As she tries to keep her identity a secret, she ends up discovering that your identity is part of you but is not the whole part. Millicent's entire life has been focused on her intelligence and she uses it to protect herself from the friendships she so desperately wants until she meets Emily who knows nothing of her intelligence.

While Millicent is a genius in extremes (an 11-year-old high school Junior), there were aspects I found myself connected to: the longing to be included yet the self-preservation of using your 'identity' as a shield. There were a couple of times that her thought process had me laughing out loud. Her blind confidence, sarcasm, and wit make her a delight to read. She was pretty funny and entertaining so curiously I decided to read Millicent Min-not exactly my first choice of read.I'm much more of a sci/fi-paranormal kind of a girl and the last time I read any middle grade 'coming of age' book was Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and that was way back in 5th grade. By the end of the novel, Maybe realizes that life doesn't always turn out how you want it to and so it's best to learn how to work with what and who you have in your life.Last year, I attended an author panel featuring Lisa Yee. As she works at a taco truck for the summer, she continues to search for her father and lives with one of her mother's ex-husbands that Chessy married twice, Sammy. The only one who is still struggling is Maybe, who is the reason that they go to California in the first place. Hollywood starts to realize his dream of becoming a movie maker, propelling his dream into reality when he wins a documentary film contest with his documentary about Maybe.

Ted eventually lands a job as a personal assistant to a Hollywood star, so he moves on to realize his dream of dealing with the rich and famous. Ted and Maybe, at first, are homeless and so they are sleeping in the lounges of the college dorms. When the trio arrives in California, things don't work out quite the way they planned. Maybe takes along her best friend, Ted, as they hitch a ride with their friend, Hollywood, who is driving out to attend film school at the University of Southern California, USC. When Chessy, Maybe's mother, chooses her fiancé and soon-to-be seventh husband over Maybe, Maybe runs off to find her biological father in California. Although her mother screams everything beauty queen, Maybe is the direct opposite with her Goth makeup, baggy clothes and brightly-colored hair that changes throughout the novel. Maybe is the daughter of a beauty queen turned charm school proprietor. The story follows the main character, Maybelline 'Maybe' Chestnut, as she runs away from her home in Kissimmee, Florida for Hollywood. Absolutely Maybe is a novel by author Lisa Yee.

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee