ARC Review: The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert

Title: The Revolution of Birdie Randolph
Author: Brandy Colbert
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Hardcover, 336 Pages
Published August 2019

Summary: Dove "Birdie" Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she's on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past...whom she knows her parents will never approve of. When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family's apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded--she's also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she's known to be true is turned upside down.

I received an ARC of THE REVOLUTION OF BIRDIE RANDOLPH when I was at BookExpo this year, and I was lucky enough to meet Brandy and get it signed! She’s super sweet in person, and I absolutely loved Little & Lion, so I knew that this would be another great story that I couldn’t wait to dive into. And the cover is absolutely gorgeous (I am such a sucker for bright, illustrated covers), which is another reason that I couldn’t wait to pick this one up! So without further ado, let’s get into my review:

As the summary explains, Birdie Randolph is sick of living with her parents’ strict rules. They made her give up the sport she loves to focus on school, are forcing her to spend her summer in SAT prep classes, and she can’t date and they have to monitor everyone that she hangs out with. It gets incredibly frustrating, but Birdie knows that they just want the best for her, which is why she goes along with it. That is, until her newly sober aunt, Carlene, comes to stay with them. Suddenly, Birdie feels like she’s learning a lot more about her life than she previously knew, and starts to feel the itch to push a few more boundaries…but what will the consequences be if she gets caught?

I really, really enjoyed reading this book! I actually breezed through it super quickly, usually doing about 100 pages in a sitting, so it didn’t take me long to finish it. Brandy Colbert is an expert at weaving together a great story that has you hooked from the very beginning until the very end. I felt Birdie’s annoyance and frustration, swooning and giddiness, throughout the whole story. It was really easy to slip into her head and go along for the ride with her!

My favorite character in this book was definitely Booker. He was just so sweet and kind and loving and caring, and seeing everything he did to make Dove happy really made me swoon inside. He was definitely the perfect guy and a great friend, and I was cheering him on from start to finish! Speaking of great friends, I also really appreciated Laz and the fact that he was always there for Dove no matter what in the book.

(MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH!! Skip to the next one to avoid them!!) I have to say, I was completely blown away with the plot twist in this book. When Dove overhears Carlene and Emmett talking about Carlene not wanting her to be taken away, I figured it out right away, so by the time the big reveal came, I wasn’t super shocked. HOWEVER, I hadn’t seen that coming up until that conversation with Emmett, but then it suddenly all made sense. I can’t imagine the kind of turmoil Dove must’ve been feeling in that moment, to know that almost everything in your life up until that point had been a lie. And the fact that this all stemmed from her seemingly perfect father’s infidelity? That’s even worse. It was such a shocking plot twist that truly knocked me off my feet in the best way – I didn’t see it coming, but when I thought back, the clues were all there. It was really well done!

The only thing I wasn’t super crazy about with this book was the fact that it seemed like the ending was a little bit rushed and fell together a little bit too perfectly. I was also left wondering how Birdie was going to cope with everything she learned, aBut then again, that might just be my own personal reading 

Overall, I really loved THE REVOLUTION OF BIRDIE RANDOLPH. If you’re looking for a quick, gripping read that you can fly through and be pleasantly surprised by, I’d definitely recommend this one. Hats off to Brandy Colbert for blowing me away yet again – I’m looking forward to reading more of her work!