The
Sweetheart by Angelina Mirabella
Published: January
20, 2015
Format: copy
via publisher
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis
A debut, coming-of-age
novel in which a teenage girl from Philadelphia leaves her old life behind to
become The Sweetheart, one of America's most infamous female wrestlers. It's 1953 and
seventeen-year-old Leonie Putzkammer is cartoonishly tall and curvaceous,
destined to spend the rest of her life waiting tables and living with her
widowed father, Franz, in their Philadelphia row house. Until the day legendary
wrestling promoter Salvatore Costantini walks into the local diner and offers
her the chance of a lifetime.
Leonie sets off for
Florida to train at Joe Pospisil's School for Lady Grappling. There, she
transforms into Gorgeous Gwen Davies, tag-team partner of legendary Screaming
Mimi Hollander, and begins a romance with the soon-to-be Junior Heavyweight
Champion Spider McGee. But when life as Gorgeous Gwen leaves her wanting, she
orchestrates a move that will catapult her from heel to hero: she becomes The
Sweetheart, a choice that attracts the fans she desires but complicates all of
her relationships with Franz, Joe, Spider, Mimi (who becomes her fiercest
competitor), and even with herself.
My
Thoughts
The Sweetheart caught me completely off guard…in a good way! I must
admit I didn’t know if this book was my type but I vowed this year to span my
literary horizon and after reading this I’m sure glad I did. While I’ve always
been a fan of ‘resslin’ I honestly never really cared for women wrestling. However
this story of Leonie was amusing and I loved the whole coming of age tale of a
girl finding her passion and living her life. And while Leonie’s story is
wonderful I also loved the supporting characters that are all wonderful in
their own right. Although this books storyline is basically about wrestling it’s
much more than that. It’s about friendship, love and ultimately finding who you
are and whom you’re meant to be.
This sounds like it would be really good, Monica; I can totally relate to your comment about not being sure whether you would like it, simply based on the description, but I can see how it would also be an interesting read. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Will keep this one in mind...
ReplyDelete