Pretty Girl County / Lakita Wilson / Book Review

PRETTY GIRL COUNTY

Prince George's County produces exactly one type of girl: designer clothes, custom pink cars, fancy gated community cookouts. Girls exactly like Reya Samuels. Sure, Reya might work hard, but she can get pretty much anything she wants when she wants it.

Which is absolutely not how Sommer Watkins's life works. Sommer is from Seat Pleasant, which doesn't come with cast iron gates around bougie mansions but cast iron bars on the windows. Her neighbors are struggling to make ends meet. Sommer hustles every day to help her dad's bookstore stay afloat and to save the money she'll need to go to the college of her dreams, Spelman. The fact that she and Reya go to the same school is due to scholarship, nothing else.

But Sommer and Reya used to be best friends. Back when Reya lived in Seat Pleasant, too. Before her mother's law career (and reality TV stardom) took off. And now that Reya's been waitlisted for her own dream school, she needs to put on the best fashion show ever to boost her credentials. And it's not like she can pull that off without Sommer's help. Help that she'll get, whether Sommer wants to give it or not.

THOUGHTS

This is a really fun read! Both of our narrators have such a fun voice, and I really enjoyed diving into a story centering two girls just figuring life out. They're friends-turned-enemies-turned-kinda-friends-again, and I loved digging into this complicated relationship as it evolves. Overall, a really good read!

PROS

Class & Race	As much as this is a very fun book, it does take its themes of class and race rather seriously. They're consistently felt throughout the book, where you come from and where you are now. There's old neighborhoods and new ones, moving on as you're moving out, and being caught between then and now and what's to come, with one foot out the door. And all of these ideas are so well explored, in their tensions and their conversations, that it adds great layers of complexity and nuance to this story.
Community Engagement	There's just something about adding a bookstore to a book that will always speak to me, and the bookstore in this particular book is just so lovely. It really is a community hub, a gathering place and an inspiration for a neighborhood. I really loved the atmosphere it adds to this book, and the way it helps to rally new neighbors and old to one frame of mind.
Enchanting Voices	There's just something so engaging about the voices captured for each of our main characters here. I loved listening to their stories through the writing, listening to the way they told their perspectives. I was immediately sucked into their drama, which isn't something I can usually say. I love that this is a book with friendship at its core, not romance or some similar brand of relationship drama. This book is just a set coming-of-age stories told by two friends who just continue to rub each other wrong even as they grow and evolve together. And I couldn't get enough of it.

CONS

Even though I personally found the narrative voices really engaging, I should also say that the writing here... isn't challenging. And it doesn't have to be. It's effective just as it is. But someone who really likes prose might find it a tad lacking. This is easy to digest, popcorn writing.	Juvenile Writing
This is a very drama-forward story. It worked for me when dramatics usually aren't my cup of tea, but readers should be warned. If you don't like stories where characters constantly fumble over themselves and emotions run high, this might not be the best read. It worked for me, but even as much as it worked, there were times it trended toward the... annoying. So reader be warned!	Dramatics
Though I liked both Reya and Sommer as narrators, there are time that Reya is just a bit hard to swallow. She can be so oblivious to her privilege, to the way she comes off and what she says (and/or doesn't mean to say). While she actively works past these faults, it's a bumpy ride, and that can cause some major second-hand embarrassment while reading.	Hard to Swallow

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Those who loved Kalela Williams's Tangleroot will love this new, messy coming-of-age story. Those who appreciated the rallying of community in Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give will adore this neighborhood bookstore and the community it fosters.

Details Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers Date: July 1, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.