The Art of Escaping tell Mattie’s story.
When it starts, she’s finishing her junior year. She has her one friend Stella and is passionate about jazz, Star Trek and escapology.
She’s gonna take us through her journey to how she made new friends and discovered a new talent.

This was a fast read and a pretty enjoyable one too.
I enjoyed getting to know escapology but what I enjoyed most was the relationships, dynamics and friendships between the characters. They were very well written and captivating to follow.
This was mostly a story about friendships and family and a good one.

She lives for those miraculous moments when you stumble upon something that's somehow truer than true

I got this one from the read now section, which I have had seriously mixed results from in the past and have been so pleasantly surprised. This book is just lovely, it has characters I loved, who all develop beautifully throughout the book, bits of action that are genuinely a bit scary and an overall positive message. It's very much character driven and I have a feeling it will be a bit like marmite but I am well in the love camp.

Mattie, Will, Stella and Frankie and Miyu are absolute friendship goals and I loved how they consistently, patiently and lovingly brought each other further and further out of their shells.

Will's story is the most interesting and I felt real sympathy for both him and Betsy. His arc was handled well and I loved Betsy's response and the little discussion between her and Mattie close to the end of the book.

Also, Miyu and Akiko's story woven in between chapters was so well done and gorgeous I loved it.

The only (small) problem I have with this is the handling of the mutually assured destruction element with Mattie and Will. Clearly, Will's secret was far bigger and could have held significantly worse consequences. I kind of get where Mattie was coming from though, your secrets will always seem the biggest to you.

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan is a young adult book. The main character Mattie and her friends are working on surviving their last summer and year of High School. To me the characters read real and the problems and high school issues seemed equally as realistic. Mattie wants to learn how to be an escape artist and she has found someone to help her. Will with two LLs wants to be truthful about his sexuality but is afraid. When Will finds out Mattie’s secret, she is sure all is lost.

Reading about keeping secrets and to wanting anyone to feel that you are different is a key part of High School. Trying to find your way is also a High Schooler’s trait. I liked how the book unfolded. I liked how Will and Mattie help each other to be their best. I like how the book stays positive for the main characters even when their secrets begin to eek out. I liked how we heard the voices of the main characters from their own point of view in different chapters. I think it could be confusing for some students if they struggle with inferencing because the chapters are not named by the characters. The book has opens the conversation about LGBTQIA, so the book may open up some questions for some students.

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan was a good read.

This book is a blast! Where’s do I start? First, this book flew by. I started it and then out of nowhere, it was over! And I couldn’t believe it. There is a mix of different characters whom all play their own parts, that fit into the story. My two favorite characters are Miyu & Will. Miyu is witty and is a joy to read! Will is a caring and such a strong character.
For me, I haven’t read many books that have anything to do with escapology and mash it up with teen/young adult life. I also enjoy the theme of not judging people, keeping secrets for friendships and being yourself! The writing style is great, there are some flashbacks which I found neat and play a huge role in the plot. Overall, I feel that going in only knowing two things will make this a crazy joy ride, so first, the escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Second, it's filled with witty characters!

Rating: 3.5 stars

[Excerpt]:
The premise of this book is extremely unique. I’ve noticed in YA novels that the female protagonist usually has a hobby like photography, art (drawing, painting, etc), reading, or a musical ability. Sometimes it’s fun and relatable. Other times, I could use a more refreshing interest. I’ve noticed the sudden wellspring of female protags who love science, and I appreciate that, but this book takes it to the next level.

The book focuses on Mattie, who is 17 and hides a secret shame – she’s obsessed with escapology (think Houdini) but doesn’t know what to do about it or how to share it with the world without coming across as a total freak. In the minds of many people, being chained or padlocked inside an aquarium or spun on a wheel while arrows and/or knives are tossed at you is either insane or a daredevil stunt best left to professionals. But Mattie loves this type of performance art, and she seeks out Miyu, the daughter of Mattie’s favorite escapologist, Akiko, who died nearly two decades ago in a tragic plane crash.
[Full review on my blog!]

Did not finish.

I was excited for this book originally because the summary sounded different and interesting. It wasn't something I'd really read before and I thought it was going to be one I blew through in no time. Unfortunately, I could not connect with this title at all really.

