Ramona Blue
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The fourth novel from Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’—now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, with a soundtrack by Dolly Parton!
For fans of Rainbow Rowell and Morgan Matson, Julie Murphy has created another fearless heroine, Ramona Blue, in a gorgeously evocative novel about family, friendship, and how sometimes love can be more fluid than you first think.
Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever.
Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi.
But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever.
The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona’s friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he’s talked her into joining him for laps at the pool.
But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke.
Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.
What happens when the one thing you’re sure of is the one thing that might change?
Questioning Sexuality: Ramona has always liked girls. But when her childhood friend Freddie returns, their easy bond starts to feel like something more, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew about herself.Childhood Friends: Freddie was her first real friend before his family stopped visiting for the summer. Now he’s back, and their connection picks up right where it left off—until a shared love for swimming changes the current between them.Working-Class Heroine: With her sister pregnant and her parents struggling, six-foot-tall, blue-haired Ramona holds her family together, juggling jobs and responsibilities far beyond her years in their Mississippi trailer park.YA Contemporary Romance: Set in a post-Katrina Mississippi town, this is a heartfelt and honest story about family, identity, and the breathtaking discovery that love can be more fluid than you ever imagined.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This is not your typical coming-out story. Ramona Blue introduces a blue-haired heroine whose world implodes when she falls for…a boy! Growing up poor in post-Katrina Mississippi, proudly gay Ramona is a defiant outsider with a rock-solid sense of self and the glue that’s holding together her fragmented family. But then her old pal Freddie—a dude who makes Ramona’s heart do backflips—re-emerges, leaving her to question everything. Julie Murphy, author of the runaway hit Dumplin’, is a genius at detailing the inner lives of misfits. She outdoes herself here—this big-hearted novel sensitively reflects on issues of love, fluidity, and identity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There are two things Ramona knows: she likes girls, and she's the responsible one in her family, especially now that her sister, Hattie, is pregnant. The girls' mother left their coastal Mississippi town after Hurricane Katrina, they live in a trailer, and Ramona is juggling multiple jobs. As the book opens, Ramona is starting her senior year; with Grace, the tourist she has been dating, leaving, there isn't much to look forward to. Then Ramona's childhood friend Freddie moves back to town, and his grandmother adds Ramona to their YMCA membership. It turns out that Ramona has potential as a swimmer as well as unexpected feelings for Freddie. In Eulogy, Miss., Murphy (Dumplin') creates a place that feels deeply real, a Gulf Coast vacation town that's racially and economically diverse: Ramona is white and poor, Freddie is black and middle class, and the biggest divide might be between the year-round residents and the summer visitors. It's a great setting for a coming-of-age story, as Ramona realizes that she's capable of more than she imagined and that some categories are more fluid than she'd thought. Ages 13 up.
