Book Review: My Mormon Crush, My Dog Eats Poo

By Cindy Roesel

One of our favorite chicks is back with another book with a really long title. This time, Lisa Lim calls her novella MY MORMON CRUSH, MY DOG EATS POO. It features 16-year old Lilith who lives in the middle of Utah and is in the middle of a heavy Twilight-esque Mormon crush with a Taylor Lautner look-a-like Missionary named Gabe. Her dog, Jacob, eats his own poop, but we like him, because he cleans up after himself. Lili also finds herself in the middle of a love triangle. Life is complicated when you’re in high-school and so is writing about it, and that’s why Lisa Lim brought in her niece, Lucy Liew, a high student senior to assist in making sure the novella is accurate. MY MORMON CRUSH, MY DOG EATS POO is Lisa Lim’s story through the eyes of Lili, an Asian American, living as an outsider in what she believes is Mormon-Town USA!

Lisa Lim’s last novel, CONFESSIONS OF A CALL CENTER GAL had Maddy, a young woman working in potato-land, Idaho. In MY MORMON CRUSH, MY DOG EATS POO, Lili is highly intelligent but subversive. She’s a teen misfit. She reminds me of MTV’s, late 90's “Daria” who was the definitive teen misfit, cynical (but “Daria” would say realistic) with a soft spot that in Lili’s case would be for animals like Jacob. She thinks her dad is a pseudo-“MacGyver,” mom wanders around in a bit of a haze, she has two younger brothers Norm and Woody and there’s an eclectic cast of characters at school. She has various relatives who make appearances, but for the most part, the stories are Lili’s personal adventures trying her best to not necessarily fit in, but just get along.

Lisa Lim is incredible at including popular culture in her work. If you’re not in the know about what’s currently happening in the world before you read her, you will definitely know what’s going on after you finish. Some of its potty humor, but its stuff you see all the time on television and in the paper. MY MORMON CRUSH, MY DOG EATS POO is one long continuous trivial pursuit game: NBA, NPR, “Deadliest Catch,” Posh Spice, Honey Bunches of Oats, Hello Kitty, Jolie-Pitt Gang, "Beavis & Butthead," and The Discovery Channel are just a few popular mentions.

The novella is clever and the characters are fresh and jump off the page. If you enjoy reading Laurie Notaro, Chelsea Handler, or the woman from “The Office,” Mindy Kaling, you’re going to have fun with MY MORMON CRUSH, MY DOG EATS POO. It's currently 99 cents for Kindle. You can visit Lisa Lim at Facebook. Don't worry, she won't bite....

*Disclaimer: We do not normally feature YA novels, but Lisa Lim is an active part of the CLC group on Facebook and we can't resist her! This novella also has adult humor, so it's not just for teens.