My struggle with this mainly had to do with the characters. I didn't think there was anything special about them. They were pretty typical for YA and not in a way that hooked me. The opposite in fact. Truthfully, I found Mattie to be somewhat annoying and Will just felt incredibly inauthentic. I feel like the author struggled to capture the teenage voice a lot with them and it resulted in characters that read oddly for me.

Additionally I felt the pacing was off. It was a slow start. A very, very slow start. I had to force myself to keep going early on in the novel. I wish the story had picked up sooner than it did because I might've been more interested then. I might've been able to finish it. But I just couldn't get past my issues with the pacing and the characters.

"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 The Art of Escaping 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 Erin Callahan has in store for us next!

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very enjoyable book about finding your passion and learning to share it. I especially liked that it wasn’t a love story, but rather an ode to friendship. Mattie doesn’t fit in and her feeling of isolation is relatable – especially in light of the fact that she’s not nearly as isolated as she thinks.

My biggest problem with this book was that Mattie at times made kind of cringey comments in terms of Will’s homosexuality. Not only does she say that if he comes out to his friends “they might become better people” (sorry, but gay people don’t exist to make anyone else a better person), but she constantly compares her hiding her passion to him being in the closet (note, not comparable and though it is addressed in the book, it was a little grating throughout the story). While it’s realistic for people to say problematic things (unfortunately :( ), I guess I would have liked to see her called out a little more on it, or even have more of Will’s thoughts on her comments. I did read an early copy, so hopefully some of these issues have been addressed.

But, what I did love was a story about a teen girl finding, exploring and learning to share her love for escapology. Mattie is intelligent, passionate and looks to the future to figure out who she wants to be. There is no romantic subplot for Mattie in this book, I really appreciated that about it. There are undertones of the “not like other girls” trope, but that could just be because I’ve read so many books like that and am reading into it. Generally, there wasn’t much girl on girl hate (a little, but not so much that it felt disingenuous) and I found Mattie's reluctance to share her passion very relatable to my own high school experience, where I was reluctant to share my passions.

I really liked Will, I think because of the early chapter in which he talks about imagining friendships with people, it was a feeling that I didn’t know anyone else experienced, and it was refreshing to see in a book. With Will I definitely got a sense that he was preforming to fit in with social standards, and not just in the sense of his sexuality but also in a sense of his personality. That fear of being able to tell people the things you think and feel because they might judge you for it. It’s something I definitely related to from highschool (though it should be noted that I was never a teenage boy, so I can’t say for certain how accurate it was).

Overall, I thought this was a great book. I read it happily in a short time and as I was coming to the end of it, I had trouble putting it down (to the point where I told Hubby that he would have to wait until I was done reading to speak to me). It’s definitely a book that I wish would have come out when I was younger, and that I had read it.

3 stars

On a lot of levels, I enjoyed this.

By the end of the novel, I was feeling pretty good. I had learned a bunch about escapology, followed two teens in their journey, and it all wrapped up fairly nicely. I mean, the entire concept of a teen doing escapology is pretty fun/cute/aesthetic/quirky, and who wouldn’t want to read about that?

But, as I write this review, I also remember how I struggled with this novel during the first half.

The first problem I really had was the narrative structure, but I fault this partly to the formatting of the eARC. Because the book was in my reading app’s font, it made almost everything in regular text size. The headers weren’t really distinguished from the chapters, and certain passages weren’t distinguished from the next.

Because of this, it was kind of hard for me to realize what parts of the book were from the journal of the famous escapologist and what parts were actually the story, especially with the way it flashes back. I like to think that they get a separate page and this’ll be cleared up for non-early readers.

Even if I didn’t have trouble distinguishing diary from actual text, I also struggled a bit initially with how the story was told.

In some ways, this is a pretty normal book. First person past-tense, all that jazz. But it’s also a little abnormal as the narrating characters obviously know a few things they’re not supposed to know. And technically, Callahan isn’t doing anaything incorrect by doing this, but it was a weird adjustment to read about the character talking about themselves.

In the end, though, I got over this and didn’t mind it being structured this way in the end, but I feel like the way it was structured didn’t really do anything for the book.

It was still a fun book, though, and I liked reading about Mattie’s journey with escapology. You can tell Callahan did her research (I chatted with her on Twitter about it at one of those debut chats, etc.) and I found the escapology scenes to be interesting. Plus, the backstory about Mattie’s mentor was cool and well developed and I enjoyed reading about this fictional escapologist.

But, I also felt like there needed to be more plot with Mattie. With Will, the other narrator, there were things going on which I don’t want to disclose, and they did a good job of occupying his storyline (he’s also more minor than Mattie). But I felt like Mattie kind of lacked reason for what she was doing, and there needed to be more substance to her story.

I feel like Callahan tried to justify why she was doing this with the simple “oh, she’s been obsessed with escapology since she was a kid” and the “she needs a hobby for her summer applications” but it also felt insufficient for the story, and I just wanted more reason and resonance to why she was doing it.

This was ultimately the thing I had the largest issue with and wish was improved. But overall, I did enjoy reading this book as I binged it in a couple of hours (me + desk chair + desk as a foot rest + book on phone). I think if escapology interests you, or if you’re looking for a light, lower-investment contemporary, then you should check this one out!

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review!

A wonderfully different and engaging coming of age story, probably one of the best young adult books I have read in quite some time. Mattie is seventeen, on the verge of finishing high school, and despite an interest in history, undecided about what she wants to do next. Her one true passion is something that would definitely mark her as different, if word was ever to get out. She is fascinated by the art of escapology, and in particular a Japanese woman who moved to America and became a star. When she tracks down this woman's daughter , she starts to learn the skills and train, and eventually perform. One night she is horrified to spot Will in the audience. Will is a popular student, with the perfect girlfriend and a potential athletic scholarship to college. If he reveals what he has seen, her secret is blown, and the one place she feels free will be taken away. However Will is hiding a secret of his own, and in a pact of mutually assured destruction, by revealing this secret, he opens the door to an enduring and wonderful friendship.
There is so much wit and warmth in this book, and the characters are so interesting and well crafted that it is impossible not to grow attached to them, and really care about what happens. Mattie is truly special, by turns spiky and soft, brave and terrified yet always strong, even when fear threatens to take over. I loved that she had such esoteric interests, and that they were utilized so well to further the plot, and to show that following your passions is important.
This book is so well crafted, in terms of character creation, plot, pacing and writing style, that it is difficult to believe it is the authors debut, I for one eagerly await more.

The Art of Escaping is a tricky one for me to review. Author Erin Callahan has done a spectacular job of creating characters who are well-developed and *real*. I cared about main characters Mattie and Will, but I also really liked a lot of the supporting cast here. I often feel like supporting characters in YA books are bland without much personality, but that was not the case here -- even minor characters had some real pizzazz.

Unfortunately, I didn't care for the pacing of this book or the way the chapters alternated. Some chapters span part of a day, and other times chapters span weeks. I would have have preferred the timeline to run a little more evenly -- at times it felt like stuff just gets skipped over for convenience. I wished that missing time was spent delving into Will's life a bit more, because I would argue that his story is actually the more compelling of the two.

As much as I love (love!) alternating perspectives, I really dislike it when they're done unevenly. Here, the true main character is Mattie, and most of the chapters are focused on her story. Every now and then, though, a chapter from Will's perspective is thrown in with no seeming rhyme nor rhythm. This was really frustrating for me, and I think a lot of depth was lost by not balancing the story out between the two characters a bit better.

Even with the issues I had with the pacing and balance, this was still a very readable book and the fact that the author made me care about these characters speaks to her talent. I'll definitely be watching for more from Callahan in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book.

*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.

Did not finish at 44%.

This book is not for me. I'm going to start by saying that because I know very well that there are people out there who might just love it, and adore it.

For me, I always try to connect with the characters, and their motivations, and what they're trying to get out of something. But Mattie? She just fell flat for me, and she had a rather bratty attitude, of acting like she was so special, and such a rebel just for mildly going against the grain.

Will, I wish I could like, because I'd probably identify most with him. But his chapters were written in such a way that I couldn't get through them fast enough.

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book but it was just kind of disappointing. Sorry.

This book was absolutely amazing. I liked that it had all the hallmarks of a high school aged book without it having much highs school involved.

The friendships were the best part and I'm glad that even some potential enemies came around to the friendship side.

The escapism made this book a lot more interesting than it might have been and there was a lot of research that went into it. You can tell the author put a lot of thought into it and it paid off.

This was well written and a good read

"Good-looking boys who play sports and get good grades can get away with murder. You know, as long as no one knows they’re gay."

The description of this book first intrigued me, but when I started it, I wasn't sure if I'd really relate to and like either Mattie or Will.
But I did. I ended up enjoying this book far more than I ever anticipated. And this Review is going to be much longer than I thought it would be.

When I retell the story of this book out loud it sounds so weird. And the reason for that is mainly that the whole story builds on Mattie and Will connecting and then becoming friends because each of them has this huge secret that they’ve never told anyone else before:
Will is gay.
And Mattie... has an unusual hobby.

The only thing that bothered me while reading the book was the fact that it felt like those two things were put on the same level.

I mostly understood why Mattie didn’t want to show this part of herself and this thing she really cares about to the people close to her. She spends a lot of time reflecting on her fears and reasons, so it doesn’t feel like it’s just a plot point to connect those two characters. And of course it’s fully understandable to think that her parents would never allow her to continue to NEARLY DIE every day.
So the hypothetical 18-year-old escapologist-me would have probably kept that secret the same way real-me kept her sexuality to herself, too.

It still just shouldn’t sound like it’s as huge of a burden to live this double life as it was for Will to be in the closet.

BUT, and this is a big BUT:
I was really impressed that exactly this concern was later addressed in the book.
There is a moment where Will talks about how his life will look from the point he first comes out:
“I’m facing an endless line of people assuming I’m something I’m not.”

He explains to her that he will have to continue to come out again and again in every new area of his life and that he can never know if the next person he has to come out will be one that won’t be okay with him.
And Mattie, as a person who might have been afraid to be judged and called weird for what she loves but ultimately could not have known what it really means to come out, comes to understand what had bothered me the whole time before:

"I finally saw the fundamental difference between our secrets— no matter how strange people thought my hobby was, it would never threaten to knock me down the ladder of privilege."

That whole talk was done really, really well.

Also, I’ve seen on Goodreads that the author took note of critiques like this from early reviewers and worked on the story accordingly before the final publication, which is a really great thing to do. So big kudos to that.

Overall:
I found myself very invested in Mattie’s training and performances. I found myself loving the whole subject of stage personas and what they can mean to different people.
I also loved Will’s and Mattie’s friendship and thought it was really well done, no matter how weird the whole thing sounded in the beginning.
Usually I don't like when the same situation is told more than once in a book. But in this case I even liked reading their first meeting from both the MC's perspectives.
And besides Will and Mattie there are a few more very cool side characters and interesting settings.

The plot is mainly focuses on Mattie’s story, which gives the book an adventurous vibe with the training and her growing through her art and kind of connecting to her hero, instead of it being a common high school story.
Still, in the end it is Will’s story that affects both of their ‘ordinary’ lives more. While Will made mistakes and I don’t want to excuse what he did, I’m really happy everything turned out fairly well and with a positive prospects for the future for all of them.
And my boy Will got to kiss a boy, so yeeeeey!

We have Mattie an intelligent and witty seventeen-year-old who hides her passion for magic and escapology from everyone. Even her best friend, Stella, also whom away to a summer boarding school. Mattie left alone seeks the supervision of a famous escape artist in their neighborhood. Or someone related to her. With the help, she became an escapist performer.

Mattie now secretly lives and performs as an escapist then discovered by someone who goes to the same school as hers, Will. Mattie was scared for the people in school that she will be the pariah if Will tells. But Will assures Mattie that he won’t tell a soul about it but sealing the deal with another secret. This is where it all began…

I love the narration of the characters. Told from Mattie, Will and Akiko’s perspectives. (Dashed with a little something in Akiko’s. Hehehe) Characters easily infiltrated my mind. Aside from the narrators, the interaction of the characters. (I am very much fond of Miyu watch out), entanglement of each other’s intricacies the portrayal is realistically heartfelt. Their development all throughout. The display of how deeply the camaraderie among them formed makes my heart burst into joyful pieces. Oh, it was lovely! I enjoyed the company of Mattie, Will with two L’s, Miyu Miyaki’s sharp tongue, and an Azorean-American Star Trek geek, Frankie.

