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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
*Massive thank yous to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for sending me an ARC!*
Harry Houdini. Dorothy Dietrich. Akiko Miyake. And... Mattie McKenna. In the summer before her senior year, Mattie finds Miyu Miyake, the daughter of one of her heroes: Akiko Miyake, a famous escapologist. Miyu teaches her how to perform the technicalities of escapology, but Mattie also learns to find supportive friends in unexpected places.
This is a sweet story, mostly about the power of opening up and finding people who want to be a part of your life, which I think is super important. As a result of this, the characters become more intriguing than the plot, even with the death-defying escapology tricks Mattie explores.
Mattie herself is great. Her relationship with her brother and her parents was believable, even with her sneaking around to practice and perform. I think some of her actions were incredibly brave for a character in a "non-traumatic-experience" contemporary novel. Her actions took guts, and not everyone could pull that off.
Will is one of Mattie's new friends. He's a stereotypical popular jock... but he's gay, and struggling to come out to his family and friends. He and Mattie are supportive of each other's secrets and help each other throughout the book, but I found Will slightly less realistic than Mattie. The concept of his story was fantastic, but its execution was slightly below expectations. His dialogue felt stilted, and I understand that the 1920's were an inspiration for him, but I don't know a single teen who takes on the catchphrases of the decades they admire. He felt too much like an idealization, instead of a real person.
Overall, awesome story about the courage it takes to pursue the life you want to live.
Harry Houdini. Dorothy Dietrich. Akiko Miyake. And... Mattie McKenna. In the summer before her senior year, Mattie finds Miyu Miyake, the daughter of one of her heroes: Akiko Miyake, a famous escapologist. Miyu teaches her how to perform the technicalities of escapology, but Mattie also learns to find supportive friends in unexpected places.
This is a sweet story, mostly about the power of opening up and finding people who want to be a part of your life, which I think is super important. As a result of this, the characters become more intriguing than the plot, even with the death-defying escapology tricks Mattie explores.
Mattie herself is great. Her relationship with her brother and her parents was believable, even with her sneaking around to practice and perform. I think some of her actions were incredibly brave for a character in a "non-traumatic-experience" contemporary novel. Her actions took guts, and not everyone could pull that off.
Will is one of Mattie's new friends. He's a stereotypical popular jock... but he's gay, and struggling to come out to his family and friends. He and Mattie are supportive of each other's secrets and help each other throughout the book, but I found Will slightly less realistic than Mattie. The concept of his story was fantastic, but its execution was slightly below expectations. His dialogue felt stilted, and I understand that the 1920's were an inspiration for him, but I don't know a single teen who takes on the catchphrases of the decades they admire. He felt too much like an idealization, instead of a real person.
Overall, awesome story about the courage it takes to pursue the life you want to live.
"People are still real, even when they hide things"
Oh my gosh, this book! I was not really prepared for this book. To be honest, the first thing that drew me to [b: The Art of Escaping|38338238|The Art of Escaping|Erin Callahan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517673581s/38338238.jpg|55649393] was its graphically interesting cover. I read the blurb and was curious about it, but in truth, it sounded a little weird to me. A book about a girl obsessed with...escapology? Sounded a little strange, but I figured I would give it a try.
I am so glad that I gave this book a chance. Yes, the main character of this book, Mattie, has a weird hobby - escapology. But there is so much more happening here than that. With high school coming to an end, Mattie is trying to break out of herself and pursue her passion. She's long admired famed escape artist Akiko Miyake and she finds herself one day managing to insert herself in the late Miyake's daughter's closely guarded life. Miyu becomes her reluctant mentor and teaches Mattie everything she knows about escapology until Mattie begins performing in secret. She doesn't want anyone to know about her new hobby; for fear of disapproval and also for the fear of revealing her truest self and being rejected for it. Enter Will, a popular basketball star from the same school, who is also guarding a long-held secret. The two become wary confidants after Will sees Mattie performing but the wariness soon blossoms into a close and surprising friendship. (Granted, in my opinion, Will's secret carries a much heavier weight to it than Matties, and I'm glad that the disparity was brought up in the latter half of the book.)
It was incredibly refreshing to read a YA novel that wasn't a love story. Too many of them lately feel like they are interchangeable, with the female MC being torn between the misunderstood bad boy & the shy nerdy guy who turns out to be surprisingly ripped when he takes his shirt off. Rather than romance, this book focused on the importance and necessity of platonic, soul strengthening, revelatory, unbreakable friendships. That's such an underrepresented trope in YA fiction. It was really nice to see teenagers bonding and supporting and loving each other no matter what. Every character here is so fully realized and unique - even the peripheral characters are interesting, which is a treat considering most YA high school novels fill their side characters with eye-roll inducing stereotypes.
You know books that just put you in a good mood? That's this book. Being brutally honest, there are probably enough nitpicky reasons that I could have objectively rated this book 3.5 or 4 stars (most neurotically for me was the fact that Mattie seemed to whine a lot of her dialogue which didn't really gel with who I thought she was), but it just made me feel so damn happy that I emotionally cannot give it anything less than 5 stars. This book literally made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
What an unexpectedly delightful debut, I truly cannot wait to read whatever [a: Erin Callahan|6551780|Erin Callahan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1439642120p2/6551780.jpg] has in store for us next!
I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Oh my gosh, this book! I was not really prepared for this book. To be honest, the first thing that drew me to [b: The Art of Escaping|38338238|The Art of Escaping|Erin Callahan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517673581s/38338238.jpg|55649393] was its graphically interesting cover. I read the blurb and was curious about it, but in truth, it sounded a little weird to me. A book about a girl obsessed with...escapology? Sounded a little strange, but I figured I would give it a try.
I am so glad that I gave this book a chance. Yes, the main character of this book, Mattie, has a weird hobby - escapology. But there is so much more happening here than that. With high school coming to an end, Mattie is trying to break out of herself and pursue her passion. She's long admired famed escape artist Akiko Miyake and she finds herself one day managing to insert herself in the late Miyake's daughter's closely guarded life. Miyu becomes her reluctant mentor and teaches Mattie everything she knows about escapology until Mattie begins performing in secret. She doesn't want anyone to know about her new hobby; for fear of disapproval and also for the fear of revealing her truest self and being rejected for it. Enter Will, a popular basketball star from the same school, who is also guarding a long-held secret. The two become wary confidants after Will sees Mattie performing but the wariness soon blossoms into a close and surprising friendship. (Granted, in my opinion, Will's secret carries a much heavier weight to it than Matties, and I'm glad that the disparity was brought up in the latter half of the book.)
It was incredibly refreshing to read a YA novel that wasn't a love story. Too many of them lately feel like they are interchangeable, with the female MC being torn between the misunderstood bad boy & the shy nerdy guy who turns out to be surprisingly ripped when he takes his shirt off. Rather than romance, this book focused on the importance and necessity of platonic, soul strengthening, revelatory, unbreakable friendships. That's such an underrepresented trope in YA fiction. It was really nice to see teenagers bonding and supporting and loving each other no matter what. Every character here is so fully realized and unique - even the peripheral characters are interesting, which is a treat considering most YA high school novels fill their side characters with eye-roll inducing stereotypes.
You know books that just put you in a good mood? That's this book. Being brutally honest, there are probably enough nitpicky reasons that I could have objectively rated this book 3.5 or 4 stars (most neurotically for me was the fact that Mattie seemed to whine a lot of her dialogue which didn't really gel with who I thought she was), but it just made me feel so damn happy that I emotionally cannot give it anything less than 5 stars. This book literally made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
What an unexpectedly delightful debut, I truly cannot wait to read whatever [a: Erin Callahan|6551780|Erin Callahan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1439642120p2/6551780.jpg] has in store for us next!
I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: contemporary young adult
Pages: 320
Synopsis
Mattie tries to hide her passion with escapalogism from her family, friends and classmates. She has one best friend, Stella, who leaves for boarding school for the summer. Her anxiety for college applications and being completely alone for two months propells her into finding and starting her project. She's been watching videos of artists like Harry Houdini for a long time, and she goes to find Miyu, the reclusive daughter of another famous escape-artist. Her loft if full of equipment, but the training is challenging and sometimes dangerous. There's lots of locks to be picked and a submersion tank to dust off.
Mattie learns of her potential, of what she can do if she throws herself into her passion onstage, finding a community who cheer and heckle her. But then her worst fear comes true, someone she knows finds out. She imagines her new separated worlds crumbling. It helps when she realizes other teenagers are also trying to figure out themselves and carrying secrets.
My thoughts
I went into this book without expectation and it blew me away with its witty dialogue, truth on friendship and characters being passionate about their interest (which is possibly my favourite thing).
It was an entertaining read, Mattie and her friends were so well-written and I never could've imagined how real their characters or world would feel. It's a good plot, I especially liked how things in everyones life built up to each of Mattie's performances on stage. Which for the record was in true magician style with anxious assistants and a baffled crowd, where I wanted to clap for her myself in relief.
Miyu goes from being just an obvious mentor to becoming a whole human being as I learned more about her, she kind of transformed in front of my eyes in a way that facinated me. At the beginning I did not care about the small paragraphs about her mother's life, then as I realized what they were it gave the book some nice details along with giving another perspective, the story was no longer just about Mattie, but had become bigger.
I can't get past how painfully relatable Mattie's thoughts and attempts at friendships was. In books like this some big events happens that forces the introverted character to come out of her shell, but I really liked how in this book it was a choice. It was definitely started by smaller things happening, like Stella going away for the summer and trying to find out what she was passionate about before big decisions like college. But it was Mattie herself who chose to put herself out there, to go to Miyu and ask for training. The way it went down was actually inspiring, especially for someone who keeps her interests very to herself.
The official release date of this book is June 19th. I need more young adult books with the realness I've found in this book along with Maureen Johnsons "Truly Devious" and Becky Albertallis "Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda". They're all very different books plot-wise, but to me they felt very similiar in style and how relatable they were written, in a genuine way I wish more ya had. Genuine characters that could've been actual teenagers, I hope it becomes even less of an exception in young adult books.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
*some more discussion and spoilers below this*
There's a couple of things that bothered me, and I don't know how to explain them without spoiling a few things. There's this string of events that drives the plot, mainly started by Mattie choosing to go to Miyu and get really into escapologism. And somehow it ends up with bringing them all together, which is fine, but one of the last performances leads everyone to end up with someone. Everything always works out in the rest of the book as well, in a way that took me out of it at points. Everything bad that happens I can think of, like Will being outed, turns into something that propell further actions. Also the friend group talk about being awkward people, yet everyone knows what to say in any situation, which creates a split in my perception of them.
That said, everything good in the book heavily outweighs this, and I would completely recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining young adult story about finding oneself. It seems like a perfect summer read as well.
Pages: 320
Synopsis
Mattie tries to hide her passion with escapalogism from her family, friends and classmates. She has one best friend, Stella, who leaves for boarding school for the summer. Her anxiety for college applications and being completely alone for two months propells her into finding and starting her project. She's been watching videos of artists like Harry Houdini for a long time, and she goes to find Miyu, the reclusive daughter of another famous escape-artist. Her loft if full of equipment, but the training is challenging and sometimes dangerous. There's lots of locks to be picked and a submersion tank to dust off.
Mattie learns of her potential, of what she can do if she throws herself into her passion onstage, finding a community who cheer and heckle her. But then her worst fear comes true, someone she knows finds out. She imagines her new separated worlds crumbling. It helps when she realizes other teenagers are also trying to figure out themselves and carrying secrets.
My thoughts
I went into this book without expectation and it blew me away with its witty dialogue, truth on friendship and characters being passionate about their interest (which is possibly my favourite thing).
It was an entertaining read, Mattie and her friends were so well-written and I never could've imagined how real their characters or world would feel. It's a good plot, I especially liked how things in everyones life built up to each of Mattie's performances on stage. Which for the record was in true magician style with anxious assistants and a baffled crowd, where I wanted to clap for her myself in relief.
Miyu goes from being just an obvious mentor to becoming a whole human being as I learned more about her, she kind of transformed in front of my eyes in a way that facinated me. At the beginning I did not care about the small paragraphs about her mother's life, then as I realized what they were it gave the book some nice details along with giving another perspective, the story was no longer just about Mattie, but had become bigger.
I can't get past how painfully relatable Mattie's thoughts and attempts at friendships was. In books like this some big events happens that forces the introverted character to come out of her shell, but I really liked how in this book it was a choice. It was definitely started by smaller things happening, like Stella going away for the summer and trying to find out what she was passionate about before big decisions like college. But it was Mattie herself who chose to put herself out there, to go to Miyu and ask for training. The way it went down was actually inspiring, especially for someone who keeps her interests very to herself.
The official release date of this book is June 19th. I need more young adult books with the realness I've found in this book along with Maureen Johnsons "Truly Devious" and Becky Albertallis "Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda". They're all very different books plot-wise, but to me they felt very similiar in style and how relatable they were written, in a genuine way I wish more ya had. Genuine characters that could've been actual teenagers, I hope it becomes even less of an exception in young adult books.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
*some more discussion and spoilers below this*
There's a couple of things that bothered me, and I don't know how to explain them without spoiling a few things. There's this string of events that drives the plot, mainly started by Mattie choosing to go to Miyu and get really into escapologism. And somehow it ends up with bringing them all together, which is fine, but one of the last performances leads everyone to end up with someone. Everything always works out in the rest of the book as well, in a way that took me out of it at points. Everything bad that happens I can think of, like Will being outed, turns into something that propell further actions. Also the friend group talk about being awkward people, yet everyone knows what to say in any situation, which creates a split in my perception of them.
That said, everything good in the book heavily outweighs this, and I would completely recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining young adult story about finding oneself. It seems like a perfect summer read as well.
The Art of Escaping is a light hearted read with teasing hints and outright statements of darker, more complicated themes and situations at hand.
Mattie has Problems. Her best friend is leaving for the summer, she really doesn't have other friends, college is just around the corner, and a hobby she wants to pursue is highly likely to get her shipped to a therapist.
Naturally, our sassy introverted heroine tracks down a mentor, the daughter of an idol of hers, and all but forces her out of her shell in order to pursue her dream. While I had some questions regarding Hummingbird, the mentor, and her half-forced into teaching status and the realism of that, it could very well be interpreted as a woman with a troubled background who sees a little of herself in Mattie and wants to prevent her from falling down her lonely, distrusting way of life.
The addition of a popular boy with a huge secret burdening him felt a little forced, in my opini0n, and like it may have been better off as its own novel rather than a light sideplot to be noddee at and glossed over-- particularly the scene where he and Mattie have a serious discussion with his parents regarding the secret.
His story does have a somewhat happy note, as does the ending of the book, though I find it a little unrealistic there as well.
The author has a lot of potential, and with some polishing up and focus on making her characters more realistic and relatable, will likely be a great addition to the YA author circle.
Mattie has Problems. Her best friend is leaving for the summer, she really doesn't have other friends, college is just around the corner, and a hobby she wants to pursue is highly likely to get her shipped to a therapist.
Naturally, our sassy introverted heroine tracks down a mentor, the daughter of an idol of hers, and all but forces her out of her shell in order to pursue her dream. While I had some questions regarding Hummingbird, the mentor, and her half-forced into teaching status and the realism of that, it could very well be interpreted as a woman with a troubled background who sees a little of herself in Mattie and wants to prevent her from falling down her lonely, distrusting way of life.
