Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanusa for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Bittersweet Journey of Self-Discovery

Kind of a Big Deal is a coming-of-age story that explores themes of self-worth, friendship, and the challenges of growing up. While the premise of a young woman who can enter the world of books is intriguing, the execution is somewhat uneven.

The first portion of the book can be slow-paced and emotionally heavy, as the protagonist grapples with her past and present struggles. However, the story picks up momentum in the latter half, with a satisfying resolution and a hopeful message.

The unique concept of book-jumping adds an imaginative element to the narrative, but it can also feel disjointed at times. The character development is inconsistent, with some characters feeling underutilized.

Overall, Kind of a Big Deal is a mixed bag. While it offers some poignant moments and a hopeful ending, it may not resonate with all readers.

4 stars

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How many Broadway references can you put into a fictional story? That was my thought throughout a large part of this book. For me, I was not the target audience, and this story seemed too youthful for my liking. To look at the storyline alone, this is a talented high schooler who was encouraged to seek the bigger world of NYC before graduating and then didn't gain success in NYC. Rather than continue to try to pursue her dreams, she falls victim to the "my life was a lie" thinking and takes on a nanny job after racking up a bunch of credit card debt. Mom doesn't seem much in the picture. Dad is nowhere to be found and sis and her don't get along. There is the high school boyfriend who she continues to pine over even though there doesn't seem to be any real relationship, and she is barely 20. The crux of the story is her reading books where she seems to literally magically falls into the storylines (where one too many broadway are mentioned) and her friends and family become the various characters. These books come from a local bookstore where she was also given a pair of glasses to help her read. Through the different book genres she reads, she hones her acting, builds her confidence to be herself and realize that she loves her boyfriend. The end brings the bookstore full circle and takes her newly learned confidence from her fantasy literature emersion into the real world. it's an odd combination of fantasy and teen drama.

2.5 stars

I'm a sucker for a book about books or when various books are mentioned in a novel or when the characters from one novel travel into another. I feel like most bookworms probably enjoy those kind of novels...if done well.

This novel, while having the element of the main character being able to travel to different stories, didn't quite hit the mark for me. There was something missing throughout that didn't have me fully hooked.

I loved some of the messages in this novel such as with the friendship of Josie and Nina, along with the overall discovered message that comes with Josie travelling from the real world into these stories.

I have to be vague here because I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that I was surprised and disappointed by the end. To be honest, I'm surprised with the direction the author went with this because from what the author had shared about this particular character, I didn't really like them. That didn't change by the ending either.

I think this could be a good read for teenagers as it does feature that unknown for the future as well as a discussion of high school being the highest of high for some and the lowest of lows for others.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

Josie was infatuated with her high school days, boasting to anyone who would listen about her past glory. Her Broadway aspirations crumbled when reality hit in New York, leaving her disillusioned. Now, in a new state and working as a nanny, she clings to fading romances and friendships from her teenage years.

Seeking refuge from her disappointments, Josie immerses herself in books, yearning for a perfect story to transport her away from her perceived failures. But what happens when she discovers that ideal life? What if she becomes ensnared in its allure?

This tale is an entertaining journey, weaving multiple narratives within one. It prompts readers to ponder the notion of escaping into the world of literature, with its whimsical and sometimes absurd scenarios drawing them in, hooking their imagination.

I thought this was going to be one I loved. But there was something that just didn’t do it for me it and I had a hard time connecting to the book

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing for this DRC.
Josie Pie was a big deal in high school. She takes off to New York and realizes she is no longer a big deal. She licks her wounds by running off to become a nanny in Montana. There’s a bookstore, magic books, problems to work out when she enters the reality of the books and somehow also gods? It is a fun book but somehow I never connected Josie and her problems.
#KindofaBigDeal #NetGalley

I tried to get into this book a few times because it should be perfectly in my lane, but I just could never get into it after multiple attempts. I just don't think I meshed with the writing style. It never grabbed me, and I didn't feel like progressing further with each chapter I did accomplish.

The positive is that I read this quickly, but that’s kind of where the positives end. I’ve read other Shannon Hale books and really loved them but this one was just a miss for me. I think it should have been middle grade. It reads very young despite having an older protagonist. I felt like I never really learned anything about the main character and found what I did learn made her kind of annoying. The jumping between books and stories could’ve been really cool but instead was just jarring and made it especially hard to connect to the story, particularly given the lack of information or opportunity to get to know the main character. I found her situation to be pretty unbelievable, though I guess with suspension of disbelief you may be able to get past it but I just couldn’t. This book just felt like it was trying really hard to be a lot of things and do a lot of things so it just didn’t quite make it with any of them. It was trying to be funny at times but just made the story read like it was for a much younger audience. There’s nothing wrong with that, but with an 18 year old lead it seemed disconnected.