A novel filled with hopeful stories about chasing your passion. Not only with Mattie but with the people around her too. With her brother, Kyle’s predicament and his friends. A coming out story. Dealing how it is to be closeted all those years, being scared of how people will react to it. Hence title it has the theme of escaping, quite literally and figuratively, their current situations, and taking that step to change. And the literary part it features the art of escaping. This is the first time I’ve read this in a novel in an in-depth manner. I only see performing arts like this on TV. Which by-the-way had my Kindle wet with sweat! The behind-the-scenes and performances were all breathtaking.

Surely a read that I couldn’t put it down even for a bathroom break. My eyes were glued in. It was a read that highlights what it is like to be a young adult. And surely young-adults and adults alike will love. But if you’re looking for a YA Romance read this is not for you. It has no hint of romance but centers more on the formation and withholding camaraderie.

A solid one sitting read. I highly recommend this book!

“Real secrets weren’t sweet nothings you whispered in your arm candy’s ear.”

I am such a sucker for stories with good characterization.

I just need to say that even though I was not a fan of the plot and all at first, the characters really intrigued me and I was very much pleased with their development by the end of the book.


~ the plot did not intrigue me enough at first which I think was mainly due to the fact that I expected whose plot revolved more on, literally, "The Art of Escaping". I expected it to deal with different issues and topics and sadly, that was not what I got.

It felt like your typical modern teenage story at first. It started slow but was also able to pick itself up about halfway. It was greatly amusing though and I believe that it is something that would appeal to younger teenagers since it seems like this was the target audience the author had in mind while writing this.

I'm not saying that the actual plot wasn't good, but it was not the plot that I was looking for.


~ I love the characterization. I thought that the characters would also be following the steroetypical template. Every character had a life in them, no matter how ridiculous thir names sounded or how absurd they were acting.

Our main character, with a snarky attitude, seemed to be against the world or have the world against her and I can't help but feel sorrow for her, but not pity, which I think is a very fine line that a lot of authors forget was there in the first place.

I felt bad for her without pitying her, so she still appeared strong, in a way, to me.


~ the excerpts before each chapter was a big part of what gave the whole story depth and meaning. It tied together the story more and the chapter titles were really creative for the writer.

They honestly balanced out the ridiculousness that might have been happening in the plot itself and put the plot on the right path again. They were most certainly not random and you can understand how the author put a purpose to each one that was placed there.


~ the writing style was not bad, I just don't think it was meant to appeal to me. It had a light tone, which was unexpected, for me, because of the title. It had good morals and things to realte to, whc

I was ready for some hardcore-heart-pounding book. It is a potentionally good coming-of-age story and this is something that those along the lower end of the age range should try picking this up.

“The Art of Escaping” is such a cute and memorable YA book. I like a book with different perspectives - this is told in the perspectives of Mattie, the young girl who is learning more about the escape art, Will, a boy who enters her world by accident and becomes her assistant, and Akiko Miyake, a world-renowned escape artist. The perspective changes help you understand better the story in the eyes of each of the characters. Even though it focuses mostly on Mattie and her quest to learn how to become an escape artist (a performer, not the criminal type, just to be clear), the main purpose of the book seems to be the idea of pursuing your passion, no matter how weird and specific it might be.

Mattie is a secondary school junior who has some quite peculiar goals of turning into an escapologist. She's fixated on Houdini and so forth, yet particularly Akiko - a world class escapologist gone route before her chance. Be that as it may, Mattie is resolved to discover Akiko's girl and discover as much as she can. At the same time, no-0ne in her life knows her privileged insights or wants to wind up this extremely cool execution artist. Not her folks or her family, or even her best, dearest companion.

The story additionally has a few bits of Akikos past, the existence she drove, and the introduction of her little girl, giving you some understanding of the life of this puzzling entertainer and her similarly shut off little girl. We additionally meet Will, another with a few privileged insights, and a few other extremely cool secondary school kids who are so very much created, develop however fun. It torments me to consider how extreme secondary school was, and how hard it is for kids just to act naturally.

The art of escapology is up front, through preparing and Mattie's stage exhibitions that actually make them hold your breath! Be that as it may, the art of escape is obvious is different courses, with a great deal of avoiding reality and dread of being discovered.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good novel. I think that many YA readers will enjoy it.