I’m going to say right now that this was definitely not up my alley at all. The premise of this book sounded really good. A girl gets sucked into the books she’s reading and becomes the main character. I loved the idea of getting to live out my favorite adventures in real time by being an active participant in the plot. I didn’t really get that from this book though.
First, Josie is an extremely annoying character. I can normally put up with a lot from characters in books when it comes to personality quirks, but so many of the things Josie said or did throughout this book were just downright cringey and it almost made me not finish this book multiple times. Alas, I kept trucking on.
I personally thought it was kind of creepy that she took her high school boyfriend’s last name as her stage name. That was just one thing that Josie did that made me uncomfortable. She also seemed to have a savior complex when it came to her trans friend, Nina. I hated that a lot. I didn’t like the way Josie felt like Nina wouldn’t be okay to live her life without Josie there with her. She spent a lot of time thinking about how Nina’s trauma affected her rather than how it affected Nina.
I had a hard time with this book because it couldn’t seem to decide whether it wanted to be a contemporary novel or a fantasy novel. There was so much switching back and forth between the two that the themes of the book were unclear. I honestly had no idea where the plot was going until the very end and then suddenly all of this weird stuff was happening and I had no idea what was going on.
For me, it just felt like a lot of things were just left out. There was too much of Josie’s awkward quirks and not enough development of the plot itself. None of the characters felt real. It was like every single one of them was a robot and not a real person, so I couldn’t even latch on to one person in order to anchor myself in the story.
The only redeeming quality this book had for me was Mia. That little girl will have back problems forever for carrying this entire book on her back the whole time. I love quirky little kids and Mia was right there on the edge of creepy. Loved her. 10/10 would read about her again.
All in all, I found this book lacking a lot of substance. The book just wasn’t sure what it wanted to be which in turn made me, as the reader, feel lost within the story.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the book/character as it takes you off to a rough ride. As you want to accomplish things but so many things go wrong, especially when you drop out of high school to pursue your dreams and it flops and have to do other things. Life's stories, but then you immerse yourself in books and reality or life we'd like to live out from our stories we read.

My first time reading from this author and I really enjoyed the book, thank you, Shannon Hale.

Josie Pie was a big deal … in high school. She even dropped out of high school to move to New York City and become a star! Her dream was short-lived and now she is a nanny in Montana where she is hoping to earn money and pay down the debt she racked up in NYC. She is isolated in a town where she knows no one and her old support system has fallen apart. Josie is desperate to get away from her life and decides to start reading again. What she doesn’t expect is to literally be pulled into the books she is reading. Is she going crazy? What is causing the phenomenon?

Kind of a Big Deal is a stand-alone novel that is definitely more comedy than fine literature. I found myself rolling my eyes at the characters and storyline while also trying to figure out where Hale was going to take the story next. I’m not sure I would have finished the book if I hadn’t committed to reviewing it. It is a short read, so as something to fill in some free time, it was OK. Definitely not a book to make time for, but if you don’t have anything else on your agenda, it is good for a laugh.

Kind of not. Unlikeable main character. Tired premise. Stopped reading at 25% on my Kindle.

eARC provided by publisher.

I really didn’t enjoy this book. While I did enjoy Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy series when I was younger, this book just didn’t appeal to me. The main character, Josie, seemed vapid and uninteresting, and the plot didn’t really interest me either. I was really excited about the synopsis, but I think the execution left a lot to be desired.

i saw the reviews but i was still disappointed. and kind of confused? i've loved several books by this author but this one... i don't get it. i just felt like i wasn't clicking with anyone or the book and it just felt messy. i'm disappointed and i hate that.

I have read (and loved) several books by this author in the past, so I had high hopes going into this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to my hopes. It wasn't awful. I just didn't love it.

This book is ostensibly about Josie Pie (not her real name; Pie is her estranged boyfriend's surname), a high school dropout who attempted to pursue stardom on Broadway and failed massively. In the first few chapters, Josie, after a meet-cute with a local bookstore employee, is sucked into the pages of the books she buys and lives out the stories within them. This plot convenience, coincidentally, is the same one ten-year-old-me used to explain my literal self-insert OC x Anakin Skywalker fanfiction, and it isn't handled much better in this professionally published novel by a bestselling author than it was handled by a literal child.

The writing in this book is bad. It's so bad, you guys. And Shannon Hale can write! I know she can write! Her Books of Bayern series was one of my favorites as a child, and I still own a copy of The Goose Girl to this day. That's part of why this novel is so embarrassing to review - having experienced firsthand how talented Ms. Hale can be, I found myself baffled and frustrated by this work.

Moreover, as other reviewers have pointed out, the plot is weird, incomprehensible, and incredibly jarring to read. This is a "messy" book, to put it lightly, and felt incredibly chaotic, underdeveloped, and boring. I legitimately don't know what I was meant to take from this book - and again, as a fan of both Shannon Hale and YA contemporary, this is a genre I normally enjoy reading. I loved Between the Lines, another YA contemporary with a similar premise, so I was primed to like this one. But, my God, I didn't. I really, really didn't.

Kind of a Big Deal started with promise, and I am a big fan of Hale's other work especially her middle grade fiction. The trope of being transported into the books being read by the main character felt forced and did not engage me as a reader.

Josie Pie was born to be a star. At least, that's what her high school experiences told her -- and lacking any real support at home, she drops out of school to audition for Broadway, sure that fame is imminent.

Things don't go the way she plans, though.

