‘The Law of Tall Girls’ by Joanne Macgregor is a lighthearted and enjoyable read about Peyton Lane and all of the insecurities that she fights to hide behind her tall exterior. After all, Peyton is tall – very tall – and what she considers her freakish height gets in the way of anyone seeing her for more than that, or so she thinks. It also eats away at other parts of her life, including simple tasks like shopping, in which she can never find anything that fits her just right – or even close to just right. Her best friend, Chloe, is truly supportive, helping Peyton cope with all of the troubles that add stress to her life. It often seems that the stress is even more exacerbated by her mother, with whom Peyton has an extremely strained relationship. It isn’t until at least halfway through the book that we learn the source of this tension, and how Peyton’s issues are just the tip of the iceberg if you consider everything she has to deal with that isn’t obvious to the outside observer.
When Peyton meets Jay Young, she is thrown for a loop. She’s never been the shorter girl, looking up longingly into a cute boy’s eyes. All of that changes when she meets Jay, but the fact that their meeting stems from a bet starts off a string of lies and troubles that Peyton doesn’t know quite how to escape without losing everything she holds dear.
The storyline is realistic and sweet, as Peyton struggles to fit in even though her height makes it so that she always sticks out. Her attempts to keep her home life behind closed doors, coupled with her searching for her own truth about who she wants to be in life through her college applications, makes her a character definitely worth rooting for. Through friends and family, she learns over time that she has to accept herself for who she is, and maybe if she does, she will learn to accept others, too, and to let them be a part of her life in a way that she hasn’t found possible in a long time.
Macgregor has written a story that will hit at the heart of those who desire to be accepted. Everyone has some sort of issue of self-esteem or self-consciousness, and Peyton, Jay, and the cast of characters Macgregor has crafted are no different. The story strikes at the core of self-acceptance and self-motivation to make a change. A satisfying and relatable read.
You can find ‘The Law of Tall Girls’ by Joanne Macgregor here.
*Review originally posted at YABooksCentral.com*