Suffice to say it that this book reminded me of my (awkward, chubby, emotionally-volatile, epically disastrous) thirteen-year-old self in a way I can't even begin to explain. Yeah...can't explain why, but I really did not feel great about myself reading this one :p However, "Pretty Funny" is lively and interesting, and I really appreciated Haylah's growth - and her jokes. Got some good laughs reading this, even if I wanted to punch Leo into the sun on at least six occasions.

Thank you to Peachtree Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book.

I love comedy and I love YA, so I figured if you put the two together I would love it even more... and I was correct. 

Haylah loves comedy and wants to be a stand-up comedian but she isn't ready to get up on stage herself yet, so she starts ghostwriting for a comedian she has a crush on. 

I knew with the premise that it would either be degrading to funny girls or that it would be empowering, and it was definitely the latter. At the beginning of the book, I was worried about the premise.

I was also worried about the opening itself, where was Haylah being hard on herself and her body. To my delight, the book ended up being very body positive. 

Haylah could be a little unlikeable sometimes and I found myself getting frustrated at her for pushing everyone away, but then she would do something very human and it reminded me that she was an actual human and not just being a melodramatic teenager. 

Overall, I'd give this book a solid 3.5 stars. It was a delightfully charming British comedy that will make fans of standup smile.

Thank you to Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC for an ARC through Netgalley for an honest review.

DNF at 33%

When I first read the description, I thought the book sounded interesting. There aren't a lot of YA out here where the main lead wants to be a comedian. Especially girls wanting to be comedians. I figured I'd give it a shot even though I never heard of Rebecca Elliott. The first few pages caught my attention with her dancing with Ron Weasley in her dream, but when reality set in, I realized that I was going to end up very disappointed.

Haylah should be an interesting character. She should be a fun character. She wants to be a comedian and make people laugh. That is her goal in life. Not to become rich and famous, but to make people laugh. I could respect that. Using humor, however, is a very common defense mechanism for bigger people. Big people are usually used as comedic relief in movies or TV shows, because that's what they've had to do their whole lives. If people aren't going to like me because I don't adhere to society's rules about beauty, then let me be funny. Everyone likes the funny person. Even when the joke is at their expense. It was obvious when taunts and jokes upset her, but she just went along with it, "reclaimed" the joke, and suddenly it was okay.

I felt this was a dangerous precedence to set with young girls. Bullying is NEVER okay, and I'm surprised that this was brushed over. I understand not all schools are created equal, but it almost felt that the author wrote Haylah's current school as a crappy school as a joke within itself. It wasn't funny. The setting in this book is supposedly England, so perhaps it's different over there. I wouldn't have known if the author didn't have Haylah strategically say where they lived.

Also, I'm tired of fat people in books being covertly described as lazy. Haylah's house is described as being messy and cluttered and have junk everywhere. This is a pretty common stereotype use for fat people or fat families. I'm over it. Yes, Haylah's mom is a nurse and a single mom, and Haylah is taking care of her brother (who is just annoying throughout the 110 pages I read), so of course the house isn't always clean. But this common with bigger characters. They are always written as lower-income or lazy. It's tiresome and boring.

My biggest pet peeve of this story is how "not like other girls" the author really tried to push Haylah as being. "I don't care about boys!" "I don't care about kissing!" "Make up is the devil and society's beauty standards suck!" Yes, she wholeheartedly accepts her friends as they navigate adolescence and experiment with makeup or liking boys or gossiping about boys and other NORMAL teenage stuff. A teenage girl does necessarily have to be into any of that, but it was so obvious and pandering that it was insulting.

There's also the fact that when we were reading Haylah's jokes and journal entries, the author wasn't using the British way of spelling. I'm hoping that before now and the release date, anyone who is editing this book will realize this.

I wanted to like this book, but for the reasons I stated above I just couldn't. I'm tired of fat chicks being the joke. Even if it's one they made themselves. It's 2020. Time to do better for our younger generation.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this early copy!

DNF - I did not realize this was a download only ARC and do not have the ability to read via a computer. Thanks for the chance.