Dylan Mulvaney continues her TikTok journey by sharing a bit more depth of her transition journey. I have been a casual follower of her over the years due to her Broadway connection. Listening to her talk about the journey over the past few years in this longer form really allows you to learn a bit more of what was happening in the background while they were actively telling the world about their journey. Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, their way with words to kept me engaged through the whole book. I can't completely understand what Dylan has gone through and will continue to go through. but I appreciate being able to hear and learn directly from her so that I can be a stronger ally.

Paper Doll tells the story of Mulvaney's very personal but also very public gender transition. This book is full of humor, emotions, hard lessons, and great self-reflection. I'm normally cautious of younger people writing memoirs, but I felt like this was important and had a lot to say. I only know the author through her TikTok and was so happy to get to know her better through this book. This is an inspirational book that I know many queer people will need, but I also hope more non-queer people pick it up to get a better understanding of issues they won't experience. Overall, while some of the humor and sections didn't hit for me, I still really enjoyed my time with this and will highly recommend it, especially the audiobook read by the author herself.

4.5 stars rounded up

I've been following Dylan on Tiktok since she was a few months into documenting her transition. Paper Doll is written the way she talks online, and she reads the audiobook which feels like an extended intimate conversation. While I've seen a lot of this from the outside, her memoir/essay collection lets us into what she was going through privately and how she's grown into herself and gained true confidence. I appreciate how she admits she went into this not knowing much of anything about the trans community or the experiences of trans women writ large, only that she was a girl herself. She acknowledges the uncomfortable privilege of her position having a large platform and not dealing with the degree of struggle that many other trans women do.

And yet, that certainly doesn't make it easy. Things have been dark at times, especially in the wake of Beergate (if you've been following along you know, though in the book she only refers to the company as "generic beer", likely to avoid legal issues). If you follow Dylan on socials, this is easy to recommend. It has her signature humor, charm, and disarming vulnerability. And honestly, right now having a visible trans woman this popular feels like a win with all of the horrific anti-trans legislation and rhetoric in the US. I wish her all the best. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Read if: you've loved following Dylan's story or you want to feel like you're hearing great advice, juicy gossip, emotional confessions, and funny stories from a friend.

As someone who follows Dylan but doesn't necessarily keep up with everything happening on social media this had a great mix of new stories as well as more insight into well known events during Dylan's tik tok rise (iykyk). I listened to this as an audiobook and Dylan was great! She's funny, engaging, honest, and humble.

My only issue was that listening to it as an audiobook meant I missed out on (what I'm sure were great) pictures and illustrations and that sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the journal entries and essay format. I didn't think this really impacted it too much (and any loss was made up for by the great narration) but would recommend that you pick up a physical copy if you can!

Thanks to Netgalley, RB Media, and Dylan for the ARC. It was truly a joy to listen to. Full review posted on Goodreads and rating posted on Storygraph.

Thank you @dylanmulvaney and RBmedia, along with @netgalley for an ARC of Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney. The memoir of their lifelong journey of finding themselves sexually, emotionally and in general was narrated with grace and humor. I hope this memoir will help everyone understand the struggles on sexuality and gender identity for their friends and family and neighbors. Be kind. Love, Carolyn
#netgalley #trevorproject #dylanmulvaney

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for this ALC!!!!!

Eeeeek! I laughed, squeed, cried, and hurrahed! Dylan’s story is touching, uplifting, and everything I thought I needed and then some! I love her even more after listening. She is a fabulous story teller and reader and dammit, I wanna meet her so freaking bad!

4 stars

In _Paper Doll_, Mulvaney details her experiences pre-, during, and post-transition, which range from relationships with friends and family and herself to romance and physicality to performing arts to general aspects of identity. Though Mulvaney is only in her 20s, she has LIVED and she has a lot of insight to provide into her experience. Importantly, she also reminds readers instantly that her story is hers only. She does not intend for this content to reflect trans people and their experiences overall. This is vital level setting for a very specific kind of (performative/virtue signaling) reader.

While I'd heard of Mulvaney prior to reading this, these sound bytes were often via other folks I follow in some capacity. In other words, I came to this read with very little information about Mulvaney and her experiences, and this lens informed my reading. Mulvaney clarifies at the top that she writes how she speaks, and this is intended to be a bit informal and conversational. I'm grateful I had the chance to listen to the audiobook, narrated by Mulvaney, because this modality adds so much in terms of inflection, emotion, and personalization. When and where accessible, I recommend this modality strongly.

Trans folks have a rough road in this country because we are at such an appalling and embarrassing time in our history, and it seems more vital than ever that we all connect with and support trans creators and their stories. This is a compelling read (and listen!) because of current circumstances but not ONLY because of that. Mulvaney provides an engaging, vulnerable, and for many enlightening glimpse into her life, and it was a pleasure to learn more about her. I will absolutely read more from her.

Stemming from the success of her iconic “Days of Girlhood” series on TikTok, Dylan Mulvaney gives us an even deeper glimpse into her life coming out as a trans woman. She reveals that, even while being the face of trans rights, getting to that point was rife with family challenges and right-wing backlash, in addition to the monumental and mundane moments of transition.

I admit that I followed Dylan peripherally, and really came to follow her after the beer company backlash. In her memoir, Dylan doesn’t hold back in sharing some of the gritty moments of her very public journey, juxtaposed next to some of the courageous moments like dancing in front of President Joe Biden after being invited to the White House to discuss trans rights. Fans of “Days of Girlhood” will enjoy this memoir, and the audio version added to the humor and wittiness as she brings the same charm to her audiobook that she does to her TikToks. While she isn’t the only face of trans rights, it was so wonderful to hear about her trans girl joy.

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Abrams Books & RB Audio for the opportunity to read and review. #PaperDoll #DaysofGirlhood


(Posted on Goodreads 3/1/25. Scheduled to post to Instagram on or around 3/12/25).

My feelings about Dylan Mulvaney have fluctuated throughout her time in the public eye - is she "doing enough" with her platform? is she being authentic? should she be doing more to uplift trans women of color?

After listening to her memoir, I've decided I'm a Dylan girl. I had never realized how new her trans-ness was when she started sharing every bit of her life with a difficult world. Along her journey, she's celebrated women of all kinds while earnestly trying to do what is right at every turn. This memoir reminded me of how misleading parasocial relationships can be and deepened my respect for Dylan in a huge way.

I really loved that this book felt like a longer, more intimate version of Dylan's Days of Girlhood videos! This was such a sweet and thoughtful narrative about trans identity in the era of the internet that is much needed. Her experience is obviously so different from that of other trans women -- which is already something that is far from monolithic -- but it's an incredibly important one. Listening to this in audio form was especially a treat! Dylan is so talented and she really put everything into the narration. It was so entertaining and really added to the experience. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the inclusion of the ayahuasca retreat. This was something that was particularly grating to me as an Indigenous person, since its so widely appropriated by white spiritualists. I respect her for going to Peru and supporting actual Indigenous practitioners, but it seemed like she did so through a white foreigner who facilitated the whole thing. I understand the inclusion of this in the story, as it was an eye opening and liberating experience for her -- but man.... as someone who comes from a tribe whose spirituality revolves around similar ceremony, it just extra hurts to see affluent white people easily accessing this as a resource and knowing that actual Indigenous people aren't able to access it themselves because of the myriad of barriers there.