Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

This was a charming read.

It got a tad preachy here and there, but the issues covered were important.

The writing was good, with witty but natural dialogue.  Narration was smooth and engaging and made me want to keep reading.  I'm not sure every single character needed to be introduced by a rather perfunctory description of their race and one or two other attributes, mostly physical…but that may just be my own idiosyncrasy of not really caring what characters in books look like. 

I liked Sweet Pea.  She wasn't perfect.  She did some selfish and thoughtless things, but she learned from her mistakes and became a better friend and daughter because of them. 

I liked the other characters, especially Miss Flora Mae, Oscar, and Sweat Pea's parents.  Except…I had some trouble swallowing the idea that her mother, a therapist, thought it would be a good idea to have Sweet Pea move between her mother's house and her father's house every single day (except for the confusing Thursday schedule).  I would think that would be extremely disorienting, inconvenient, and unstable.  Wouldn't it be better to alternate weeks or something like that, especially if you could just pop over for a visit when needed?

The plot and pacing were good.

And yay for a plus-sized MC.

I would definitely read more by Julie Murphy. 

4 stars!