The addition of a popular boy with a huge secret burdening him felt a little forced, in my opini0n, and like it may have been better off as its own novel rather than a light sideplot to be noddee at and glossed over-- particularly the scene where he and Mattie have a serious discussion with his parents regarding the secret.
His story does have a somewhat happy note, as does the ending of the book, though I find it a little unrealistic there as well.
The author has a lot of potential, and with some polishing up and focus on making her characters more realistic and relatable, will likely be a great addition to the YA author circle.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
A beautifully-crafted narrative about a girl pursuing her passion, learning about friendship, and declaring herself to the world. This is literary YA at its best - thought-provoking, rich in characters and settings, and somehow both earnest and profound.
We discussed this book on episode 18 of the YA Cafe Podcast. Here are some highlights:
"I think that's one of the things that I like about the split perspectives of this book, is that we all have feelings about ourselves and it's hard to think about how other people will see us. But I think this book does an excellent job of showing, like, some of the same events from multiple perspectives so that you really understand, you know, how each character sees themselves and then how their actions are perceived by the other people in the book."
"Yeah. I said to Amanda after I first read this, wow, I've never read anything like that, so it definitely lived up to the elevator pitch of like, Oh, this is a book where she wants to be an escape artist. Like I think about that and it still makes me smile. How creative. Yeah. So Amanda, you kind of hinted at this, but we have a split perspective book, so we have Will's narrative voice and Mattie's narrative voice, and then we also have interspersed diary entries written by Akiko who is the world renowned escape artist who has since passed away and her daughter, me, you becomes Mattie's mentor. So we have Akiko providing the historical context of escapology and kind of making the central metaphor really obvious, and I love this from her diary entry when she is doing an interview with a news show, the journalist says,
'Do you ever get scared?'
'Of course,' I replied with a smile. 'What I do is very risky, it can be a matter of life and death, but there's also a deep sense of serenity. There's a moment just before I free myself. That feels so small and yet so big at the same time. It lasts for just a second, sometimes less, but it encompasses everything.'
And I love how Akiko provides this perspective on what escapology was to her and it provides us some grounding and framework to kind of understand where Mattie's coming from because Mattie's had this obsession for a long time with escapology. But like we haven't. So it's really cool that we get to like catch up through Akiko's perspective."
A great, great, great read!
A beautifully-crafted narrative about a girl pursuing her passion, learning about friendship, and declaring herself to the world. This is literary YA at its best - thought-provoking, rich in characters and settings, and somehow both earnest and profound.
We discussed this book on episode 18 of the YA Cafe Podcast. Here are some highlights:
"I think that's one of the things that I like about the split perspectives of this book, is that we all have feelings about ourselves and it's hard to think about how other people will see us. But I think this book does an excellent job of showing, like, some of the same events from multiple perspectives so that you really understand, you know, how each character sees themselves and then how their actions are perceived by the other people in the book."
"Yeah. I said to Amanda after I first read this, wow, I've never read anything like that, so it definitely lived up to the elevator pitch of like, Oh, this is a book where she wants to be an escape artist. Like I think about that and it still makes me smile. How creative. Yeah. So Amanda, you kind of hinted at this, but we have a split perspective book, so we have Will's narrative voice and Mattie's narrative voice, and then we also have interspersed diary entries written by Akiko who is the world renowned escape artist who has since passed away and her daughter, me, you becomes Mattie's mentor. So we have Akiko providing the historical context of escapology and kind of making the central metaphor really obvious, and I love this from her diary entry when she is doing an interview with a news show, the journalist says,
'Do you ever get scared?'
'Of course,' I replied with a smile. 'What I do is very risky, it can be a matter of life and death, but there's also a deep sense of serenity. There's a moment just before I free myself. That feels so small and yet so big at the same time. It lasts for just a second, sometimes less, but it encompasses everything.'
