The Accidental Beauty Queen, book review

The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To begin, I read this book more quickly than I read a lot of books. I pretty much knew how it was going to go and the character's voice reminded me a lot of others that I've read (or seen in movies or TV shows), but something drew me to read it constantly over a couple of days. For that reason, and for the fact that it doesn't pretend to be different than a light read, I'll give it three stars.

This novel is a cute chick lit work that takes the new feminist stance on beauty pageants (excuse me, scholarship competitions), much like the movie Miss Congeniality. The main character takes her twin's spot in a beauty pageant, something her bookish, make-up-less self would never have willingly entered. Prior to agreeing to the switch, the main character meets a Mr. Darcy character and the whole thing is set in motion.

The plot points are predictable, but, as I said, they kept me reading. The main character's voice is on script for a 2018 sense of humor, but both she and her twin sister sound like they're much younger than the 29 years old they are cast to be. There was some character development, certainly, but some of it was spelled out for the reader.

*spoilers*
Yet, I must mention how many times my eyes rolled with regard to the love story. Again, I recognize the purpose of the genre and I was enjoying it as I read it. It's a reflection on the low standards our whole culture has for what True Love can be and look like that this woman could take so few details about someone she barely knows, plus the physical attraction, and turn that into a night of passion that has her staring into the mirror at a woman "in love" as she completes the walk of shame back to her hotel room. There were so many references to great classical works and their love stories, but that would suggest the main character has a more mature understanding of dedicated, self-sacrificing love. And I don't think that's what she got. It was just as hormone-dependent and sex-first-relationship-later as any other contemporary woman is supposed "to be cool with."

In conclusion, the book entertained me and I sought more time in my day to read it. That has to stand for something! I received this book from NetGalley and Gallery Books in exchange for a fair review.

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