It’s a little cheesier than my usual taste, but it is a teen romance and there’s a lot to be said for a novel that’s unabashedly upbeat. Once I’d checked my this isn’t how high school works expectations at the door, I enjoyed You Should See Me in a Crown. I had to rapidly reassess what I thought I was getting into. I sometimes have a hard time readjusting my expectations when a book doesn’t match my anticipations at least in broad strokes. I can see making memes about each other, but gifs? Shipping tags? Maybe there are insane schools like this, but none of the ones I attended (I was a military brat I went to several) treated even the most popular students like full-blown celebrities. Liz’s friend Gabi obsessively tracks Liz’s mentions on Campbell Confidential and launches a campaign to give the impression that Liz and a (male) classmate are in a relationship, because it makes Liz trend. There’s a social media page for the school that everyone follows obsessively, filled with posts, hashtags, and even gifs of classmates. It definitely has a heightened, reality TV short of feel. You Should See Me in a Crown has a lighter, less grounded feeling than I expected. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, because under normal circumstances Liz wouldn’t care any more about prom court than prom court cares about her, but then a scholarship she was counting on falls through and Liz realizes she only has one option: take advantage of her school’s obsession with Prom, which comes with a hefty scholarship grant. Liz is an excellent student and a talented musician, but-as a Black, queer, shy girl living in Indiana-she’s not your typical Prom queen. Leah Johnson’s debut novel You Should See Me in a Crown has gotten lots of good hype and I’ve wanted to read it since June but only just managed to get it from the library.
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