Scan barcode
A review by kimiloughlin
Fearless by Mandy Gonzalez
3.0
This book definitely has some great elements that I adored but overall, fell a little flat for me. Monica Garcia excitedly comes to NYC to make her Broadway debut as an understudy with her Abuela. She leaves behind a hardworking family with a struggling farm and a younger brother with medical issues that cause financial strain. She joins the cast of a new musical hoping to best the curse that is said to haunt it's theater, the Ethel Merman. Mysterious occurrences keep riddling the production though so Monica and her cast mates team up to save the day.
My favorite parts were the relationships: between Monica and her Abuela (and how her Abuela loves musicals too and always helps Monica forward in her career), between Monica and her best friend (the long distance support was so sweet), and the budding relationships between Monica and her cast mates. Gonzalez also tears down the walls and gives a little backstage info about Broadway like no matter how grand the lobby and seats are, the backstage is old and smelly. However, the general overview of "how it works" on Broadway is very idealized and I'm not sure if that was done intentionally to dumb it down for kids (something I hate) or if Gonzalez herself has an idealized version because she is an actor (this is coming from someone who works in theater management so I very familiar with the minutiae, good and bad). For instance, opening night is not the first performance... that's first preview. And reviewers come to performances leading up to opening night but are very rarely at opening night itself. Also, there is no way a group of kids can perform numbers from a super hush-hush upcoming Broadway musical in public, let alone on TV, without permission and contracts from a whole host of people.
The plot as a whole felt too broad and unformed. While I really enjoyed Monica's arc as a young actor getting her first gig, I felt like we very quickly veered into a weird ghost story, mystery solving gang plot that I felt wasn't as strong. It also ended way too easily and in my opinion, dumbly. There was an attempt to connect Monica's family history and lore with what was happening with the theater which didn't land very well and just convoluted the plot even more.
Gonzalez narrates the audiobook though and does a fabulous job (now I need her to narrate more!). Despite it's shortcomings, it's still a fun juvenile novel and is great for fans of theater and mysteries. and
My favorite parts were the relationships: between Monica and her Abuela (and how her Abuela loves musicals too and always helps Monica forward in her career), between Monica and her best friend (the long distance support was so sweet), and the budding relationships between Monica and her cast mates. Gonzalez also tears down the walls and gives a little backstage info about Broadway like no matter how grand the lobby and seats are, the backstage is old and smelly. However, the general overview of "how it works" on Broadway is very idealized and I'm not sure if that was done intentionally to dumb it down for kids (something I hate) or if Gonzalez herself has an idealized version because she is an actor (this is coming from someone who works in theater management so I very familiar with the minutiae, good and bad). For instance, opening night is not the first performance... that's first preview. And reviewers come to performances leading up to opening night but are very rarely at opening night itself. Also, there is no way a group of kids can perform numbers from a super hush-hush upcoming Broadway musical in public, let alone on TV, without permission and contracts from a whole host of people.
The plot as a whole felt too broad and unformed. While I really enjoyed Monica's arc as a young actor getting her first gig, I felt like we very quickly veered into a weird ghost story, mystery solving gang plot that I felt wasn't as strong. It also ended way too easily and in my opinion, dumbly. There was an attempt to connect Monica's family history and lore with what was happening with the theater which didn't land very well and just convoluted the plot even more.
Gonzalez narrates the audiobook though and does a fabulous job (now I need her to narrate more!). Despite it's shortcomings, it's still a fun juvenile novel and is great for fans of theater and mysteries. and