Book review - It's Girls Like You, Mickey

Title: It's Girls Like You, Mickey
Author: Patti Kim
Genre: realistic fiction
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Rating:

a couple of great characters

Summary (provided by publisher): For the first time in her confident, bold life, Mickey McDonald is nervous about starting school. Her best friend, Ok, has moved away; her father has probably left town for good; and she can’t afford to go back-to-school shopping. But she’s going to make the most of things because that’s the kind of person Mickey is. Nothing’s going to stand in her way or get her down.
Still, the first few days of school are rough, until she becomes friends with Sun Joo, who has just moved to town. Their connection is instant and strong. But things get complicated when Sydney, the popular (and mean) girl in Mickey’s class, also takes a shine to Sun Joo. Suddenly Mickey is facing her first ever friend breakup, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep her chin up. Luckily, Mickey’s made of tough stuff. 

My opinion: I was a couple of chapters into this book before I began to realize that it was a sequel. There are moments of recaps, quick overviews of the events of the previous book, but for the most part the events of this novel stand on their own. Mickey is a fantastic protagonist. She's self-assured and outspoken. She wants to be liked, to have friends, but she won't change to make that happen. She's mostly cheerful, a positive person. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't get overwhelmed by life at times. She makes mistakes and snaps at the people in her life. She lets disappointments drag her down. She's nosy and bossy and talks too much. And I like that Sun Joo calls her out. In spite of being a more reserved person, she pushes back when Mickey goes too far. We get this message that even when we mean well, it's more important to listen than to push for "what's best". Some of the book is a bit underdeveloped, a bit reliant upon random happenstance. Even so, it's charming and entertaining.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley