Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: ALWAYS THE NEW GIRL by Kelly Vincent

Always the New Girl

by Kelly Vincent

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GENRE: Contemporary YA

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BLURB:

Knitting nerd Sarah Redmond is always the new girl, never the popular one.

Moving all over the country with her flighty mom seemed to be her lot in life, but her junior year at Sierra Vista High School feels like it could be different.

She's finally on the verge of a social breakthrough.

But when she gets publicly punked at her first party, she and her new friends find a creative way to use their shared obsession with knitting to exact sweet revenge.

And when their efforts lead to a lucrative business, Sarah knows she's set.

But when her deadbeat dad comes back around she starts to wonder if she should try for a different life, instead of following the paths her parents have chosen.

She'd always half thought her small-time knitting channel could grow into a big-time knitting channel, but maybe college as a backup plan isn't such a ridiculous idea, after all.

But is that something a girl like her can really make happen?

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Excerpt One:

Kayla had said, “Make sure to wear something cute!” Jeans might not cut it.

I thought of this one sleeveless halterneck dress I’d made out of yellow yarn. It was loose knit and had white diagonal stripes, and I loved it. I just hadn’t had the nerve to wear it anywhere yet because it was pretty short—hitting about mid-thigh—though I did have a slip dress to wear under it.

Should I? Did I have the guts this time? I’d never been really comfortable in short skirts. I always felt too exposed. But my mom did always tease me about it, saying I should show off my thin legs while I still had them.

Kayla would know. I pulled out my phone and snapped pics of the dress and the shirt and jeans laid out on the bed and texted Kayla.

—Which should I wear?—

I debated for a few minutes, studying my closet for alternatives until my phone dinged.

—The dress!!! Its super cute!!!—

I grinned and put the dress on.

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Review: “I’d been to parties in the past but it was always hard to get out there and talk to people. I wasn’t shy—I was just always new.”

Sarah was your typical teenager just trying to fit in and wondering if she could ever get into the cool crowd. Well, a party prank practically sealed her fate as a loser. Punk the new kid. If she didn’t have her knitting channel, she’d probably go insane.

Every school had their mean girls, and the queen of the mean girls had targeted Sarah. Wanting to fight fire with fire, Sarah starts making these yarn dolls from the tormentor’s likeness. After getting into a little trouble from it, requests for those dolls were coming in. Soon, those dolls were roaming the school halls, hanging off backpacks and such. Sarah was a doll-making sensation.

The clever, diary-style narrative was simple and easy to get into. I admired the character’s resolve to not let the mean girls get her down, and I guess her yarn work really helped out in this case. Of course, she can get a little yarn crazy, which, at times, slowed things down. There were some amusing scenes, like her getting questioned by the cops on the drugs found inside the dolls. Overall, story is filled with a bunch of high school hijinks, some of which were mildly interesting.

A fairly nice read for YA readers.

Rating: 3 stars

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.

Website

https://kellyvincent.net

Blog

https://kellyvincent.net/blog/

Social Media

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kvbooks/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@kv_books?lang=en

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/kvbooks/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Kelly-Vincent-Young-Adult-Author-106808441724806

Buy Links

Kindle - https://www.amazon.com/Always-New-Girl-Kelly-Vincent-ebook/dp/B09VRXC4MD/

Nook - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/always-the-new-girl-kelly-vincent/1141273711