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Kind of a Big Deal

Hello friends!! It has been a WEEK. Sorry for the delay. I started my literary jobs this week! Here is a new review for you!

SUMMARY

   Josie Pie peaked in high school. And it is the WORST. Josie was a rising star. Sent to Broadway when she was barely seventeen. Josie moved to New York expecting greatness. She was confronted was the opposite. After her first audition (aka her first rejection), Josie's massive ego took a massive hit. 
   Rejection after rejection, Josie finds herself in Montana. Josie's time on the stage is traded for being a full-time nanny for a new-ish mother who is ALWAYS gone leaving her daughter, Mia, behind with Josie. Josie is not happy. Sure, Mia makes her laugh and Josie makes fairly good money but she misses the stage. Mises her friend, Nina. Mises her boyfriend, Justin (or not...? This is complicated, especially because Justin lives back in Arizona and attends high school whereas Josie left early and now lives elsewhere.). 
   Josie decides to stop into a book store before heading to the park with Mia one mundane summer day. She buys a book for the first time in forever. She does not just get a book, she gets the experience of a lifetime. Josie Pie can go into books. 

REVIEW

   A seventeen-year-old jumping into books was boring. Just thought I'd jump right in there. I understand that this book is an escapist, half fantasy-half romance novel; however, it is very far-fetched even for being an escapist book. Even though Josie Pie's family is very dysfunctional, what mother would let her teenage daughter leave high school without the degree, move to New York, and start a new life and career 2,354 miles away with no adult supervision whatsoever? I think not. 
   HOWEVER (with the major negativity about Hale's book out of the way), Josie is loveable and so is Mia. Even though Josie is young (lol my age), she is surprisingly mature after what happened with her "almost" career on Broadway. Josie has found herself a steady job and a great place to live all on her own. Also, she has raised Mia. I learned from Josie. Josie is a dreamer and a curious person. The latter I am, but the former I could use a lot more of. Even though her time in New York surely did not go as she had originally envisioned, Josie continues dreaming and by the end of the book does not end up on Broadway by any means but has decided to make more decisions for herself and start living her life again instead of just surviving. These are supposed to be the best years of her life. 
   Nina, Mia, and Justin are my favorite characters. While I wouldn't say that any character really develops besides Nina, they are an interesting and relatively colorful lot (especially when we see different characters appear in the different stories Josie reads). Overall, a little boring and not super plausible, this book is a wonderful escape. 


Age Range: 12+
ISBN: 9781250206237
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Holtzbrinck Publishing)
Tags: romance, fantasy, YA fiction, Shannon Hale, theatre, Broadway
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