how this is going to end and im not sure I care enough to follow through
- I like Derek more than I like Jolie, his story line seems more interesting. I wish this book had split POVs
- I get that she feels ugly but no matter how many times people tell her she's not she doesn't believe them, this is a repetitive area of the story line that I started to skim. Evelyn even points out that she is "fishing for compliments" and even though I understand that it is genuine insecurity, its over the top voiced.
- I cannot stand Abbi.
- Why do all YA stories have a massive complication that could have been solved in the first 50 pages. Evelyn has lied to Jolie to spend time with Marla. Yet Jolie doesnt just say "I was with Derek and we saw you with Marla, you didnt have to lie about it" its been made into a bigger deal than it is for the story lines benefit which is a trope I can't stand.
- Do I like anything about this book apart for Derek?
- I love that the author decided that there is no reason for a romantic relationship to happen between Noah and Jolie and stuck to that. Had they ended up together I would have been really unimpressed.
- I like that when Derek admits to liking Jolie she reacts the most realistic way - knows she likes him but doesnt know if it will last or its just a crush and doesnt want to ruin anything encase she is wrong so doesnt do anything hasty
- this book gets points for not making tge ending all about the romance and actually about the original plot line.
-did Jolie do anything on her list? In fact after the list was made apart from kissing Noah was it really mentioned again?
3 stars.
I had issues with this book. Sorry
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews