Skip to main content

The Queen of Kentucky

The Queen of Kentucky is a YA contemporary novel by Alecia Whitaker.

Ricki Jo Winstead is entering her freshman year of high school and she’s ready to make some big changes.

First to go will be her farm girl name. It’s now the more sophisticated sounding Ericka.

Next, she’s focusing on using all the tips from Seventeen magazine to do an overhaul on her look. Nicer, newer clothes and hip hairstyles.

Especially if she doesn’t want to keep looking like a young boy – since puberty has (sadly) yet to hit.

Finally, Ricki Jo is determined to get herself involved with the “right” friends. This puts her in a good position to flirt with the resident freshman bad boy and start her high school life off right.

But along the way, will she overlook her lifelong best friend Luke?

Or maybe lose the parts of her she never really meant to change?

Ricki Jo Winstead is changing all right…

The Queen of Kentucky features a ton of charming personalities (especially that of Ricki Jo and Luke) that jump off the page quickly. Their friendly, relaxed sparring is good natured fun. Plus, Ricki Jo’s somewhat frenetic determination to “better” herself brings about a thought of her being the Southern, farming community’s version of Meg Cabot’s Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries series.

Alecia Whitaker shows the horrors and hurts of high school in a way that transcends the culture of small town life. She also provides a bit of an edge when it comes to revealing Luke’s home life – and she’s rather unique to the YA world in allowing Ricki Jo to (*gasp!*) be a believer in God.

The Queen of Kentucky had some jarringly poignant, moving moments that provided depth among the fluff. It zipped along pleasantly, sometimes heartbreaking, always sensitive. I did occasionally want to shake some sense into Ricki Jo, but she is a relatable character – especially if you are entering your first year of high school, or vividly remember doing so in the past (ahem).

Wow. I just realized I was 14-years-old ten years ago.

Okay. Moving on from that sudden weirdness…

I felt the strongest moments of The Queen of Kentucky were its sensibilities regarding animals, guilt, and family – these portions provided relief from what could sometimes be a predictable story. Yet, even the rather predictable parts were still fun and done pretty well.

The end was slight and sudden, but undeniably sweet. It was a very good, fast read.

*I received a review copy of The Queen of Kentucky from Hachette Book Group. Their generosity in no way influenced, nor sought to influence, my opinion of the novel.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Author Q & A - Jan Eldredge Stops By!

Next Wednesday y'all will be getting my oh-so-humble opinion of Evangeline of the Bayou , the Summer 2018 Kids' Indie Next List selection! (That means it was picked via booksellers at independent bookstores countrywide.) Until then, I have a Q&A with the Louisiana born and raised author herself: Jan Eldredge! (Don't forget to come back next week for my review!!) A Conversation with JAN ELDRIDGE Author of Evangeline of the Bayou 1) The glossary in the back of the book is so helpful! Where did you learn about all these creatures? Which creature from the book is your favorite? I have a small, but growing, collection of books about mythical creatures around the world. If I couldn’t find what I was looking for there, I researched library books, online websites, and the occasional documentary. Something that really surprised me as I started learning more about mythical monsters was the number of different cultures that share very similar ...

Promotion Celebration for Maximum Ride!!!

Do you love the series Maximum Ride ? How about James Patterson? Are you a huge fan of action-packed books? Well, I’m thrilled to bring to you an opportunity to stock up on some awesome reading!!! ENTER TO WIN A SET OF JAMES PATTERSON PAGETURNERS! MAXIMUM RIDE – IF SHE LIVES, THE WORLD LIVES, IT’S THAT SIMPLE. Read “MAX” - the newest book in the bestselling Maximum Ride series. On sale in paperback 09/01/09! Still reeling from their most recent adventure, Maximum Ride and the rest of the flock must head out to sea to uncover the secret behind a brand new series of disasters—fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii, hundreds of ships are being destroyed. As if that weren’t enough, they’re also being tracked by a criminal mastermind with, oh yeah, an army of mercenaries. Can the flock save themselves and the ocean, and the world, from utter destruction? Now for the rules : The Maximum Ride: Max Promotion is open to legal US residents who are at least 13 years of age as of August 24, 200...

Werelove = YA Paranormal Contest!!!

Now that my CSN contest is coming to a close (you still have until 11:59PM PST to enter today), I am here to offer you another chance to WIN something awesome! :) Author Lakisha Spletzer (to find out more about her and her books go here: www.kishazworld.com) has so kindly offered me a chance to have a giveaway on this blog for all you bibliophiles! There will be THREE winners!!! And there are THREE different prizes that will be awarded. What are they? 1. A print copy of Lakisha's YA paranormal/sci-fi book Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy 2. An e-book version of Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy 3. A T-shirt with a Werelove logo and quote, which you can see here As someone who has just finished reading Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy I can assure you that you will never be bored and that it is a fun, fast-paced read! (For more on the book read my review in the next few weeks when it posts, or click here to look at it on the Amazon.com page.) And that's not all! (I totally sound like a g...