Puddin'
Written by Julie Murphy
Narrated by Erin Mallon and Kyla Garcia
4/5
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About this audiobook
The irresistible companion to the #1 New York Times bestseller Dumplin’, now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, and a soundtrack by Dolly Parton!
Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a little girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream of being a newscaster—and to kiss the boy she’s crushing on.
Callie Reyes is the pretty girl who is next in line for dance team captain and has the popular boyfriend. But when it comes to other girls, she’s more frenemy than friend.
When circumstances bring the girls together over the course of a semester, they surprise everyone (especially themselves) by realizing that they might have more in common than they ever imagined.
A story about unexpected friendship, romance, and Texas-size girl power, this is another winner from Julie Murphy.
Editor's Note
Stepping into the spotlight…
After appearing in Julie Murphy’s “Dumplin’,” unashamedly fat Millie takes center stage in “Puddin’” and shares the limelight with her seeming opposite, the beauty Callie. They form a powerful female friendship that flies in the face of the stereotyping they endure.
Julie Murphy
Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband, who loves her, and her cats, who tolerate her. When Julie isn’t writing, she can be found watching movies so bad they're good, hunting for the perfect slice of cheese pizza, or planning her next great travel adventure. She is the author of the middle grade novels Dear Sweet Pea and Camp Sylvania as well as the young adult novels Ramona Blue, Side Effects May Vary, the Faith series, Pumpkin, Puddin’, and Dumplin’ (now a Netflix original film). You can visit Julie at imjuliemurphy.com.
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Reviews for Puddin'
211 ratings18 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was cute. Not a groundbreaking book or anything, but it passed the time. It's definitely not a sequel to Dumplin', more like a story that exists in the same universe. I will probably not re-read this one, but it was a fun read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really liked Dumplin, but I LOVED Puddin!! I like the way it's written from 2 perspectives. It's a great uplifting book. There is some language in it that I feel like it would be just fine without. Definitely PG13 but just for language.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eine nette Geschichte über Freundschaft und darüber, für seine Fehler gerade zu stehen. Für die Zielgruppe bestimmt sehr geeignet, für mich aber eher ein Buch, das bald in Vergessenheit geraten wird.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another lovely tale by Murphy! Hoping for a part 3
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Apesar de Dumplin' não ter sido um livro favorito meu, algo na trama e na escrita da autora me fizeram ficar meio desesperada pela continuação. Apesar da editora Valentina, que publicou o primeiro volume, ter os direitos de publicação da sequência, isso ainda não aconteceu. Então, acabei me rendendo a escutar o audiobook em inglês mesmo. Não me arrependo nem um pouco, porque esse é simplesmente maravilhoso. Não sei se o audiobook em si ajudou na experiência, pois é super bem narrado, mas curti a leitura do início ao fim. As personagens estão incríveis e realmente tem química entre elas. A escrita da autora melhorou consideravelmente e o desenvolvimento da trama é completo, não deixa nada em aberto ou mal explicado, o que adorei. Foi uma experiência maravilhosa e já não vejo a hora de investir na edição brasileira quando for lançada.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good story. Characters are relatable. But this one seemed to be pushing several agendas as opposed to opening our eyes to issues and struggles. Just didn’t sell me this time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Could. Not. Stand. Callie. ?? But the book ended well, so heartwarming ?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Totally unrealistic but delightfully sweet. I wish I had friends like these girls when I was a teen.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book.
An amazing follow up to Dumplin', by the same author, Puddin' takes on the story of Willowdean's friend Millie as she finds her way through her senior year of high school post-Miss Teen Beauty Pagent runner-up. She's got a cute crush, dirt on a dance team member and...unforgiving parents who think their daughter's dream is to lose weight, rather than be seen as a person first. To Millie, 'fat' is just a descriptor, and can only be used to hurt if the speaker intends it to.
Callie Reyes used to intend it to, but after being kicked off the dance team and being grounded, her only outlet seems to be to talk and get to know Millie, working at Millie's Uncle's gym.
This is such a wonderful story about seeing the person behind your assumptions and first impressions, taking the time to know yourself and your strengths, and maybe speaking out at an official meeting or two when necessary. 10/10. Realistic high school interactions, an empathy-driven finale and a beautiful match to Dumplin'. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The LGTBQ tag is for secondary characters and plots, but they're substantial enough that it's worth adding.
