Title: The Queen Of Kentucky
Author: Alecia Whitaker
Release date: January 2, 2012
Publisher: Poppy
Pages: 375
Source: Publisher

Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would prefer to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer’s daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new “sophisticated” clothes and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids table. She’s on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door Luke says he misses “plain old Ricki Jo.”

Caught between being a country girl and wannabe country club girl, Ricki Jo begins to forget who she truly is: someone who doesn’t care what people think and who wouldn’t let a good-looking guy walk all over her. It takes a serious incident out on Luke’s farm for Ricki Jo to realize that being a true friend is more important than being popular.

The Queen Of Kentucky held a lot of promise but it really fell short.  While the story was cute and fun, the characters were lacking in common sense and at times, kindness.  However there were some redeeming qualities that will make it an enjoyable read to fans of contemporary novels.

The story itself was great: cute, fun, but at times very serious.  It was the perfect balance.  Ricki Jo wants to be someone new in high school, someone popular.  She reinvents herself and starts school as Ericka.  Things seem to work pretty well and soon Ericka has new friends and a new crush. However, as Ricki Jo, she is losing her best friend, Luke, when he needs her the most.  Through trial and error, some crazy mishaps, and some sweet moments, Ricki Jo begins to realize that maybe who she was wasn’t so bad and who she is now isn’t all that great.

While Ricki Jo’s story might have been great, she wasn’t.  She was a brat a lot of the time and she was so naive.  There were so many things that readers can see coming but Ricki Jo can’t.  She is completely blinded by her new friends and her new popularity.  She lets herself forget what really matters and she only realizes when she loses the best thing in her life.  She was very immature and selfish as were her new “friends.”  I have never read about such mean people who call themselves someones friends.  Luke was the only character in the book that I actually liked.  He really held the book together and made me keep reading!

Overall, The Queen Of Kentucky lacked strong characters but had a fun story with a good message at the end.  If you don’t care overly much about characters, give this one a shot.  I will still be checking out the author’s future books.