This was a really lovely YA story, featuring LGBTQ+ characters and theatre. It contains many important and beautiful lessons. Would highly recommend.

i feel like this has so much potential to be a fantastic book but this one fell flat for me. i feel nothing much from the characters and they are quite flat for me personally. i think maybe it is the writing that i cannot click right away with. but overall this is still a fun, one sitting read for anyone who enjoys a cute fun book and who doesnt expect too much!

This was not a pleasant read.

I love YA, musicals, LGBT+ and thought that this would be the perfect read for me, but I really struggled.

Everything about this was higgledy piggedly and although it can work for some books - it most certainly didn't work for this one.

Very disappointing.

I didn't particularly enjoy this title from the jump - I didn't know it was an adaption of a broadway musical until I finished but it made sense as soon as I found that out (often musicals have vague plots that are tied together by the songs, rather than being narrative driven). It wasn't for me, but I can imagine young theatre-kid types eating this up!

Great choice of teen fiction for lovers of LGBT romance stories and excellent cast of characters! It will definitely make you smile and make you cry and keep you happy.

This was a mess from start to finish, from the prose, to the characterisations and right through to the 'plot'. It felt unfinished, which is a shame as the show is so polished.

This book does camp about as well as the attendees of the Met Gala.

The story follows two girlfriends Emma (out) and Alyssa (closeted) on their fight to get the prom they deserve in a small town in Indiana. The issues get more complicated when two trashy actors from New York come to help Emma through protesting and general fashion tips.

It's one of those books which are really quick reads, even though some issues raised are very difficult: discrimination, bullying, and homophobia. Even though bad things happen, like Emma getting kicked out by her parents, the book remains upbeat.

The characters are cute, I liked Emma, but even though I understood Alyssa's dilemmas, I couldn't fully sympathize with her, because she chose to remain closeted while her girlfriend was being bullied. The whole thing gave me flashbacks from my own school.

It was nice to see a happy ending, because we don't usually get to have a happy ending in real life. All in all, the book was like a teen movie on Netflix: colorful and cute, but in the end, not very memorable.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Before I jumped into this book, I hand't heard about the Broadway Musical or even watched the new Netflix movie so I went in completely blind. And I have to say I was surprised with the story. While reading this ARC I felt some lines were really awkward and the way the story was written was sort of weird. Maybe it was the fact that the story was adapted from a musical but there were parts that I didn't vibe with.

Nevertheless, the story itself was very good. We are able to see the real struggles of being part of the LGBTQ+ community but also living in a very conservative town in the US. That part of the story was very interesting.

I absolutely love that this book exists.
Because let's be honest here, the stars of the musical and the film are basically the Broadway people. And I'm not mad at that, they're hilarious. But this story *is* about Emma and Alyssa and I am beyond happy that these two amazing ladies finally get their time to shine. And shine they do.
As a fan of the musical, it was fun to see the lyrics of the songs incorporated into this book. It was even more fun to get to see the whole story from both Emma and Alyssa's POV.

Sometimes, I felt like the storytelling was a bit rushed, but then again, there is a lot that happens in this story.
In this book, there is even more happening and some scenes, I am so, so thankful for.
Emma and Alyssa's first meeting? GAH. Everything I ever needed, honestly.

So if you're a fan of this musical or just of a lovely Sapphic story, please read this!

I guess most people requested this because of the Netflix adaptation which I have yet to watch. I also heard that this was originally a musical and I can actually see that because the storylines and scenes in the book that I thought didn't work with the medium actually make a lot more sense if I imagine them happening in a musical or paraphrased in songs.
I liked this well enough but the characters weren't all that fleshed out, so I'm interested to see how my opinion will change once I've seen the movie. Might have to go back to the book afterward.

After seeing this was being made into a film, I thought this was the perfect reason to pick up this book.

I love theatre, YA books and LGBTQIA+ rep, however, I'm not sure why I just didn't connect with this book. I would definitely recommend it to younger readers and it is definitely a book that will resonate with a lot of people. I'm thinking to try and re-read this and see if my thoughts change!

This is a book based off the Broadway musical ‘The Prom’, recently adapted into a film by Netflix. I recently watched the film and had a few issues with it, mainly the handling of Emma and Alyssa’s storyline as I felt the film didn’t put enough of an emphasis on it and sidelined it in favour of following the Broadway characters. I’m happy to say that the book did a much better job with this as the story was told from Emma and Alyssa’s POV, and that also allowed Alyssa to have a greater role in the story. I liked the idea of the book and thought it dealt with important themes, but just not in enough depth. Emma’s issues with her parents were very quickly mentioned and not really explored, and I felt everyone’s minds were changed way too easily at the end - prejudice isn’t that easy to eradicate. In that sense, it’s easy to see it was originally based off a broadway musical where things like this tend to be fun and end happily. Overall, I liked the book, but felt aspects could have been expanded upon.

QUILTBAG representation? Check.
Great commentary on growing up queer in a conservative area? Check.
Adorable lesbian romance? Check double check.

It’s no shock to anyone who knows me that this book thawed those winter blues from my heart. I’m a lesbian theatre nerd – this book was made for me. I went into it with a somewhat nervous view because of just how much I loved the musical, and the fact that the performance the cast gave at the Macy’s Day Parade 2019 might just have been the only thing that’s kept me going in hellish 2020.However, I was not disappointed by this novel adaptation!

The cover of The Prom. The background is lilac and an illustration of two girls are centred, arms wrapped around each others waist, back to the 'camera'. The words 'The Prom' are below them, with the letters spelling 'prom' in glittery colours. The Penguin logo is in the top left. The tagline reads 'They just wanted to dance. They didn't mean to start a revolution'. The authors names are below the title.
Cover art of The Prom book by Saundra Mitchell. Image courtesy of The Prom press kit via NetGalley
The novel is framed by an interview with Broadway stars (or perhaps stars who’ve already gone supernova and are now very much in the decline at the start of the novel) Barry Glickman and Dee Dee Allen whose most recent show has been a bit of a commercial flop. As in….it only ran for one night. Ouch. This is a really interesting narrative choice and one I wouldn’t have expected from a book like this but it works!

But the real stars of the show are Alyssa and Emma, girlfriends from a small town in Indiana, who just want to go to their senior prom together. There’s just one problem: Alyssa isn’t out to her mom, who also happens to be the president of the PTA….the PTA who are funding the prom. Awkward..

I’m not sure why but I expected the book to be entirely from Emma’s perspective, so it was a nice surprise to see Alyssa’s point of view get equal page time. I found myself feeling much more sympathy for Alyssa in the book than I did in the musical, possibly because we get to see so much deeper into her psyche, and see the real internal struggles she’s coping with. My only real critique of this split-perspective is that Emma seems much more developed, presumably because most of the driving plot (aka the Broadway offensive) is focused around her. In comparison, Alyssa seems a little underdeveloped as a character, and I would’ve loved to see more of her personality outside of her relationships with others.

Musical theatre fans will LOVE this book, especially with all the references littered throughout that would occasionally make me burst out laughing. The whole writing team did a great job bringing a glitzy, camp, marvellous musical and translating that into a book. For fans of the Dear Evan Hansen book, or The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Prom is a must-read, especially if you’ve just watched the Netflix adaptation and need your eyes cleansing of James Corden’s questionable sequin suit…

I don’t know if any of you watched The Prom on Netflix, but I certainly did. And as much as I loved the star-filled cast, I wanted more focus on Emma and her story. Luckily, I was gifted a digital copy from the publisher to find out more! The book focuses entirely on the students with the adults in the background. Emma and Alyssa have the most chapters and that is exactly what I wanted from the film. I am not sure if the Broadway musical is the same format as the book, but I would love to see it if it is! I highly recommend for fans of the musical and/or film who want to know more about the relationship between Emma and Alyssa. I also recommend to all my sapphic readers!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for the arc! This title was released September 12, 2019.

I watched the movie adaptation a few days ago, and while I enjoyed parts of it, I also had a slew of issues with it, varying from the lack of depth Emma's and especially Alyssa's story got and the way Alyssa needing to come out was handled, to the focus on the adults in the story, when the focus should have been on Emma and Alyssa. All in all, I wasn't the biggest fan of the movie.

