Miss World Blog Tour- A Review

Welcome to the Miss World Blog Tour!! We going to have so much fun in the month of February. Today's post is by Paranormal Wastelands. Enjoy!


Title: Miss World
Author: Randi Black
Release Date: April 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads

It's 1993. Kim Ho wishes she were Courtney Love, instead of the chubby 16-year-old who clashes with her traditional Chinese parents. Her very own Kurt Cobain arrives in the form of Kevin, a 26-year-old failed musician. But Kevin uses Kim's rock-star dreams to exploit her, and those dreams die along with the real Kurt Cobain.Too scared to tell anyone, Kim conjures up a cross-dressing imaginary friend and dates Walter Riordan, the cute boy from special-ed. Walter helps her recover, but after a joke snowballs into a plot to murder Kevin, Kim's forced to choose between revenge or her sanity. This is a truly daring and original coming-of-age novel about one girl's quest to reclaim her power from those who've stolen it.

Do you remember the 90s?

The MC Hammer pants, the Vanilla Ice haircuts, that time when we all thought Guns 'N Roses was cool.

Do you remember what happened next?

The flannel, the Doc Martins, the staticy radio stations that started playing a new alternative. the three chorded songs, the primal screams, the way we all formed a mosh pit of understanding before we went midevil on each other just because something awesome was being blasted from center stage?

Ok ok... There's a couple of things I remember from the 90s and sadly, I wasn't able to participate in most because I lived in a very rural part of Alabama, but this book let me do just that.

Kim Ho is a chubby Chinese American who adores Kurt Cobain. So much so, that when she meets this douche-bag named Kevin on a party line (GASP!! before the interwebs!!) she thinks she's found her very own Kurt Cobain and hopes that he sees Courtney Love inside her.

But Kevin is bad news. This twenty-six year old man has a secret, has a temper, and is a mooch.

And then April 8th rolls around. I know it happened on the 6th but we didn't find out on the 8th. That was the day they found his body. That was the day the teens of the world, the ones that wore the flannel and docs and ripped jeans shed tears for a fallen man who said he never wanted fame. That was the day Kim thought her world had come to an end.

She went dead inside as Kevin had his way with her in a motel room. Her mind creeping into itself, giving birth to an imaginary friend. Actually... an imaginary friend that reminded me of MacCaulay Culkin from "Party Monster".

His name is Joey and he's able to fart angle food cake farts and only wants to have fun. Is he the little devil or the little angel on Kim's shoulder?

This story is raw and intense. It feels so real that you wonder if maybe it was. The emotion in every page is like a ballad, the timing of every word is like a drum solo before the band comes back on stage, the love and the hate are so in tune that it makes for the most perfect hidden track when you thought the cd was about to end.

I can tell you that this book, if sold in a music store, would have the "M" sticker on it. It's not a book for the kiddies. I'm not quite sure what I would say is the proper age would be to read this. Maybe 16? If you have any concerns then the parents should read this first. There is a bit of graphic sexual themes that might offend some.

My favorite character was Kim's mom, YAN. I know she's supposed to be mean and non-understanding and pretty harsh but I felt the author did a fantastic job with her. I couldn't wait to hear what would come out of her mouth.

I feel this would be a great manga book. I think that would be totally rad if it were to be transformed into panels. It would also be a most awesome Sundance movie. With all the flashbacks that go in that coincide with reality it has all the brass tacks for the most awesome student film turned into blockbuster. I hope somebody realizes that one day.

If you were a child of the 90s, or maybe your parents keep telling you about their Lolapalooza Glory Days then this book is for you. If you loved Nirvana, cried when Kurt died, and wore black throughout April then this book is essential.

It's a story of love and war played to the melodic distortion of screeching guitars.