BOOK REVIEW — The Baddest Girl on the Planet hooks the reader in a few words

"My husband is not the first man to disappoint me. That honor goes to Mike Tyson, who I met the summer I was nine, the summer I left Hatteras Island to stay in Ohio for two weeks with my Ohio friend, Charlotte."
 — Evie Austin, The Baddest Girl on the Planet

I was hooked from these first two lines at the beginning of The Baddest Girl on the Planet by Heather Frese. I wanted to know how Evie met Mike Tyson and how he had disappointed her. Evie, a native of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, and baddest girl on the planet, has not lived her life in a straight line. 

This book tells her most definitive life moments through stories such as an unplanned pregnancy with her high school sweetheart at 19 or a trip to Las Vegas with a male pen pal that goes off the rails. Reading about Evie's first few months as a mother brought back memories. I could feel her tiredness and her fear that her son may not love her along with her second-guessing on whether or not she could be a mother. 

Another thing I loved about the book was how Evie's story is told. It was not told in a linear fashion or just in the first person. At one point, a list of letters written to Dear Abby illustrated Evie's frustration. I enjoyed reading this book because I needed to have an escape from my life. 

This is the first of many books I hope to read in 2021. I was mailed a copy of this book from Blair Publishing in Durham a few weeks ago and finally made some time to read it. The Baddest Girl on the Planet is only 228 pages and I didn't want to see it end. Evie is very spirited and doesn't allow life to take her down. This book is the winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize and is available to the public on March 2. 

If I didn't mention it, this is Frese's debut novel and a very good one. I can't wait to see what she will write in the future.