And if you agreed on any of these counts, I can confirm the book is better. Because here, we do get a main focus on Emma and Alyssa - they both get POVs. And there's a lot more nuance in the story overall. So I mostly enjoyed this book! It was a quick read with a clear message, but I personally didn't think the tone and the content matched very well. Where the tone was very light-hearted, the content was often pretty heavy, and that was hard to digest because of the light tone.

CWs: (religious) homophobia, past abandonment by parents

So, I haven't seen the musical that this book is based on, but I very much want to! However, I'm not sure it works as a book. I found the characters annoying and the plot was very surface, to the point that I didn't really care what happened. Such a disappointment, since I think it has the potential to be a really beautiful story! Just that none of the emotion really came through and the whole thing was left flat. I would probably tell people not to bother reading it!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

'The Prom' is a novelisation of the fabulous Broadway musical of the same name, set in the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana. (Seriously, listen to the cast recording to get some brilliantly catchy tunes stuck in your head! These lyrics are even intertwined seamlessly into the story.) Emma and Alyssa have been together for over a year and have vowed to go to prom together, dancing freely in front of all their classmates. Emma is out to her classmates but this will be Alyssa's opportunity to becomes her true self, particularly to her religious mother, who is also president of the PTA. However, when the PTA catch wind that Emma wants to bring a girl to prom, this causes divisions in the local community, not helped by the appearance of the flamboyant Dee Dee and Barry from Broadway, desperate for some good publicity...

I love the show but, much like the novelisation of 'Dear Evan Hansen', this helps to add some depth to the characters by allowing us to follow the plot from their perspective. In the show, especially one with a lot of music to cram in, sometimes the skew of attention can be towards the characters from Broadway. Here, they are slimmed down into only two characters and we follow the plot from the point of view of Emma and Alyssa in turn. This makes their relationship the true heart of the story. Emma experiences some horrific prejudice at home and school and this hits home in the novel. I definitely has a tear in my eye at moments, particularly during the events at the novel's close.

Overall, this is a great depiction of a really fun and poignant show. It contains an important lesson about acceptance and being true to yourself which will appeal to a broad audience. 4 glittering, prom night stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

With the new movie of this coming out soon I was excited to give the book a version a try considering I'm a pretty big fan of the musical.
Did I feel the essence of the musical was captured in the story? Largely yes. I love this story and felt the book did a really good job of portraying the plot aspect.
My issues with this came from the writing I was not into the writing style and many parts of it felt overly juvenile to an extent it didn't need to be. I also wasn't super into the structure I felt the story would of been more effective if only told from Emma's point of view.

I did enjoy reading this though I feel that's more due to my connection to the story then the book itself.

Emma, the only out person at her school in Indiana wants to go to prom with her girlfriend who isn't out yet. The PTA is dead set against a gay couple at the dance, Emma wants to fight the injustice, and things get messy. What she doesn't expect it help from Broadway stars looking for good publicity, who make things crazier as they try to give her the prom of her dreams.

This is a great premise. I love the wit and Emma's justifiable snarkiness. Full of quirky, unique descriptions. For example "like a violent smoothie that no one in their right mind would want to taste".

The author deals with Emma's discomfort of being the victim of prejudice and Alyssa's need to come out in her own time with the appropriate sensitivity. I really do like the endearing way the author writes what they are feeling. Making your heart lurch. But there is a lot of fun to be had and laugh out loud moments.

I think this need more of the Broadway stars, more of Dee Dee actually. It's like she's second fiddle and I don't think she'd be second fiddle to anyone. Also I adore Barry. More dialogue from these two would of been greatly appreciated. The change in some of the characters seems too rushed, but remember this is based on a musical so there is sort of a time limit. Also, people CAN be so shallow. In my opinion we were robbed of an explosive reaction we expected and I don't know how to feel about that.

Dealing with homophobia, prejudice and how selfish and cruel people can be, there is still a healthy dose of hope. A hope for change and acceptance. People can be generous if they put their egos aside. Redemption is possible.

I read this because the movie is coming out and seeing it available on Netgalley sparked my curiosity. And I am so glad I did. With tears of joy and cheering I finished this so fast and hugged my reader when I was done. I cannot wait for the movie.