Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Now Is Not the Time to Panic

“Now is Not the Time to Panic” is a coming of age story about two teens in a small town in Tennessee in the mid 1990s. Sixteen-year-old Frankie becomes friends with Zeke who is only in town for the summer. Both are kind of loners and feel like they don’t fit in with their peers. And both of their family lives are a mess.

The two are artists in their own right. Frankie writes and Zeke draws. They decide to create art together and release it into the world without telling anyone. The piece they create is a little cryptic and weird, but actually quite innocent. But the town completely misinterprets it. Other teens make up an origin story for the art and that story sweeps the town. Literal chaos ensues.

But back to the present day and Frankie is now in her 30s when she receives a call from a reporter wanting to talk about that time in the 90s. She freaks out because she doesn’t know how this reporter knows. She lives with this everyday, but also very privately everyday. The novel jumps back and forth from mainly the story in the 90s and to her reconciling what happened in the present day.

A lot of this story feels very internal. I thought about how this could be adapted into a film. And I imagined that it would it be very hard, because so much of Frankie’s internal dialogue is about her private thoughts and about the secret. It would have to be a lot of narration.

This one is a hard one for me to review because I adored Wilson’s “Nothing to See Here,” but I just couldn’t connect with this story for reasons that I cannot explain. I can’t really technically fault the book for anything. I wish it ended differently, but I also didn’t hate it. It was just not my preference. But yeah…

Objectively, I feel like this could be 4 Stars, but subjectively, I can only give it 3 Stars.

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jae0141's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This one wasn’t quite as laugh-out-loud funny as Nothing to See Here, but it had so much heart! I love a Bildungsroman, especially when set over the course of a summer. There is something so specifically poignant in this setting. One line that’s really sticking with me is when our main character considers if she wished she lived in a bigger city. She muses–or our author does–that when you’re a teenager, it really doesn’t matter where you are physically; you live so much inside your own head. Your feelings are so big and all-consuming in that era. The audiobook had a nice closing note spoken by Wilson, and I liked hearing about his inspiration behind the book.

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kellflo's review

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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author2223's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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noveltay's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

3.5 rounded up. I thought the story was very odd, and I don’t quite understand how in invoked a whole world wide panic but I guess the Satanic Panic did too irl. I did not find any characters loveable besides the neighbor maybe. I think this was a great fast YA read though, which is out of my regular genre’s.

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flygirl's review

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Two misfit teenagers form a bond over one summer. age 16, bored and alone in their small town, they create a piece of art that has a lasting effect on everything. This effect ripples out over the years and continues to make people question its meaning.

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abarone121's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I’m such a fan of Kevin Wilson’s, and I think if you love his other books, you’ll love this one too. They’re out there, but exactly my sense of humor.

I listened on audio and Gennifer Goodwin’s narration is a delight.

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