And I love how Akiko provides this perspective on what escapology was to her and it provides us some grounding and framework to kind of understand where Mattie's coming from because Mattie's had this obsession for a long time with escapology. But like we haven't. So it's really cool that we get to like catch up through Akiko's perspective."
A great, great, great read!
Release date: 19th June 18
Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley for sending me an ACR copy in exchange for an honest review.
“We don’t live in a poorly written, low budget drama” – Erin Callahan
The thing that holds this whole book back is that there needs to be some serious editing, as it is this is an ARC, so the published version may well be better, but so many sections of this book are just poorly written. The characters are ‘all tell no show’ and one note with sparks of interesting characterisation, the pacing being a complete mess and the theming is very off for me personally.
Let's begin with what I did enjoy and that is the general plot of the book and the theme of discovering what you are passionate about and finding a balance between creative vs consumption and I did enjoy that discussion too. There were also aspects that I wish had been touched on especially our protagonist’s relationship with her mentor, Miyu. This was a relationship that I think had great potential. I also loved the sections were Will thinks through his sexuality and his insecurities.
Then honestly this leads me to one of my main problems with ‘The Art of Escaping’ and that is that there is no depth whatsoever. Every character is one dimensional, including all their relationships with one another, some being built up within only a page. This book was 228 pages on my phone, yet it felt both too long, filled with filler and like nothing was ever happening. This wasn’t helped by the fact I hated the main character. Mattie hardly read like she was actually a seventeen-year-old, she read like what some adult thinks teenagers are like, she constantly tells the reader that she is 'not like other girls' and yet in trying so hard to ‘not be like people her age’ she becomes nothing, she likes three things and they all defy her entire personality to the point where she just becomes another teenage caricature.
Her ensemble isn’t much better, I did like both Will and Stella, at least more than Mattie, but for certain parts of the book I didn’t even realise that we had swapped perspectives between Mattie and Will, because they don’t have personalities, they’re just sarcasm dispensers that have ‘weird’ interests.
My biggest issue with ‘The Art of Escaping’ though is that Will and Mattie’s secrets should not have been compared to one another and seen on the same level, if not at all then not for as long as they were, as a queer woman who was outed it made me writhe inside and it did nothing but make me dislike Mattie even more than I already did. I would have loved Mattie, right at the beginning to realise that although her parent’s finding out wouldn’t be the best, I would have liked to see her pull strength from Will’s secret instead of comparing them.
The last thing I want to talk about is the pacing, the book just jumps all over the place and never seems to stick around long enough to make me care, for example, the training that Mattie goes through is never really seen; one moment she’s picking locks and then five pages later she’s on stage doing her first show? This book feels like it’s trying so hard to get to its destination that it’s not enjoying the journey, more a list of bullet points than an actual story.
To bring this whole review to a close, although I loved the idea of teenagers finding a way/a hobby where they can discover their passion and feel that they can express themselves, it’s incredibly important but that message is hidden behind this whole book is bogged down by poor writing, pacing and ham-handed political/social commentary that is neither unique or well handled so I can say that this book really wasn’t for me.
My Blog!
Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley for sending me an ACR copy in exchange for an honest review.
“We don’t live in a poorly written, low budget drama” – Erin Callahan
The thing that holds this whole book back is that there needs to be some serious editing, as it is this is an ARC, so the published version may well be better, but so many sections of this book are just poorly written. The characters are ‘all tell no show’ and one note with sparks of interesting characterisation, the pacing being a complete mess and the theming is very off for me personally.
Let's begin with what I did enjoy and that is the general plot of the book and the theme of discovering what you are passionate about and finding a balance between creative vs consumption and I did enjoy that discussion too. There were also aspects that I wish had been touched on especially our protagonist’s relationship with her mentor, Miyu. This was a relationship that I think had great potential. I also loved the sections were Will thinks through his sexuality and his insecurities.