This book is pretty charming, although I did spent a lot of time pulling out my hair at Callie's bad choices. My one critique is that at times it feels a little too didactic. While it is true to life that people sometimes explain themselves in language that could come right from the NAAFA, HRC, or AVEN websites, it's not very good storytelling. But overall, this is an enjoyable story with engaging characters. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Puddin would work just fine as a standalone read, though if you do have the opportunity to read Dumplin first, there is a bit more insight there into some of the friend group and it sets the stage for the growth both Millie and Callie will experience in this book. While the romances in this were nice enough, they didn’t feel all that eventful, but if you’re looking for a story about friendships, there’s plenty to invest in here, Callie’s in major conflict with her dance team members, Millie’s inadvertently neglecting her best friend, and Millie invites a reluctant Callie into her circle of friends, a situation rife with tension though there’s plenty of warmth and support there as well. I was immediately interested in the family dynamics, Millie’s overprotective mom does a lot of projecting her own thoughts about weight on to her kid, and with Callie, she’s mixed race, white on her mom’s side and Mexican on her dad’s side, she mentions a few times about how she doesn’t always feel like she fits with her white mom, white step-dad, and their white daughter. Although disappointed that these things weren’t explored quite as much as I would have liked, even touching on them to a small extent added some emotional depth. I love Millie’s enthusiasm for crafting, for friends, and life in general, she’s such a bright, positive character but never to the extent where she seems cartoony, and she does have her down moments, too, her moments where it’s more of a struggle for her to be the most upbeat girl in the room. I also just really enjoyed that she goes after what she wants whether she’s being pro-active about an elusive boy or refusing to give up on her dream careerjust because it doesn’t typically include fat girls like her (Millie would rather people just refer to her as fat rather than dance around it with euphemisms). Some readers may find Callie difficult to spend time with, especially early on, I know I expected Millie to be my favorite here, and while I did find her quite lovable, Callie really won me over, too, she had a ton more growing to do than Millie, and I just found it to be a rewarding journey to go on with her, especially since she is very much self-aware, she feels it when she says awful things, that doesn’t always stop her from saying them but I liked seeing this girl genuinely trying to be a better person. Her story was paced well, her caustic personality doesn’t morph into someone new overnight, it’s a lot of two steps forward one step back which feels realistic and leaves you kind of hopeful that some people might actually be capable of change.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this for the "A One Word Title" part of my 2019 reading challenge. It was alright, but didn't grab me as much as the first book and Callie never grew on me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A companion novel to the previous Dumplin', Puddin' revisits the community of Clover City, TX. In this one, runner-up beauty queen Millie (of the aforementioned book) is the main character. The remainder of the group of girls from the first book (Willowdean, Amanda, Ellen, & Hannah) are in this one too, although more as accessory characters. Popular, mean girl Callie (a very minor character in the first book) also stars in this book. Millie, determined to avoid attending fat camp in the upcoming summer, applies for a summer broadcasting program at a nearby university. Callie, on the cusp of becoming next year's captain of the school's dance team, is excited about the team's chances to make it to Nationals. After an "incident", the two seemingly polar opposite girls are brought together in unusual circumstances. Millie, the eternal optimist, is determined to become friends. Callie is just as determined to not allow that to happen.This was a cute, albeit fairly predictable, young adult feel-good novel, similar in a lot of ways to its predecessor. There are a lot of positive messages about body image, but also a lot of good quotes and one-liners. I think I probably liked Dumplin' a little better than this one, but I enjoyed both. I'm not sure if there are any plans for adapting this into a movie, as was the case with Dumplin' (which I thought was adapted pretty well to the big screen), but I think it could have similar success.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After reading and loving Dumplin' by Julie Murphy, I had to read this as well. I loved it! Characters such as Millie and Callie, who were introduced to the reading in the first book, became the main characters in this volume, while other characters also appeared. We get to know all of them more as we follow their journeys toward adulthood and independence with all of their missteps and accomplishments. I can't wait to see what Murphy writes next!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Puddin’ is the story of teenage girls learning about the meaning of true friendship and not excepting what others have planned for you. It is a companion to Dumplin’. Dumplin’ introduced us to this group of unlikely friends. Puddin’ gives us more insight into Millie and Callie.
Millie is always positive and upbeat. She dreams of being a broadcast journalist. She works at her uncles gym before and after school. Callie is a member of the shamrocks, the schools dance team. When they lose funding, the team vandalizes their ex-sponsor, the gym.
Callie’s life changes in that moment when Millie identifies Callie as one of the vandals. Circumstances bring Millie and Callie and a close contact and a friendship grows. But, can it last when Callie finds out that Millie is the one that identified her to the police? Funny and heartfelt, it is a great book to help you believe in yourself, and to follow the motto: Don’t let others hold you back!
#Puddin’ #JulieMurphy - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was an entertaining story that portrayed high school angst with drama revolving on romantic break ups and friendship. I thought it was fun, but a little too light -- maybe too much of a beach read, or too much like a Hallmark movie.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The stars are for the text alone. I've commented before on how a narrator can make or break a book and, in this case, the narrator for Millie was the wrong choice. Or at least she made what felt like wrong choices in her depiction of the character.
Honestly, though, narrators aside I just didn't love it like I loved Dumplin'. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I liked that this had a main character who was a mean girl, and a lot of the times acted like it. Of course, she grows during the story and redeems herself, but it was refreshing.