The Accidental Beauty Queen

Charlotte and Ginny are identical twins and are as different as chalk and cheese. Ginny is “the pretty one’ and plays off that moniker with her life spent running through the beauty pageant circuit and her Instagram following. Charlotte (and the reason I grabbed the title) is an elementary school librarian, reserved, quiet and very book-ish. My only complaint with her was her choice of ‘favorite read’ which, when one considers her workplace and her access to ALL the titles in the world – meh. But, this isn’t about her work (sadly) but of her overcoming preconceptions and labels attached since childhood as Charlotte, through an odd set of circumstances, finds herself passing as Ginny in a pageant. The twin switch is cute – although familiar in a Parent Trap sort of way, but Charlotte is overwhelmed by all of the elements of the pageant (and this story does carry a solid ‘pro-pageant’ message that seeks to break down preconceptions) and the fact that Ginny actually does have to do more than she ever thought possible to maintain and compete. Of course, Charlotte has angst in the switch, and the author makes a point of being a ‘woman friendly’ atmosphere behind the scenes, despite the outright sexism of pageants, the competitors are all nice and supportive of one another, without the expected ‘knife in the back’ moments that I’m sure we all have seen / expected. Cleverly, this camaraderie and support helps Charlotte as she finds a romantic connection to someone she shouldn’t be interested in – and he’s interested right back. Overall, the story did read a bit “young’ with the sisters nearing thirty, Charlotte was by far more naïve and innocent, feeling far younger than her age, while Ginny was self-centered and often selfish at first, needing that moment of redemption to bring her character around. These two are so different – and with a light flirtation the romance felt very teen and ‘first boyfriend’, even as it was clear that it was rather meant to be, even with the substitution of Charlotte for Ginny. Clever twists, some unexpected camaraderie and some light moments makes this fluffy read a perfect escape for a few hours of ‘pick you up”. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

The Accidental Beauty Queen is a great bit of escapism. It's silly, over the top, and completely predictable. It's also witty, often hilarious, loads of fun, and maybe even a little bit of a lesson about seeing things from both sides of the coin before passing judgment. There is romance - well, there's instalove, which I'm not usually a fan of, but it's not really the focus here. The story is about identical twins, Charlotte and Ginny. I'll admit, I wasn't crazy about Ginny for most of the story. She has a bad case of "It's all about me" syndrome and doesn't even consider how things affect others. However, she doesn't make excuses for it, and she is redeemable. Charlotte isn't exactly on this trip for entirely selfless reasons either, but her plans get derailed and she finds herself smack in the middle of interviews, swimsuit competitions, and finding a talent to wow the judges. All in all, the angst level is low and the fun is high for engaging and entertaining read.

This book needs to be made into a movie. Yes, I know several of author Teri Wilson's books have already hit the airwaves and this one definitely deserves to be added to the list of book to movie too. This book has all the makings of the perfect RomCom. It has funny bits, romance and yes even sister love. Having come from a large family i understand so much of what is going on in this book. I am not a twin but an Irish twin. Not a pageant girl but the youngest of two super smart sisters. This book had me going oh yes been there felt like that at times with Ginny and Charolette. Been an avid reader the book references are so cool and at times had me reaching inside my head to think which book did that come from. I loved this book and it is one I will probably re-read some time in the future.