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adastra25 's review for:

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
3.75
emotional funny hopeful 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
I thought the story was sweet, and I loved how Lillian latched onto the kids so quickly, it was beautiful how this new role she stepped into changed her life. I would have probably rated it a little higher if some of the dialogue felt more natural (especially Carl's).

Things I really liked:
  1. Although Madison was speaking out of anger when she told
    Lillian that she had basically wallowed in her sadness for too long after she got kicked out of school, she actually was kind of right. But I liked that she did apologize and recognize how shitty it was to have let her take the fall for it.
  2. I also liked that while Madison is briefly a villain, she does redeem herself and gets the fire back (no pun intended) that she had lost earlier
  3. While it would have sucked for all the kids, I liked that the twist
    that Jasper's side of the family is what carries the fire child gene, not Jane's, and that he would have happily sent all of his kids away, both the black sheep and the golden child, away if it meant it'd ruin his political career
  4. I like how outlandishly crazy Lillian's mom and the twins' grandparents were
  5. It made me really happy that Lillian got the kids in the end, but it was soooo frustrating that she didn't fight for them earlier on but I guess that's kind of the point

Things I didn't like as much:
  1. It was pretty obvious that this was written by a man when it came to Lillian's feelings about Madison. Not because
    she had a conscious crush on her the whole time, or even some of the jealousy she felt
    , but the way she was described felt like it came from the male gaze. Also, the part where she happens to conveniently walk around in her bra and panties.
  2. Carl kind of sucked as a character (see above comment on dialogue), also because he just had no true motivation so
    when he did shitty stuff like suggesting to ship the twins off to boarding school it wasn't even like it would have led to personal gain.
  3. The plot was a good vehicle for fire children, and I focused more on the allegorical elements of raising neurodivergent children, and I wouldn't say that there were holes in it, but it felt that you could easily kick one of the legs out from underneath some of the major plot points (like Madison and Lillian keeping in touch all those years), but considering Lillian mentions not really using the internet I guess that one could mentally place the book at like 1999 and it would work.

Overall, I did like the book and it was made even better by the narration. I would love a sequel, or even a prequel. This was a good car audiobook and I look forward to more books by the same author.
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