“I promise that I’ll help you find more opportunities, but activism isn’t something that happens in just one way or in just one place. There will always be more battles, and beating yourself up about not being able to do it all, all at once, doesn’t do anyone any good . Please take the time to honor what you’re already doing, because that’s important too.”
I did not expect to love this as much as I did. Judging from the cover and the premise, I thought I was in for an enjoyable, sweet, queer romcom and I got that, but there is also so much more within these pages. The premise of an elite track athlete who’s openly gay falling for a closeted bisexual beauty pageant queen that’s got a penchant for fixing old cars was compelling and the story itself delivered everything it promised.
Morgan was such a fierce character. After having to leave her private Catholic school because she broke the code of conduct by being queer and with the fire for justice burning inside of her, she arrives at the new school where she’s promptly nearly run over by Ruby. Morgan is many things—an elite track athlete, a girl who just wants to give back to the community and do her part in making the world a more queer-friendly place, and she’s a sucker for a pretty girl. Enter Ruby.
While I loved both POVs, I have to admit that I have a huge soft spot for Ruby.
Ruby isn’t an easy person to get along with. Overwhelmed with the beauty pageants she attends to make her mother happy, Ruby’s only escape is stolen moments with Tyler behind closed doors. Until Morgan comes along and makes Ruby question everything.
I loved the way sex was approached in this novel with how sometimes sex can be used as a weapon or protection mechanism, and most of all, a distraction. I think we get a lot of messages as teens about sex being the end-all-be-all and of course there are a lot of portrayals of sex-positive characters and first times that are romantic AF, but I really liked that here we got to see a different way sex is handled. Ruby uses sex to escape her own life for a few moments, to show people that she cares for them when she can’t find the words—in a life where actions speak so much louder than words to her, she also lets her actions speak for herself, even if they land her in trouble. I loved how messy and realistic Ruby was because we need more characters like her in YA—people who don’t get it right, people who mess up, and people who are so overcome with pressure that they lash out and keep people at a distance to save them and themselves later pain.
There’s also the relationship between Ruby and her mother that was painfully realistic. The way Dugan approaches the tough subject of what we owe to our parents and what they owe to us was mesmerising. I think everyone at some point in their lives wonders if they’re living up to their parents’ expectations and Ruby deals with that on top of having to “relive” the future her mother never got because she got pregnant with Ruby at a young age. Living your life for someone else can only end in disappointment, and it was tragic to see Ruby’s mother clinging to her bygone dreams by using Ruby, and in turn have to see Ruby go through with the beauty pageants she has no interest in just so she can keep her mother’s love. That’s by no means an easy thing to stomach, but Dugan takes such care in portraying this difficult dynamic between Ruby and her mother that it makes you feel like you’re right there alongside Ruby, trying to keep the peace by sacrificing your own interests for it.
Ruby and Morgan’s reluctant friendship that turns into a relationship is messy in the best way possible. There’s a lot of back and forth, of helping and hurting each other, of trying to figure out what it means to be a good girlfriend and that just because someone isn’t ready to come out doesn’t mean they don’t care for you. Ruby and Morgan both are very stubborn individuals with very differing goals out of life—Morgan has aspirations, Ruby just wants to get away from pageants. Morgan has a loving family, Ruby has a mother with a boyfriend who makes her feel unsafe to come home to their trailer. I loved the opposites attract and I loved how they kept butting heads but eventually, found their way—on their own, and together.
Beyond that, I could rave about so many different aspects of this book—Ruby’s best friend who was such a support system on her own, Ruby’s father who plays a key role in her realising that she is worth so much more than her looks and doesn’t have to hide behind impassiveness, Morgan’s older brother with whom she lives while finishing school (him trying to intimidate Ruby prior to their first date made me cackle), discussions of poverty and being a queer mentor, not to mention all the other amazing characters that deserve praise. But if you want to know more about what transpires in this story, you’ll have to pick up this spectacular book and see for yourself!
Bringing together a gay track star with a closeted beauty queen with a penchant for fixing up old cars, Some Girls Do is a nuanced, delicate and headstrong queer romance, perfect for lovers of Ciara Smyth and Jamie Pacton.
Some Girls Do is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 18th 2021.
Will you be picking up Some Girls Do? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Morgan, an elite track athlete, is forced to transfer high schools late in her senior year after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic school’s code of conduct. There, she meets Ruby, who has two hobbies: tinkering with her baby blue 1970 Ford Torino and competing in local beauty pageants, the latter to live out the dreams of her overbearing mother. The two are drawn to each other and can’t deny their growing feelings. But while Morgan–out and proud, and determined to have a fresh start–doesn’t want to have to keep their budding relationship a secret, Ruby isn’t ready to come out yet. With each girl on a different path toward living her truth, can they go the distance together?