Then honestly this leads me to one of my main problems with ‘The Art of Escaping’ and that is that there is no depth whatsoever. Every character is one dimensional, including all their relationships with one another, some being built up within only a page. This book was 228 pages on my phone, yet it felt both too long, filled with filler and like nothing was ever happening. This wasn’t helped by the fact I hated the main character. Mattie hardly read like she was actually a seventeen-year-old, she read like what some adult thinks teenagers are like, she constantly tells the reader that she is 'not like other girls' and yet in trying so hard to ‘not be like people her age’ she becomes nothing, she likes three things and they all defy her entire personality to the point where she just becomes another teenage caricature.
Her ensemble isn’t much better, I did like both Will and Stella, at least more than Mattie, but for certain parts of the book I didn’t even realise that we had swapped perspectives between Mattie and Will, because they don’t have personalities, they’re just sarcasm dispensers that have ‘weird’ interests.
My biggest issue with ‘The Art of Escaping’ though is that Will and Mattie’s secrets should not have been compared to one another and seen on the same level, if not at all then not for as long as they were, as a queer woman who was outed it made me writhe inside and it did nothing but make me dislike Mattie even more than I already did. I would have loved Mattie, right at the beginning to realise that although her parent’s finding out wouldn’t be the best, I would have liked to see her pull strength from Will’s secret instead of comparing them.
The last thing I want to talk about is the pacing, the book just jumps all over the place and never seems to stick around long enough to make me care, for example, the training that Mattie goes through is never really seen; one moment she’s picking locks and then five pages later she’s on stage doing her first show? This book feels like it’s trying so hard to get to its destination that it’s not enjoying the journey, more a list of bullet points than an actual story.
To bring this whole review to a close, although I loved the idea of teenagers finding a way/a hobby where they can discover their passion and feel that they can express themselves, it’s incredibly important but that message is hidden behind this whole book is bogged down by poor writing, pacing and ham-handed political/social commentary that is neither unique or well handled so I can say that this book really wasn’t for me.
My Blog!
After revisiting this book once I had won it, it didn’t grip me the way that it did when I read the First Impressions excerpt, so I ended up not finishing the book. I do not know what changed between the time of reading the First Impressions and reading the actual book, but it did not feel the same, so I ended up abandoning the book as a DNF, or did not finish. I am a mood reader, so it sometimes is hard for me to sit down and read a book that I once had visited. Sometimes I love a book or excerpt, then put it down, and it gets put aside in favor of a new book. Let’s be honest, there are always new books. Still not sure why this book did not give me the feels of finishing, but I did not end up giving it one hundred percent of my attention, even though a review was promised. It might have been the characters. Sometimes if they are annoying, then I choose to give up more quickly on a book.
This is going to be one of the best coming of age books of this year and I’m stoked to be the one reading it before it even hits the shelves.
Review will follow shortly, I need to process this bit of awesomeness.
--
I really wanted to do one of those big and awesome reviews because I believe this one really deserves those big and elaborate reviews.. But my mind has been drifting sooo much, I can't even if i tried.. So it's going to be a bit short, but I do hope to get my enthousiasm for this book into this review..
Mattie is one of those super awesome and relatable main characters.. She's funny, selfconscious, loving and has this one awesome passion of hers.. She has her best friend, who is friends with people she kind of likes? I guess? But basically, she just has her best friend. Quality over quantity, right?
When her best friend goes to boarding summer school, practically leaving Mattie alone the whole summer, Mattie decides she'll have to keep herself busy before her anxiety runs out of control.. She decides to seek out Miyu; the daughter of a world-famous escape artist who, since her mothers passing, hasn't voluntarily talked to anyone or left the house..
Miyu takes Mattie (Girl Scout) under her wing and starts training her.. Picking locks, locking her up in boxes. Those kind of things. And when she's ready she performs.. And when she performs? She's a different person. She's strong and independent and she pushes through.. She doesn't let her anxiety get the best of her and the crowd loves her.
