Great insight to an absolutely amazing drag artist. Loved getting to follow their journey and hear about their experiences.

REVIEW: All About Yvie by Yvie Oddly

I just finished "All About Yvie" by Yvie Oddly, and I have some thoughts. It's a decent read, but it's not exactly blowing my mind. Yvie, the quirky drag queen who snatched the crown on RuPaul's Drag Race, brings her unique flavor to this book. You'll find plenty to enjoy here if you're a fan of her off-beat style and no-holds-barred attitude. She dishes out some behind-the-scenes tea from Drag Race and gives us a peek into her creative process, which is pretty cool.

The book has its moments—Yvie's honesty about her struggles with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is eye-opening, and her journey to drag stardom has some wild twists. Plus, her wacky sense of humor shines through in places, which is fun. But here's the thing: it sometimes feels scattered, like Yvie's jumping from one topic to another without diving deep. I was hoping for more depth in some parts, especially about her artistic inspirations and the nitty-gritty of her drag evolution.

Also, if you're not already familiar with Yvie or Drag Race, you might sometimes feel a bit lost. The book assumes you know the terminology and the players, which could be a bummer for newbies.

Overall, it's an okay read. Fans of Yvie will probably eat it up, but for the rest of us, it's more of a "borrow from a friend" than a "must-buy." It's got its charms, but it left me wanting more substance.

Thank you, Netgalley and Greenleaf Book Group, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

Thank you to net galley for this book!

An interesting read for sure. I loved Yvie on drag race and she has an amazing story. From her child hood to presence day and living with a chronic illness. The writing itself isn’t the strongest element of this book but it’s a worth a read just for how compelling Yvie and her journey is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Greenleaf Book Group for an advanced reader copy of “All about Yvie”.

As a RuPaul’s drag race fan I was really excited when I saw this book on Netgalley and requested it immediately. Yvie was one of my favorite queens because of how different and ODD 😜 they were.

This book though was not my favorite with all of that considered. The style of writing jumped from narrative to then third person with almost like a narrator voice that was hard to follow at times. Some of the stories felt disjointed that were shared in the beginning depicting Yvie’s childhood and didn’t seem to flow.

Then once we got to the recap of before, during and after drag race it seemed to follow a direct 3rd person with first person direct quotes that at times felt repetitive and too long. I think I would have preferred it to be more first person if you are going to bring that view point in. I think it would have fit better doing one or the other, the mixing of 1st and 3rd was frustrating for me as a reader.


Random other thoughts:

- I feel like it’s trying too hard to show all sides and be unbiased, but then I want it to be biased because it’s about Yvie
- though I like that it brings in some of the other queens and their experiences, I wanted it more focused on Yvie.
- snatch game was repeated right after each other in the episode recaps and felt unnecessary to mention it that quickly after


Here’s my advice: if you can look past all of that you might love it! It didn’t necessarily change my opinion on Yvie and I still like them as a performer, but I had different expectations on what this book was going to be.

Thank you again NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group Press for the ARC.

As a drag race superfan who got into RPDR in 2020, I was very excited to read this book! In fact, I started watching with the 11th season, so Yvie was my first winner and I was wowed by their originality and creativity.

But gradually with reading this book my opinions shifted🥲 I saw a very negative, petty, messy and whiny side of Yvie who is unhappy with other queens, production, feels like everything is built against her and everything is rigged against her.

The book didn’t feel personal because it was told in third person - not the best decision for a memoir type of book! But since we’re talking about the genre, it’s also worth nothing that Yvie doesn’t have as much to say to fill a whole book, she didn’t have enough of life experience imo to warrant that. Not enough content.

I don’t see why Instagram artists work were used throughout the book, can we just see them in social media? Then it’s not original and why include it in the book? Pictures should have been included there yet they were in the end of the book.

It was hard for me to connect personally with Yvie. However any drag race tea is interesting and learning how the preparation for the show works, learning about the backstage of the show was a plus!

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for the access to this book!

Yvie oddly is one of the most prolific drag race queens to date, so I was excited to jump into her story. I did find the dual narrative of the the writer and yvie did in a biography setting but otherwise yvies story is motivation and empowering to anyone who feels like they don’t fit In

I am a huge fan of Yvie so I was really excited to read this. The information in the book was nice to read I supposed but the format of the book didn’t really work for me. It felt like reading a really long magazine interview or a college essay. Still a huge fan and I suppose I would recommend reading it if you want to support and learn more about Yvie,’but I didn’t love the way the book was done.

Yvie Oddly was my favorite drag queen from season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race. When given the opportunity to read this book early, I leapt at the chance. Yvie is such a unique, original, and talented drag queen. Although she wasn't treated well on her 11th season and All Winners, she is dearly beloved by all her fans. I thought this story was well written and formulated in such an easy manner. I especially liked the breakdown of each episode and the inclusion of various fanart in between each chapter. I only wish there were pictures of her outfits instead of having to Google each runway look. I also especially hated the inclusion of Twitter in a full-length novel. I have a personal rule that whenever that particular social media platform is mentioned, I automatically deduct a star from the book's rating. I really enjoyed this memoir and hope to read more from drag queens in the future. Hopefully they can reach the bar that Yvie has set with this spectacular debut. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Not the biggest fan of this book. I appreciate that it exists. Yvie is one of my favorite Queens and I just didn't like the format of this book. Third person was not the best idea. Also, sometimes we don't need to know so much about people, sometimes it ruins it for fans.

