Hot Dog Girl

Hot Dog Girl

By Jennifer Dugan

Genre: YA Contemporary 

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫(3.5)

Blurb

Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:

* She's landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.

* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou's never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.

* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who's always been up for anything, suddenly isn't when it comes to Lou's quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou's scheme to get close to Nick.

* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland--ever--unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Jennifer Dugan's sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love--and themselves--in unexpected people and unforgettable places.

Review

It's safe to say that I was super excited to read Hot Dog Girl solely because of the...intriguing name and the gorgeous cover! I mean, there's a Cinderella, Prince Charming, a pirate talking to Cinderella, a girl with a pretty cool hairstyle, and a HOT DOG! You'd be lying if that doesn't sound interesting. 

I know I don’t have the face of a woman who walks into an office and demands answers - I have the faces of a girl trying to be too many things at once.

I thought that the storyline would be pretty basic: a clumsy stupid girl falls for the guy she couldn't have and suddenly the girl likes her back. Spoiler Alert: IT WAS NOT! It's so much more than that. 

The first thing I loved about the book was the popular girl was not the usual meanie which every other book has. Most books have this thing about pinning girls (or guys or anyone) against each other for no real reason at all. That girl is shown to have no original personality and I hate that. Instead, Jenna was shown extremely kind and friendly from Elouise's point of view. 

I flick my eyes to the spot on her shoulder where her freckles match the constellations in the sky, and I smile. I get lost in her skin, sipping my drink and mapping the stars on her arm while everyone else talks and eats and laughs around me.

The second thing is I think this is the first book where I shipped the main character with both sides of the love triangle. I was so confused about which one I liked more. Then came the humor of the book, and omg, some scenes were described so perfectly I remember imagining them and laughing till my stomach hurt.

However, there were some things about this book I didn't like. 

Seeley throws her hands up, "Why do you think you have the right to meddle in their relationship?"
"If I can break them up, then obviously their relationship isn't that great. I'd practically be doing them a favor."

I don't think it's hard to see why I'm not a big fan of this scene. I absolutely hate these types of people and knowing the mc is one of them wasn't good to know. Again, there were some scenes where Elouise acted really ungrateful for what she has. She kinda reminded me of Ginny from Ginny and Georgia. But I guess the author made up for it later in the book with Elle's character development. She apologized for every wrong thing she did and that's what set her apart from Ginny. 

Overall, I really really really enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. It has one of the best and happiest endings and left the same vibe you feel after finishing a Disney movie.