Review: Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Point
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Contemporary
Release date: March 1st, 2013
Pages: 261 (ARC)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Publisher
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Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup). 

Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection. 

The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it.

We've all heard of Toddlers and Tiaras, but we've never seen it from the sibling's perspective.  Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality tells the story of Lexi, a teenage girl whose entire life revolves around trying to please her mother and younger sister.  When the family is struggling with money due to Mackenzie's pageants, Lexi decides to step up.  Someone has to be responsible for their well-being, right?  Unfortunately, Lexi is still just a kid and she deserves to live a little too.  In this story, we watch the Girl with the Great Personality blossom into a responsible and beautiful young woman and learn that what you see isn't always what you get.

I've heard it a lot growing up--you're such an awesome person, any guy would be lucky to have you--yet I didn't get into my first serious relationship until after I graduated high school.  Guys hardly bothered to look my way.  Why?  Because I was the one with the so-called "great personality".  It's not a bad thing, in fact, having an awesome personality is one of the best qualities anyone can hope for, but when you're younger, you don't always look at it that way.

Lexi is tired of hearing about her great personality when being compared to her friends, peers and even her seven-year-old pageant princess sister, so she decides to make more of an effort with her appearance...and it works.  Everyone begins to notice her, at school and pageants, and even her sister is a little jealous.  Her mom finally seems to accept her and she even gets asked on her first date, but is it really because of her, or is it because of the makeup caked on her face?

The characters were all done really well, and I couldn't help but love or loathe each one of them.  Lexi's best friends were her rocks.  They stayed with her throughout her transformation and remained there when she needed them most.  The only character that really- I mean REALLY- bothered me was the mother, who resembled Honey Boo Boo's mom in my mind.  I had to put the book down a few times just to regain my composure after certain scenes involving her.  As for the love interests, I really took a liking to Taylor and could easily see that he was genuine from the start.

This story shows that the best revenge is self-acceptance.  So what if you're the girl with the great personality?  You can get beauty queens by the dozen, but Lexi realizes that personalities like hers are rare.  Elizabeth Eulberg creates another heart-warming story about self-discovery that any contemporary lover will want to add to their TBR list.