Hot Mess

Diary of a Wimpy Kid #19

by Jeff Kinney

In Hot Mess, book 19 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series from #1 international bestselling author Jeff Kinney, Greg Heffley is in for a particularly awkward summer with his whole family.

The pressure is building for Greg Heffley, who discovers that when you mix heaps of family, a tiny beach house, and sweltering heat, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Speaking of recipes—the secret ingredients behind Gramma’s famous meatballs have been closely guarded for years. Can Greg unpack all of his family’s mysteries before their vacation is over? Or will he just stir the pot?

This sidesplittingly relatable summer story is the funniest Wimpy Kid book yet!

Genres: Middle Grade, Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Childrens, Comics, Contemporary

218 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2024

About the author

Jeff Kinney is an author of children's books including Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Jeff was born in College Park, Maryland, in 1971 where he created a comic strip called "Igdoof."He also created the children's website 'Poptropica'.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No kid wants to hear about their mom's old boyfriends..."

See, that's where you and I are different, Greg.

[Fred Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey! What's a 78 year old great grandad like you doing reading a kid's book?! Well, I found the first in the series very entertaining some years ago and this is #19. Read them all. Maybe my sophomoric sense of humor, maybe an enjoyable walk down memory lane attracts me to the series. But, like the others, found this one clever, humorous and enjoyable. Hope I am still around to enjoy #20 next year.

[Lucca Ángel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Kinney the man that you are!!! A literal master of satire. I’m still laughing at “Meno-POW!”

[Katherine Antos · Rating 5 out of 5]

epic

[Matt]

Greg Heffley, you've done it again.

[NZLisaM · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s the dreaded Family Beach Vacation for Greg Heffley!

In the 19th instalment of the hugely successful Diary of the Wimpy Kid series, titled Hot Mess, Greg’s Gramma wants the family to vacation at Ruttyneck Island in honour of her upcoming 75th birthday.

In attendance are, of course, Greg and his family – Mum, Dad, older brother Rodrick, and younger brother, Manny.

Greg’s aunts on his mother’s side – Aunt Gretchen and her two bratty twins Malcolm and Malvin, Aunt Cakey and her long-suffering boyfriend Vincent, and Aunt Veronica and her internet-famous dog Dazzle.

And gate-crasher Uncle Gary – Greg’s dad’s brother.

Prepare yourself for the hilarity and light-heartedness. These books are always chock full of fun, and entertaining twists and surprises. As always, Greg tries his best to stay out of trouble and fails spectacularly. It would be boring if he didn’t. I loved spending time with Greg, his family, and relatives. The perfect holiday read to put you in high spirits.

[Danai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any diary of a wimpy kid book that features mostly the heffley family is bound to get a 5/5 star rating from me!

[Victor The Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess (My Kindle Review)

Another “long haul” vacation is in for Greg as his mom takes the Heffley family on a beach house vacation for the summer with her sisters and their families that will no doubt be a very uncomfortable ride. Aside from troubles on the beach and the cramped house arrangements, Greg will learn about the family’s long history of troubles involving meatballs, old boyfriends and a social media dog.

Of course, it’s another crazy and funny calamity of a story about family, summer and surprises with some that will really surprise you. Like any vacation too, it still has a nice finish. A- (91%/Excellent)

[Ishi C · Rating 5 out of 5]

HILARIOUS and nostalgic

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off with a simple family vacation and escalates slowly into chaos 🤣
Classic Kinney!
Although it is getting repetitive with the vacations at this point, it was still enjoyable and fun to know some of the secrets that the family has. Influencer aspect involved in this book was funny too. Imagine a dog with 3.8M followers 😆

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen I’m home for the week so I’m a little limited in terms of highbrow literature but Greg Heffley is my favorite diva

[Hannah Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

it wouldn’t be xmas without a new wimpy kid book

[Chr*s Browning]

If we're being honest, and I think we can be here, it's probably about time that Kinney wraps it for Greg and company - 17 years is a hell of a long time for a kid to be in middle school. Slowly, the books have become more image-focused and less text - I'm not sure there's a spreadhere that doesn't have an image taking up at least 1/3 of a page; this is fundamentally a graphic novel that still sits in the children's novels section of the library - and the relative hit ratio of the jokes and plots has become shaky in the last ten years. That being said, this one is stronger than last year's insofar as that it has an actual plot with a final twist instead of a series of sketches strung together; the vacation books have always excelled in that regard and this one is no different, even if an astute child should guess the twist as soon as the second piece of evidence is presented. Kinney's nods toward the present day also come to the forefront here with the addition of an influencer dog, the sort of side character that would have been viewed as outlandish in 2007 but is now relatively commonplace - the way things change. Anyway, I'm never really sure why I keep reading these and part of my hope for an ending is a hope to move on, but once a ball starts rolling, it takes effort to stop it, so for now Greg and I are bound to each other each fall. So it goes.

[Oscar Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 19th time reading a doawk book this one was funny and I liked the story about the meatballs I love spaghetti and meatballs

[Thérèse · Rating 4 out of 5]

the twist got me 🤣

[Lucas Daniel Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

*SPOILER ELERT*I loved how jeff kinney kept it a secret that the meatballs were shop bought and not home made

[dophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

picking ur nose < picking ur family

[Cactuss Ghazt]

Awesome book also Jeff Kinney you can probably find some ideas for this series and I think you should add more diary of an awesome friendly kid books

[Casey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boo! Is number 20 gonna be the last one? Or is the bs gonna continue forever?

[Miss Cheska · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm 23 and i was laughing my ass off

[Olivia ✮⋆˙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

first book of the new yearrrrrr 😎

[Shadyside Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great change of pace! Although this book still follows the traditional Diary of a Wimpy Kid formula, it definitely tells a unique and silly story. My only gripe is that we didn’t get to see any of Rowley :( That’s two books in a row that he hasn’t been a part of!

Check out my review on YouTube! My channel is called Shadyside Library. Here is a link to the video:

https://youtu.be/S6sDCf1TrgE?si=gRPnc...

[Ella&#x1f31b; · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you read from an unserious perspective greg heffley is the most hilarious ever

[Anna Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

cannot say i’m the target demographic for these books, but if jeff kinney keeps writing them i’ll keep reading them

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Kinney is nothing if not consistent!

[Anika Pabbathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series always hits different lol

[lina ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never too old to read these books ✨

[Megan W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this one was pretty funny

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jon's rating is "4.7 slash 5"

[Zoë Howard]

"Mom says Gramma's happy there because she's with people her age and they have lots of activities. But I sure home my kids don't try and ship ME off to a place like that when I'm old, because I'm actually looking forward to being a burden to my children."

Read this at work and my god these books are so much funnier than I remember them being. Also, 10x more scandalous? There were at least 3 plot twists that took me by surprise. Kind of post-modern if you think about it.