Dylan Mulvaney’s ‘Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer’ is an intimate, vulnerable, and often surprising memoir that pulls back the curtain on the life of a trans woman navigating fame, identity, and the fallout from a viral incident that sent shockwaves through the internet. The audiobook, read by the author herself, offers listeners an unfiltered glimpse into her personal world and the complexities of her journey.

As a TikTok star known for her bubbly personality, Mulvaney's public image has often been characterised by positivity and lightness, which is exactly why ‘Paper Doll’ feels like such a refreshing shift. Mulvaney doesn't just stay in the realm of surface-level content; she confronts her own struggles with anxiety, depression, and the weight of public scrutiny head-on. The book offers a window into her interior life, particularly in the aftermath of ‘Beergate’, a term she coined for the conservative backlash she faced after partnering with Bud Light.

The structure of the book is a blend of journal fragments from her early days of transitioning, interspersed with reflections on her post-Beergate life. This back-and-forth between past and present is nicely handled, as Mulvaney moves between raw vulnerability and thoughtful introspection.

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is Mulvaney’s willingness to be frank about her own naivety and mistakes, particularly in her early days of transitioning. She candidly admits to her lack of awareness about TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and the larger landscape of trans activism, which she attributes to her sheltered upbringing and lack of trans community connection. However, there are moments in the book where this naïveté seems to linger, especially in her reflections on how to leverage her platform for broader change. While she is clearly earnest in her desire to be an ally and advocate for trans issues, some readers might find her approach to activism a bit disjointed.

Despite these moments of uncertainty, what stands out most in ‘Paper Doll’ is Mulvaney's unrelenting honesty. She doesn't shy away from exploring her own contradictions or vulnerabilities. There are sections of the book where she openly wrestles with her role as a public figure, the pressures of internet fame, and the emotional toll of constantly being consumed by others' perceptions of her appearance. The memoir feels like a stream-of-consciousness brain dump that is messy at times but ultimately human and relatable.

Listening to Mulvaney narrate her own story adds an extra layer of authenticity to the experience. Her voice, both earnest and playful, brings a sense of intimacy that allows the listener to feel like they're hearing her deepest thoughts directly from the source. It’s especially powerful when she discusses moments of doubt and self-reflection, offering a candid look at the complexities of transitioning in the public eye.

While ‘Paper Doll’ may not fully answer all the questions it raises, particularly about Mulvaney's path forward as an activist, it remains an important read (or listen) for anyone curious about the personal realities behind the viral sensation. It’s a raw, funny, and touching exploration of a young woman coming to terms with her identity while navigating the highs and lows of fame, self-discovery, and the intense scrutiny of the online world.

Ultimately, ‘Paper Doll’ is a celebration of Mulvaney’s resilience and her commitment to remaining true to herself in a world that often wants to define her. It’s a messy, beautiful, and profoundly human journey that leaves you rooting for her, both as an individual and as an icon of trans visibility.

Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia for the advanced copy.

I straight binged this book. I love that Dylan herself read her story. It felt very much like we were all sat together listening to her days of girlhood chats

Being a gen z girlie myself, I’ve seen a few of Dylan’s TikTok’s as she started her Days of Girlhood TikTok’s. Then Beergate happened and she was everywhere. I was not heavily in the weeds about what happened but this book laid out what occurred but also more information about Dylan.

This story is told in a stream of consciousness, with letters and essays to weave this story. This was not my favorite way of telling this story, but the narration of it made it flow together well. This just showed the strength held in this one person body, but this doesn’t come with gloomy days.

I was giggling at several parts of this story, this is very online/tiktok humor but I enjoyed and understood easily. The humor of it did not take away from the emotional parts of Dylan’s story as she struggled with her relationship with her mom, the hate surrounding her plus the dislike of her own body.

A quote that stood out “I hated the body I was in, so I didn’t see any point in protecting her” this resonated with me deeply and I wrote this down as my quote of the day. You don’t realize how much harm you will put up with when you don’t love and care for yourself. Self love is always important.

I would love to see Dylan on Broadway one day as I know she would kill it!

In the words of the icon Dylan Mulvaney, “I love free sh*t” so thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy. I have enjoyed getting a glimpse into the mind of Dylan for a little while.

I've followed Dylan & her journey for a long time now and it was really refreshing to get some behind-the-scenes stories about her life. The vulnerability to put yourself out there and share your life, especially while actively transitioning and being your authentic self is so inspiring.

Dylan Mulvaney first popped up on my FYP just a few days after she started the “Days of Girlhood Series” and I have been a captivated audience member ever since. Not to be too personal in a book review, but I grew up in a very red state, in a Christian household and went to a Christian private school from 4th grade until college graduation. Dylan was my first introduction to a “real life” transgender person. It was so clear that she was just a person experiencing life for the first time. Dylan made it easy to understand what she was experiencing, even if I had not experienced it for myself, which is why when I saw this book available, I jumped at the opportunity to listen to her story from Dylan herself.

This book is a stream-of-consciousness brain dump in the best way. Dylan is explaining her experiences going viral—multiple times, the impact of sharing of personal moments on a world-wide stage, and the little oops and hiccups that accompany that.

This book is a combo of story telling and sharing chronologically and mixture of essays about what Dylan has learned through their journey. Dylan alternates between “this is what has happened in my life” and here is a brain dump of my thoughts of what happened in my brain during that time.

Hearing Dylan’s thoughts— her doubts, her dark moments, her highs and lows— from her own mouth is powerful. I remember watching most of the controversies that she talks about in this book. They felt overwhelming to watch and I wasn’t the one experiencing them directly. This book encapsulates just how strong Dylan actually is. It also brings her humanity to the forefront.

Fingers crossed for you to get on the Broadway stage, Dylan! I am rooting for you!

how sweet. I enjoyed this book. It was nice to hear things from her side and see what she went through. SHe seems like a really down to earth cool person. I do feel like if I had read physical I wouldn't have enjoyed this as much, the audio with dylan narrating is where its at.

Days of Girl Hood. That beer incident. Those are the first things that go through your head when you hear the name, Dylan Mulvaney.

Paper Doll dives so much deeper than that. Dylan welcomes us in to her world, from the highlight reel we see on TikTok, to the deep dark thoughts that come along with a massive smear campaign by the red hat brigade & online trolls.

Dylan takes this opportunity to share her struggles & vulnerability, with her signature humor woven in to the threads of her story.

Paper Doll is not a trans 101 guidebook, but the story of how one of our beloved TikTok icons has navigated life’s ups and downs, all while under a microscope, in an increasingly hostile world.

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to read this book with Dylan’s own voice - via audiobook. I love her voice & hearing her speak her story into the world elevates the reading experience for me to a whole new level.

This book is being released in a time where transgender folks are systematically being erased by our government, and visibility is important, now more than ever.

My wife is trans. Dylan, NetGalley, & Abrams, this book has been such a gift for me. Thank you for the audiobook ARC & sharing Dylan’s light with me.

Dropped everything as soon as I saw the NetGalley email saying I had been approved for this audiobook and tore through this in less than a day. After discovering Dylan on TikTok and becoming an avid follower of The Days of Girlhood series, I jumped at the chance to listen to her debut memoir. I laughed out loud, got weepy, and just overall overfilled with JOY from listing to this beautiful woman’s rise to fame and hearing her learn how to live her true authentic life.

I mean, we all knew this bitch was funny, but I was actually laughing out loud while listening AT WORK. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ she’s fantastic and I petition Dylan to do morrrrre audiobooks, please and thanks.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ALC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Hearing Dylan Mulvaney tell her story in this audiobook was SO good. As someone who started to follow her at the beginning of her "Day __ Of Being A Girl" TikToks I feel like I've learned so much more about her story. Seeing her journey and growth has been inspiring and educating. I love the self-reflective nature of this book. Showing her growing confidence, her wins, and also her hard lessons. My heart broke with her after rejections and having to 'come out' every single time she met someone. I highly recommend this book.

I was immediately drawn in by Dylan’s narration, her enthusiasm and warmth made me feel like I was talking to a friend who happens to be one of the greatest storytellers. I loved hearing Dylan’s perspective on some of her more viral internet moments that I witnessed in real time and hearing how she has dealt with various challenges and triumphs along her gender identity journey in her first year of being a girl. The ayahuasca journeys and euro adventure were my favorite stories! She really showcased how important having a supportive community around you is. I would love to look through the book to see any images I’ve missed, but otherwise I absolutely loved the audiobook.Thank you to RBmedia for providing this audiobook for review consideration through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I love Dylan!!! Learning more about her and her journey of girlhood warmed my heart. I respect her so much and I'm so grateful she uses her voice for good!

i have loosely followed dylan since day 1 of her “days of girlhood” series, so hearing all of these stories felt a bit nostalgic to me!

this reads exactly as it is — an amalgamation of journal entries and some essays to fill in the blanks and go a bit deeper. dylan talks about so much—growing up with broadway dreams, navigating the ups and downs of her relationship with her conservative mom, meeting the president, and figuring out the difference between performative and authentic femininity (which is different for everyone!). she also covers beergate and navigating being unexpectedly thrust into the position of activist.

this was a quick read and if you’re an audiobook reader dylan reads it herself and does a fantastic job emphasizing the emotion behind her writing, especially the humor! it felt much the same as the content we already get from her, just expanded and more personal!

her perspective and the way she has handled everything, especially the attention and hate from the conservative media, is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

this book is about so much more than the politicalization of her identity. but some days it feels like evil is not a strong enough word for people who make it their mission to try to rob others of their safety and joy and right to exist. the way dylan has handled all of this with such grace + kindness — she’s better than me, that’s for sure! even in her own book, in which she could really go to town and tear some people to shreds (and they would deserve it) she’s the picture of class.

if you’re like me and believe reading someone’s journal is wrong, but would absolutely love to if granted permission, you’ll enjoy this! it humanizes dylan in a way that is refreshing and is just a good, quick read!

Dylan Mulvaney continues her TikTok journey by sharing a bit more depth of her transition journey. I have been a casual follower of her over the years due to her Broadway connection. Listening to her talk about the journey over the past few years in this longer form really allows you to learn a bit more of what was happening in the background while they were actively telling the world about their journey. Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, their way with words to kept me engaged through the whole book. I can't completely understand what Dylan has gone through and will continue to go through. but I appreciate being able to hear and learn directly from her so that I can be a stronger ally.

Paper Doll tells the story of Mulvaney's very personal but also very public gender transition. This book is full of humor, emotions, hard lessons, and great self-reflection. I'm normally cautious of younger people writing memoirs, but I felt like this was important and had a lot to say. I only know the author through her TikTok and was so happy to get to know her better through this book. This is an inspirational book that I know many queer people will need, but I also hope more non-queer people pick it up to get a better understanding of issues they won't experience. Overall, while some of the humor and sections didn't hit for me, I still really enjoyed my time with this and will highly recommend it, especially the audiobook read by the author herself.

4.5 stars rounded up

I've been following Dylan on Tiktok since she was a few months into documenting her transition. Paper Doll is written the way she talks online, and she reads the audiobook which feels like an extended intimate conversation. While I've seen a lot of this from the outside, her memoir/essay collection lets us into what she was going through privately and how she's grown into herself and gained true confidence. I appreciate how she admits she went into this not knowing much of anything about the trans community or the experiences of trans women writ large, only that she was a girl herself. She acknowledges the uncomfortable privilege of her position having a large platform and not dealing with the degree of struggle that many other trans women do.

And yet, that certainly doesn't make it easy. Things have been dark at times, especially in the wake of Beergate (if you've been following along you know, though in the book she only refers to the company as "generic beer", likely to avoid legal issues). If you follow Dylan on socials, this is easy to recommend. It has her signature humor, charm, and disarming vulnerability. And honestly, right now having a visible trans woman this popular feels like a win with all of the horrific anti-trans legislation and rhetoric in the US. I wish her all the best. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Read if: you've loved following Dylan's story or you want to feel like you're hearing great advice, juicy gossip, emotional confessions, and funny stories from a friend.

As someone who follows Dylan but doesn't necessarily keep up with everything happening on social media this had a great mix of new stories as well as more insight into well known events during Dylan's tik tok rise (iykyk). I listened to this as an audiobook and Dylan was great! She's funny, engaging, honest, and humble.

My only issue was that listening to it as an audiobook meant I missed out on (what I'm sure were great) pictures and illustrations and that sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the journal entries and essay format. I didn't think this really impacted it too much (and any loss was made up for by the great narration) but would recommend that you pick up a physical copy if you can!

Thanks to Netgalley, RB Media, and Dylan for the ARC. It was truly a joy to listen to. Full review posted on Goodreads and rating posted on Storygraph.

Thank you @dylanmulvaney and RBmedia, along with @netgalley for an ARC of Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney. The memoir of their lifelong journey of finding themselves sexually, emotionally and in general was narrated with grace and humor. I hope this memoir will help everyone understand the struggles on sexuality and gender identity for their friends and family and neighbors. Be kind. Love, Carolyn
#netgalley #trevorproject #dylanmulvaney

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for this ALC!!!!!

Eeeeek! I laughed, squeed, cried, and hurrahed! Dylan’s story is touching, uplifting, and everything I thought I needed and then some! I love her even more after listening. She is a fabulous story teller and reader and dammit, I wanna meet her so freaking bad!

4 stars

In _Paper Doll_, Mulvaney details her experiences pre-, during, and post-transition, which range from relationships with friends and family and herself to romance and physicality to performing arts to general aspects of identity. Though Mulvaney is only in her 20s, she has LIVED and she has a lot of insight to provide into her experience. Importantly, she also reminds readers instantly that her story is hers only. She does not intend for this content to reflect trans people and their experiences overall. This is vital level setting for a very specific kind of (performative/virtue signaling) reader.

While I'd heard of Mulvaney prior to reading this, these sound bytes were often via other folks I follow in some capacity. In other words, I came to this read with very little information about Mulvaney and her experiences, and this lens informed my reading. Mulvaney clarifies at the top that she writes how she speaks, and this is intended to be a bit informal and conversational. I'm grateful I had the chance to listen to the audiobook, narrated by Mulvaney, because this modality adds so much in terms of inflection, emotion, and personalization. When and where accessible, I recommend this modality strongly.

Trans folks have a rough road in this country because we are at such an appalling and embarrassing time in our history, and it seems more vital than ever that we all connect with and support trans creators and their stories. This is a compelling read (and listen!) because of current circumstances but not ONLY because of that. Mulvaney provides an engaging, vulnerable, and for many enlightening glimpse into her life, and it was a pleasure to learn more about her. I will absolutely read more from her.

Stemming from the success of her iconic “Days of Girlhood” series on TikTok, Dylan Mulvaney gives us an even deeper glimpse into her life coming out as a trans woman. She reveals that, even while being the face of trans rights, getting to that point was rife with family challenges and right-wing backlash, in addition to the monumental and mundane moments of transition.

I admit that I followed Dylan peripherally, and really came to follow her after the beer company backlash. In her memoir, Dylan doesn’t hold back in sharing some of the gritty moments of her very public journey, juxtaposed next to some of the courageous moments like dancing in front of President Joe Biden after being invited to the White House to discuss trans rights. Fans of “Days of Girlhood” will enjoy this memoir, and the audio version added to the humor and wittiness as she brings the same charm to her audiobook that she does to her TikToks. While she isn’t the only face of trans rights, it was so wonderful to hear about her trans girl joy.

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Abrams Books & RB Audio for the opportunity to read and review. #PaperDoll #DaysofGirlhood


(Posted on Goodreads 3/1/25. Scheduled to post to Instagram on or around 3/12/25).