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Dumplin' (Dumplin', #1)

Julie Murphy

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Apr 04, 2014 Glass rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, fangirling-like-crazy, realistic-fiction, tanja-zemira-miss-glass-book-club, girl-power

Dear Julie Murphy,
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78 likes · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2015 Jasprit rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, contemporary, out-2016, read-in-2016

I don’t know why I assumed that Dumplin’ wouldn’t be my sort of read, but Murphy really surprised me with this book. Willowdean isn’t your typical MC, she’s a big girl compared to others, but I admired the confidence and spunk that Murphy gave her character. When she found her back against the wall, I loved how she came fighting back. With the annual pageant around the corner, no one’s expecting Will to enter, I don’t think Will was expecting it herself, but before you know it Will and a couple I don’t know why I assumed that Dumplin’ wouldn’t be my sort of read, but Murphy really surprised me with this book. Willowdean isn’t your typical MC, she’s a big girl compared to others, but I admired the confidence and spunk that Murphy gave her character. When she found her back against the wall, I loved how she came fighting back. With the annual pageant around the corner, no one’s expecting Will to enter, I don’t think Will was expecting it herself, but before you know it Will and a couple of girls from school end up signing up. I liked how Will’s reason for entering wasn’t just to win, but just to show that she could.

Will and her friends really had a lot to deal with, but I enjoyed how this pageant actually made these girls find a friendship in the most unexpected of places, how it gave them the encouragement and belief to believe in themselves. It was a learning curve for them, but the character development which came out of it was fantastic. At the beginning of the story I thought I knew the way things would end up for Will, but I appreciated the problems that Will had to deal with along the way, her unexpected feelings for Bo, her topsy turvy relationship with her best friend and still trying to deal with the death of her aunt, because they made Will the person that she was. Like I mentioned before Will was a tough person, but the support she received in the most unlikely of places, from the girls or Bo was super sweet to watch play out.

I adored Bo, he was the moments of sweetness that Will needed when things were tough at home and confusing with her best friend. Their scenes together gave me the assurance and belief that everything was going to be okay and it was great to see Will happy. I’m not going to mention how things ended up, but Bo’s continual presence in the story really made my day, like I know a lot of things were happening for Will and although I didn’t agree with some of her decisions, all I wanted was for Will and Bo to be together.

Dumplin’ was such a rich and complex story which really had so much to offer. I appreciated the take home messages that Murphy had scattered throughout this story, how Murphy gave such a resilient character in Willowdean that I know a lot of readers would appreciate and look up to. ...more

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Jan 10, 2025 Danielle rated it really liked it

Loved it. Always been a fan of the movie so I really enjoyed that there was more development of the romance and friendships in the book.

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Aug 10, 2015 Pili marked it as to-read

Jan 14, 2019 Lauren rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2019

Feb 26, 2016 Rawan marked it as owned-tbr

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