My Fair Monster

by Adrienne Rivera

Overview

As the reigning Miss Teen Indiana, seventeen-year-old Corie Nielson has looks, charm, and her family’s formalwear boutique’s sponsorship. But her real dream is to use that success to become a horror movie scream queen. Except for one small complication: Corie is struggling with ADHD without even realizing it. After missing yet another pageant commitment puts her on shaky ground with her coach, Corie wonders how she can possibly live up to everyone’s expectations, including her own.

When a regional horror host announces a monster costume contest where first place gets a guest appearance on the show featuring the winner's choice movie and cash prize, Corie knows she’s found a way to prove what she’s capable of. All she has to do is convince a grumpy special effects makeup artist, Everett Robbins, to partner up and turn her into a pageant-worthy monster. But when the contest distracts her from her pageant obligations, Corie must decide which matters more: pageants—and her promises to her family—or achieving her horror movie dreams?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798890032942
Publisher:	Page Street Publishing
Publication date:	08/19/2025
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Adrienne Rivera is a debut author who lives in Indiana. She has an MFA in fiction from Southern Illinois University. In her spare time, she caters to the whims of an assortment of cats and dogs, plays board games, and tests her bravery by consuming as many horror novels and movies as possible.

Editorial Reviews

"Hilarious and sweet: a monster of a good time."

—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2025-05-16
In Rivera’s debut, a teen pageant queen and a petulant special effects artist team up.

Seventeen-year-old Corie Nielson has won multiple titles, including Miss Teen Indiana, even though she struggles with remembering her commitments and being on time. Ever since she appeared in a commercial for a local restaurant she loves (her line: “Best Spuds. Life’s greater with a tater”), she’s harbored secret acting ambitions. A horrible day of forgetting obligations and disappointing her family leads to Corie’s accidentally rear-ending the car of surly classmate and SFX talent, Everett Robbins. Feeling down, Corie visits her great-grandmother Ingrid (a former Miss America and horror movie actor) for their weekly viewing ofMidnight Frights, during which Corie learns about the upcoming Monster SFX Contest taking place around Halloween in Indianapolis. The prize—$2,000 and a guest appearance on the show—feels to Corie like a chance to pay homage to Ingrid while boosting her acting dreams. Realizing she has just “one potato-based acting credit” and Everett’s special effects skills could really help, Corie asks him to make her his “monstrous Eliza Doolittle.” Everett agrees, seeing an opportunity to expand his portfolio for his application to an SFX certificate program in California. Corie’s over-the-top enthusiasm for all things horror offers an amusing contrast to the glitzy glam of pageantry and enhances her evolving partnership with Everett. Their interactions are funny grumpy-sunshine bliss that unfolds into an endearing relationship of mutual support. Most characters are cued white.

Hilarious and sweet: a monster of a good time.(Romance. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews