Title: Dress Codes For Small Towns
Author: Courtney Stevens
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Book Depository | Amazon
Disclaimer: I received a free copy via Edelweiss for review purposes.
Billie McCaffrey is the tomboy daughter of the town preacher. She finds it difficult to fit the mold of what a preacher’s daughter should be, and she feels like she is forever disappointing her father. She would much rather be building furniture, wearing sweats, and hanging out with her group of friends: Woods, Mash, Davey, Fifty, and Janie Lee. But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that’s she’s in love with Woods, Billie finds out that she’s also in love with Woods, and that maybe she’s also a little bit in love with Janie Lee. Billie has always been considered “one of the guys”, and she doesn’t want to label herself, or ruin their friendship dynamic, and so she keeps her conflicting feelings secret. Dress Codes For Small Towns is about finding love on your own terms, and learning it’s not as simple as boy and girl falling in love and living happily ever after.
Before I continue with this review, I would like to state that I’ve seen a lot of reviewers call Billie gender-fluid, which I think is misleading on the reviewers part. I haven’t seen the author state that Billie is gender-fluid. Billie is a tom-boy, dresses and acts traditionally masculine, and is questioning her sexuality. She does, at one point, question her gender, but throughout the novel, firmly identifies only as female. I just don’t want to see a gender-fluid or a non-binary reader going into this book looking for rep and being disappointed.
Now, whilst I think that Dress Codes For Small Towns has some fantastic exploration of gender and sexuality, and defying gender roles and stereotypes, the book itself was kind of boring. There are lots of positives. I loved the small town setting, and I especially adored the strong friendship group and their dynamic. Our M/C is also sexually fluid, and there is a love triangle with beginnings of both an f/f and an m/f romance, and there is also a demisexual side character. But very little happens in the book, and that means that it is definitely character-driven, which I wouldn’t usually mind. I just don’t think I was I the mood for such a slow paced, character-driven novel. So this was definitely an ‘it’s-not-you-it’s-me’ kind of book.
I would still recommend this book to contemporary readers looking for a nuanced look and exploration of sexuality and defying gender roles, or those looking for books set in small towns with a close-knit group of friends.
Lauren is a british blogger and book reviewer. She is an avid bookworm, writer and procrastinator extraordinaire. A recent history grad, Lauren is currently grappling with adulthood, finding solace in the written word. As an avid reader of YA literature, she’s a lover of sci-fi, contemporary romance, sister stories, and cute f/f books. Some of her favourite books include Code Name Verity by the incredibly talented Elizabeth Wein, and the soul-crushingly cute The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli.
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