Title: Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink
Author: Stephanie Kate Strohm
Published May 8th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
A story of crushes, corsets, and conspiracy
Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving coworker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem.
Review:
Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm combines two of my very favorite genres: YA and (I hesitate to use the term since it seems to be frowned upon these days, but…) chick-lit. It has all the earmarks of a classic chick-lit: a loveable main character with a weakness for fashion, a quirky love interest, even the stereotypical gay best friend.
Libby, the main character, was easy for me to bond with. She has a difficulty choosing which clothes and accessories to leave behind when packing for her summer. I have… similar issues that I won’t get into much here. Let’s just say I’ve had to get creative in an airport after weighing my bag to avoid an additional baggage fee.
Plus, the girl has strong interest (read: OBSESSION) with history. Random historic facts are peppered throughout the novel and they fascinated me. Though I didn’t keep up with it, World History was one of my favorite subjects in school. Libby thinks of it much the same way that I always did:
“History isn’t an endless parade of facts[…] History is just stories– I mean think about it, story is right in the word– history is the life stories of millions and millions of people. Real people, living, beautiful, ugly, wonderful, horrible, messy, complicated human lives.”*
While she loves history, Libby is undoubtedly a girl of the modern age, with her unwillingness to let go of her cell phone and connection to her best friend. Her life has countless references to pop culture that served the book well, but date it.
But it doesn’t matter what era she thinks she belongs in, she makes the same mistake many girls have made throughout time: she has a crush on a big D-bag. It gets to the point with that (and the fact that she can be a little judgmental) where you want to take reporter Garrett’s Hobbit-y feet and use them to stomp some sense into her head.
The ending felt a bit rushed and out of place to me. Largely because the main thread of the story revolved around Libby’s romantic life and once that’s resolved, I didn’t feel that I needed much else to have the novel finished. We return instead to the resolution of the haunting question aboard the boat in Camden Harbor and one last twist that gets resolved very quickly.
Still, overall I’d recommend Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink if you’re a fan of chick-lit along the lines of Confessions of Shopaholic. There’s a major CHEESE factor to this novel. If that’s not your thing, then this probably isn’t for you. It’s a quick, frivolous read that didn’t fail to make me smile.
