Image: Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan, Putnam, 2019. All rights reserved. Cover design by Marikka Tamura, cover art by Jeff Östberg. Photograph of book taken by me. Image used on this blog under the “Fair dealing for criticism or review” provision of the Commonwealth Copyright Act, 1968.
I saw this novel on Instagram and was instantly attracted by its fun title & cover. What’s not to like about a romance heroine who dresses up in a hot dog costume? Well, hmm.
Elouise is one summer away from her final year of high school in small town America and is working at an amusement park as a walking hot dog. She has a crush on her amusement park co-worker, dreamy diving pirate Nick, but he is involved with the park’s perfect princess. Elouise comes up with a crazy scheme to get Nick to notice her, dragging her best friend Seeley into the process.
This romance just never really takes off. I actually had to stop listening to it (audiobook) halfway through as, although I had tried to persevere, I found it too slow paced and Elouise’s character simply too unlikeable. It’s narrated in the first person, so having a repetitive and whiny narrator was a huge drawback.
I hear that Verona Comics also by Jennifer Dugan is quite good, so I might try that one in the future. But this one left me cold. And the cover had so much potential…!
Title: Hot Dog Girl
Author: Jennifer Dugan
Cover: Cover design by Marikka Tamura, cover art by Jeff Östberg
First published: Putnam, 2019
Audio: narrated by Brittany Pressley, Listening Library
Genre: romance, rom-com
Representation: LGBTQIA+ (main characters)
Suitability: unsure, as didn’t finish reading
Fyi: I didn’t finish this book, but in the first half there were minor sexual references, minor drug references & some mild swearing
Themes: friendship, sexual identity, family, love
NSW syllabus: wide reading – but I wouldn’t recommend
If you like this, try: Love, Simon: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE LIBRARY... 
Leave a comment