3.5 stars-Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing June 19th!

I'm a huge fan of Yvie and was so excited to get this as an ARC! Like others, I wasn't a huge fan of the style of the book, much of which reads in third person like a long interview. I absolutely loved hearing directly from Yvie and reading about more of their experiences, the Yvie-led content was great-I just wish there had been less "what Yvie is saying here is" explanations from their co-writer. Some of the formatting also felt a bit hard to follow (specifically in the section recapping the season 11 episodes, where we would jump ahead to post-show experiences before coming back to the next episode, which was kind of going in reverse chronologically)-the formatting with some of the fanart and images was also odd (no pun intended) but I think that was more due to the ARC formatting, and I assume this won't be an issue in the published copy. Anyway, huge fan of Yvie, and really enjoyed hearing from them, other queens who know them, and close family and friends, I just wish there had been a bit less of their co-author in the structure of the book.

I've been a big fan of Yvie Oddly since their season of Drag Race and was very excited to read this memoir.

I really enjoyed this glimpse in to Yvie's childhood, the start of their drag career, and the evolution of Yvie Oddly. It was fun reading about the different iterations of their drag persona and how Yvie came to be. I loved reading the behind the scenes scoop of being on Drag Race, both times, and it was interesting to read about the impact of the show on their life - both positive and negative.

As I read about their time on Drag Race, I kept having to look up clips of the parts discussed -- it was fun to revisit.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for an engaging memoir!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Into the oddity. Sort of.

As far as memoirs go this was written in 3rd person which was pretty odd.
It’s written mostly as a compilation of interviews and experiences of being around Yvie through Michael Bach. It leaves you feeling not that connected. Which I think was done on purpose but then what even is the purpose of the book??? To air twitter beefs and troll comments?

I don’t know that I feel like I know more about Yvie which was why I wanted to read the book… I think it would have been a great opportunity to talk about hEDS from diagnosis to impact on daily life. Now I just want to watch All Stars All Winners again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for an eARC.

Thanks to NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"All About Yvie: Into the Oddity" by Yvie Oddly and Michael Bach is a must-read for anyone seeking a heartwarming and inspiring memoir exploring themes such as self-discovery, identity, adversity, drag culture and the power of art.

I loved getting to see more of Yvie Oddly, winner of Season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race. The interview-style with explanatory paragraphs from the other writer, Michael Bach, gives an unfiltered version Yvie with different pieces of their story. Lots of great pictures.

This was quite an interesting read. I really enjoyed learning more about Yvie and their story. I also liked how I got to read about their side of the story during all the filming of Drag Race. Thanks NetGallery!

I'm a big fan of Yvie Oddly, so I was excited to read this ARC. However, I was left rather disappointed.
While Yvie's input was great and I enjoyed reading all of their thoughts and story in their own words, the commentary in this memoir felt clinical at times. It was like it was being written for both fans of Drag Race and people who have never heard of drag. There would be a "but you already know that" comment right beside an extensive breakdown of something any fan of drag would already know, so I really couldn't tell who the audience for this book was supposed to be. The organization of the book was also lacking and kept it from having the punch I really think Yvie's story is capable of.
I think that if you're interested in hearing Yvie's thoughts along with that of their family and friends, it's a fun read. But I definitely think it could be more.

As much as I love Yvie, the structure of this book was deeply uninteresting and fundamentally flawed. Having someone else write Yvie's story and present their stories as an extended interview is just about the least fun way to write a book like this. It doesn't allow us into Yvie's brain or to hear their voice or really feel like a part of their story. It's like reading a really long, dry, and poorly written magazine article.

Yvie Oddly is one of my favorite drag queens so of course reading this was a must! Definitely did not disappoint. Reading this made me love her even more!

All About Yvie. I honestly got everything that I wanted from this book. This book had everything I think readers could want from an Yvie Oddly story. It is filled with emotion, quirkiness, and raw honesty. I do think this book pulls the curtain back even more on Yvie and gives more insight on how they think and operate on a day to day. I found that as soon as I started the book I did want to keep going. The book has a solid pace that keeps the reader engaged.

I think if you are a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race and love hearing from the queens and learning more about them then you will really enjoy this book. Super glad I had the chance to read this.

#AllAboutYvie #NetGalley

This novel was very charming and uplifting. I adored the artwork in it as well. I would definitely give it a 10/10. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read such a magnificent piece of work.

I wish I had liked this book more than I did. While I loved getting to see more of Yvie Oddly, one of my favourite queens from all the Drag Race franchises, I couldn’t get over how this book was formatted. The interview-style with explanatory paragraphs from the other writer, Michael Bach, left me feeling disconnected from the memoir at best. There was a lot of repetition, largely from Bach’s explanations of Yvie’s experiences, which made the reading experience feel impersonal and just… awkward.

That being said, I loved the unfiltered version Yvie offered up, and the different pieces of their story they were able to tell in this new format. I’m certain it felt like a relief to put this out in the world.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.