Mighty Millie Novak

MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK has been on my radar for a while and I am so glad that I’ve finally managed to read this YA book. Millie has managed to move up to the Juniors roller derby league. This should be a happy time, but she’s dealing with a lot of things in her life. “What If’s”, her brother going to college, and her parents’ separation. She’s overwhelmed and leaning on her friend Pumpkin for support. Soon Millie finds herself cross training with her teammate Stork, weaving lies to win the attentions of a girl on the All-Stars Team, and struggling with her relationships with her family and Pumpkin.

Millie is an interesting character to follow. She’s messy, jumping to conclusions and judgments even without all of the information. But she’s also 16 and currently dealing with a lot in her personal life. It makes her a bit reckless, prone to doing things without consideration about how it will all play out. Personally, I loved her even when she was making decisions that weren’t fully thought out. But she isn’t always easy to like. She’s selfish and rude at times, she doesn’t think about consequences. But that also makes her an interesting character to follow. I don’t want books where the characters are perfect. I want flawed characters, ones that make mistakes and have to learn from them.

The conflicts in this book were well set up, but they weren’t always given equal amounts of time to get fixed. Some of them were given only pages, while others were given chapters. It left me feeling unsatisfied about how some of the conflicts were handled. Not all of them, but a couple that I had expected to be a bigger deal felt brushed off.

Roller derby is a personal interest of mine and I was thrilled to get to read a book that has it as a focus. The author manages to capture the energy of roller derby so well. They also manage to capture the different approaches to derby as well. For some people it’s a fun game, for others it is a sport to be taken seriously. I love that the author manages to capture all of the different intricacies, but also the spirit of roller derby as well. It’s, often, a very welcoming place. Somewhere to find yourself and people like you.

Packed with emotions and complex relationships, MIGHTY MILLIE NOVAK tries to fit a lot into the story. The emotions are amazing and the plot has a steady pacing, but some of the conflicts don’t feel fully developed. If you want a messy sapphic romance with a side of roller derby, I would highly recommend the book!