Review Tour + #Giveaway: Ugly by Kelly Vincent @GoddessFish

Ugly

by Kelly Vincent

GENRE: YA Contemporary

BLURB:

Sophomore Nic Summers tries to ignore the taunts of “ugly lesbian.”

Because she’s not sure they’re entirely wrong. But she also has bigger concerns for now, including prepping for the school’s art contest. And while she isn't certain of her sexuality, she does know her life is on the verge of falling apart when her best and only friend, Sam, drops the bomb that her family’s moving to Scotland. Together, to soften the blow and distract themselves from the inevitable, they start Operation Social Interaction for Nic—or OSIN for short—to try to find her some new friends.

But it’s an uphill battle for the introverted teen artist.

As Sam’s last day nears, Nic's self-confidence wavers even more, and she starts questioning everything. If lesbian doesn’t feel quite right, maybe she’s transgender? It isn’t until she stumbles across the label “gender nonconforming” that things start to make a little more sense, and fall into place. But finding the right label doesn’t really tell her what to do next, and before she knows it, Sam is gone.

Mustering all her resources, Nic realizes she needs to find her own path and live her own truth.

Purchase Ugly on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple

Excerpt:

After eating a Lean Cuisine cheese ravioli, I tossed the plastic tray into the trash and dropped the fork in the dishwasher.

Back to my drawing, which I’d been prepping since I got home. I was set up in the dining room because I was working on a poster-sized piece of thick white paper. It was almost as big as the desk in my room, so there’d be no way to do it in there. I was lucky my mom encouraged my drawing.

I’d done a super-light sketch of the whole drawing to get the scale right. It would be so awesome. It would be my best piece for the contest. And I needed to do well in the contest this year and next year if I was to have any chance of getting into a good art school.

I looked at the paper, trying to decide where to start when my dad came in from the den. He was still in his nice work pants. His curly hair was getting long.

“Nic?”

“Yeah?” I was thinking I’d start with one of the snow-covered shrubs since it was roughly centered. I could work out from there so I didn’t end up squishing one of the dragons off the page if my scale was off.

He stood next to me. “When your mom gets home, we’re going to have a family meeting.”

“What?” I turned to look at him and saw a barely perceptible frown on his face, which was weird. Also, we had literally never had a family meeting before.

My Review:

Nic Summers is a sophomore in high school. Nic only has one friend and that is her best friend Sam. Sam and her family are moving soon to Scotland leaving Nic all alone in a world where everyone picks on her and calls her names. Nic is called names in and out of school. Even people on the streets and in stores refer to Nic as a guy.

Nic is very confused as to who she is. Nic is struggling to try to come to turns as to who she is. Nic is not certain of her sexuality or her gender. Nic is a very shy person and is not very good with people. She has a hard time making eye contact with others.

Nic and Sam make a plan to try and get Nic a few friends before Sam leaves so she won’t be all alone. Sam tries to help Nic step outside of her shell and talk to people. She tries to get her to go to parties with her but Nic does not like parties.

But for Sam and herself, Nic does try to take that step to make friends but the thing is it takes two, when she does try to reach out it is always slammed back in her face crushing her heart once again.

I can’t blame Nic for not wanting to try when no one seems to want to be your friend. She makes that one step and then she is slammed back two making it that more difficult to ever try again. I can only imagine she wanted to go home and curl up in a ball as she is pulled once again back into her shell, her safe place.

Ugly is not the first book by Kelly Vincent that I have read and it won’t be the last. I was first introduced to Kelly when I read Finding Frances. Ugly is one of those stories that will pull at your heartstrings. It will also bring out many other emotions as well. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I would recommend Ugly to YA Contemporary fans! One-click your copy of Ugly today!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kelly Vincent wrangles data weekdays and spends the rest of her time playing with words. She grew up in Oklahoma but has moved around quite a bit, with Glasgow, Scotland being her favorite stop. She now lives near Seattle with three cats who help her write her stories by strategically walking across the keyboard, with her first novel, Finding Frances, a fine example of this technique. She has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth program.

Connect with Kelly Vincent

Website ~ Blog

Instagram ~ TikTok ~ Pinterest ~ Facebook

 

Giveaway:

$15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC

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