This was such a cute book. I seem to love pretty much everything that Hale writes. She is such a great writer. Kind of a Big Deal was a great book and I appreciate getting the chance to read it.

My biggest takeaway from Kind of a Big Deal is that it felt like it was one book trying to be too many different things. As the story is about our main character, Josie Pie, being able to jump into stories, this wasn't entirely unexpected. For any type of portal story to work, there needs to be some sort of grounding element that helps hold all the disparate elements together. Unfortunately for this story, the grounding element was how utterly frustrating Josie was as a main character. I found her to be a bland narrator who's really self-absorbed. There was some character growth, thank goodness, but it seemed to all be squished into the last 20% of the book and I'm still not really sure that Josie really learned the lessons the story set out to teach her.

There was a big mismatch between the age of nearly all the characters in this book and the age that it was written for. Josie is eighteen and her peers in the book all seem to also be in their late teens or early twenties. The writing style of the book felt really young, as though it were geared more toward younger teens, and left me feeling jarred. I have nothing against books on either age spectrum of YA but would've preferred if the writing style of the book reflected the age of most of the characters.

The premise was really interesting and kept me entertained enough to keep reading. The investigation about how our fantasies shape how we view ourselves was unlike anything else I've seen in YA and is certainly something I'll be mulling over for a while after finishing this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars

Josie was kind of a big deal in high school, but now she’s floundering. Her broadway dreams were dashed, so she’s working as a nanny until she can figure out what to do with her life. Until one day while she’s reading at the park while watching her kid, she suddenly slips into the story…literally. Josie lives in several stories and begins to prefer them to reality, but will the lines blur too much? This plot was very intriguing, and it’s the reason I was drawn to this novel. However, the writing in this book is absolutely awful. It’s all stream of consciousness from Josie and she makes up words and breaks out into song sometimes. Those things wouldn’t be all bad necessarily, but Josie is also very unlikeable. She’s such a naive character to think that she’s a superstar and that community theater is beneath her even though she already failed at broadway. The plot was good, until it wasn’t. The going into different stories part was fun, but the reason that she was able to do it was a huge letdown. This was a great concept with bad follow through, and I recommend skipping this one.

For some reason I thought this was a queer book and I was obviously disappointed that it wasn't. The book itself was just okay. I was never invested in either Josie Pie or her woes.

Kind of a Big Deal By Shannon Hale is an amazing read! When the world around you is imploding and you find yourself in a book what do you do? Read Kind of A BigDeal and find out for yourself.

This was a cute read and I think would be appealing to YA readers. While it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, and took a few unexpected twists and turns, it was written well and would be great for the right audience. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

Hale's books are so much fun and the cover of this one drew me in initially - it's so cute! This was a really cute read, although not completely what I was expecting. I liked reading about Josie's adventures, but I was hoping to see her character grow a bit more over the course of the story. It was a fun read, though, and enjoyable.

I was nervous to read this based on all of the negative reviews the book is getting but I thought the book was good once I got into it. It has a fun premise where Josie keeps being transported into the books she is reading. The writing is just okay though but I think this book would be perfect for younger YA readers.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for giving me a copy for.a honest review.

Don’t judge yourself by any one moment. Allow yourself room to change.”
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Josie Pie (stage name) was a big deal in high school. She was destined for great things, but after crashing and burning in NYC chasing her Broadway dreams, Josie is now stuck in Montana as a nanny. Her best friend is off having the time of her life in college and she hasn’t spoken to her high school boyfriend in forever. Bored, Josie enters a bookstore and is given a recommendation by the shop worker only to fall headfirst into the book. Now whenever Josie reads a book, she’s inside it becoming a 17th century wench, a post apocalyptic heroine, a romcom lead and more. Josie is now the star in every novel and the longer she stays in the story, the more she wants to escape real life for the fantasy.
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Fans of multiple genres will enjoy this book as Josie hops into different types of books. The novel itself is magical realism, which can be fun. However I personally am not a huge fan of that genre and found this a bit absurd. I know there are so many students that will enjoy it, which is why I review 99% of the books I read because even if I personally don’t enjoy them I know many libraries that will benefit from having them. Although the age of the main character would maybe make this new adult, this book firmly falls into the young adult category.

Unfortunately this book was a big miss for me. I think it was a neat idea, it just didn’t work out well. It just felt very messy. I couldn’t finish this one as much as I tried. This one wasn’t for me.

I have elected not to read and review this book due to time constraints. Thank you for the opportunity.