During this summer Mattie turns into this amazing escapologist and with her, she changes her friends too.. Will (with two L's) becomes a whole new person, her brother.. Her family.. Everybody. And that is awesome.
Read this book if you're looking for a feel-good story, this will not dissapoint!
Review will follow shortly, I need to process this bit of awesomeness.
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I really wanted to do one of those big and awesome reviews because I believe this one really deserves those big and elaborate reviews.. But my mind has been drifting sooo much, I can't even if i tried.. So it's going to be a bit short, but I do hope to get my enthousiasm for this book into this review..
Mattie is one of those super awesome and relatable main characters.. She's funny, selfconscious, loving and has this one awesome passion of hers.. She has her best friend, who is friends with people she kind of likes? I guess? But basically, she just has her best friend. Quality over quantity, right?
When her best friend goes to boarding summer school, practically leaving Mattie alone the whole summer, Mattie decides she'll have to keep herself busy before her anxiety runs out of control.. She decides to seek out Miyu; the daughter of a world-famous escape artist who, since her mothers passing, hasn't voluntarily talked to anyone or left the house..
Miyu takes Mattie (Girl Scout) under her wing and starts training her.. Picking locks, locking her up in boxes. Those kind of things. And when she's ready she performs.. And when she performs? She's a different person. She's strong and independent and she pushes through.. She doesn't let her anxiety get the best of her and the crowd loves her.
During this summer Mattie turns into this amazing escapologist and with her, she changes her friends too.. Will (with two L's) becomes a whole new person, her brother.. Her family.. Everybody. And that is awesome.
Read this book if you're looking for a feel-good story, this will not dissapoint!
I’m biased since I know the author. But one of the reasons we’re friendly is because I admire her writing so much and she’s been an immense help with my own writing. So it’s biased but based on actually enjoying her work!
I received a digital copy of this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.
Rating: 4,5 stars.
If you're looking for a lighthearted YA romance, I suggest you step away from this book. If you're however, looking for a unique novel about finding yourself, about growth of character AND teenage friendship and of course, a rad passion.. What are you waiting for?
The Art of Escaping is mainly about Mattie and Will. Two teenagers who go to the same school and yet have never actually interacted with each other, but find an unexpected friendship in one another. I'm not gonna lie, I totally expected this to become a sappy, cliché YA story with them falling in love with each other and yadda yadda yadda BUT! B u t!! B U T!!!! I was pleasantly suprised by being proved wrong. This YA debut has zero nonsensical romance, no stupid acts of so called love but is focused on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, being honest with yourself, finding yourself and ACCEPTING yourself. This is not your ordinary YA novel, and not only because one of the MC's passion is escapology (which is hella rad by itself) but because of all the things I've listed before and I just!!!! I loved this book so much, I'm kind of left speechless.
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holy fuck this was so cool????? rtc
Rating: 4,5 stars.
If you're looking for a lighthearted YA romance, I suggest you step away from this book. If you're however, looking for a unique novel about finding yourself, about growth of character AND teenage friendship and of course, a rad passion.. What are you waiting for?
The Art of Escaping is mainly about Mattie and Will. Two teenagers who go to the same school and yet have never actually interacted with each other, but find an unexpected friendship in one another. I'm not gonna lie, I totally expected this to become a sappy, cliché YA story with them falling in love with each other and yadda yadda yadda BUT! B u t!! B U T!!!! I was pleasantly suprised by being proved wrong. This YA debut has zero nonsensical romance, no stupid acts of so called love but is focused on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, being honest with yourself, finding yourself and ACCEPTING yourself. This is not your ordinary YA novel, and not only because one of the MC's passion is escapology (which is hella rad by itself) but because of all the things I've listed before and I just!!!! I loved this book so much, I'm kind of left speechless.
--------------------------------
holy fuck this was so cool????? rtc