Now Josie is coasting, working as a live-in nanny in Montana with no plans other than how she's going to pay off the massive credit card debt she racked up in New York City. She goes into a book store with her charge, and leaves with a new book -- and she finds herself sucked into the story.

As Josie falls into one book after another, she's playing the starring roles she always dreamed of. But fantasy is tempting, and she starts to find leading the way in a story more appealing than treading water in Montana...

This is a hard one to rate, because it was a hard one to get in to. Josie's not the most likeable protagonist, and she has some serious growing up to do. She also starts falling into books before we know much about her, and she comes off as very annoying. The first few chapters have this... choppy quality. I have to admit, I wasn't loving this at first, and I thought about dropping it on to my DNF shelf. (I stuck with it because it's Shannon Hale -- how could I not?)

Fortunately, the book gets stronger as it moves along. There's something charming about seeing Josie grow as she finds pieces of herself in these stories. It's a relationship with books that any avid reader will nod knowingly to see: you engage best when you see yourself reflected on the page, and stepping in the shoes of other lives helps you grow and expand your worldview.

((It's why #ownvoices and diverse books are so important! Okay, okay, I'll step off my soap box now.))

All in all, this is a 3.5 for me. I think anyone who's felt a little directionless in life can relate a little to Josie, and it's certainly a creative spin on the coming-of-age story. Just... stick it out for the first bit and give it a chance to hook you!

Kind of a Big Deal was not the novel I thought it would be - the premise/set up is intriguing... Josie drops out of high school and heads for New York to pursue her dreams... because where she came from in Arizona, she was kind of a big deal! She nannies for a family who splits and she follows the mom from Queens to Missoula, Montana instead of staying in NYC. One day she and her charge step into a book store and Josie Pie's life suddenly changes as she quite literally gets sucked INTO the book she buys! The story dips in and out of the novel. Unfortunately, it is written more like a middle grade novel disguised as an attempt at young adult. Teen issues like relationship struggles, dropping out of school to pursue a dream that fails, financial woes, a cute boy, and more - those issues are all there but feel so superficial that they don't matter (or maybe there are too many). I love the idea that books pull you in and create a whole new world for you but this concepts is a little fantastical for teens but might work for older middle grade students (7/8/9th). I am heartbroken that Kind of A Big Deal didn't work for me because Shannon Hale is an amazingly talented author whose work I respect and love. I appreciate the opportunity to preview #KindofaBigDeal courtesy of #Netgalley

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review on my blog. When I read the premise and description of the book, I thought it could have been really good. Unfortunately, there was too much stumbling around and not enough character development. THank you for your consideration.

Josie Pie was once at the top of her game. She was a theater star in her high school and dropped out to pursue her Broadway dreams. When things don't go exactly to her plan, she becomes a nanny instead. If her dashed dreams weren't enough, her best friend keeps distancing herself, her boyfriend never seems to have time for her, and her mother is getting way into energy readings. Josie decides she needs an escape, and after stumbling upon a bookstore, she knows falling into a story is exactly what she needs. What she wasn't expecting was actually falling into whatever she's reading. Whether it's a 17th-century maid in a corset, a post-apocalyptic badass, or a star of the stage, whatever Josie reads she's suddenly thrust into the main character's shoes. At first, she's freaked out but after a while, her confidence returns and she finds life in stories better than reality. But the longer Josie stays in fictional worlds, the harder it is to escape back to the real world.

I thought the premise of this sounded right up my alley, but I think the execution was a bit sloppy. I didn't connect to Josie as a character, I actually found her a little annoying at times, and I couldn't help but cringe or roll my eyes at a lot of what she did. The plot and pacing felt slightly clunky, and I don't feel like it hit its stride until over halfway through. Then once it did pick up, it was resolved rather quickly so it didn't feel that impactful. I wish we had gotten to see more of Deo, the mysteriously charming bookshop worker because I think that would've made the big reveal of his part in the whole thing better. Usually, I'm all for books about books, but this one just tried to do too much that it really hindered my enjoyment of it.

I want to thank Shannon Hale, Roaring Book Press, and NetGalley for a free copy of Kind of a Big Deal in exchange for an honest review. When I first read the synopsis of this book, I was instantly. captivated. I have never read a book by Shannon Hale before even though I have heard nothing but positive things; I am so glad this is the first book I have read of hers!

This book follows the story of Josie who dropped out of high school to follow her Broadway dreams. However, it does not turn out the way that she plans. Josie is having issues in every area of her life. Suddenly, Josie finds herself falling into several different books spanning different genres. Readers are introduced to alternate versions of Josie's close friends and her boyfriend in each book that she falls into.

Firstly, I absolutely loved the character of Josie. I loved her interest in musical numbers and her passion for her friendship with Nina. During every book that she falls into, I find myself wanted to protect her from heartbreak as she is re-introduced to a new version of her boyfriend that she is having real-life problems with.

Second, I am in complete awe of the premise of this book. While I was hesitant at first that this book would not work, it absolutely, without a doubt did! I loved reading about Josie in each and every book. My favorite was the comic strip that was included. While I am curious to see if the final copy will result in a more complex comic strip, I actually really enjoyed the simplicity of the one added and felt that it added to story of Josie.

I will absolutely be picking more up from Shannon Hale and will be recommending this book to everyone!

This book is a jumbled mess that has some good moments. I really liked the idea of reading about a high school dropout, and the story of someone learning they aren't as special as they were led to believe. Well, at least not in the way they thought.

The whole notion of slipping in and out of books weirdly distracted from what was the more interesting story to me. Plus, the book felt very overstuffed because Josie's main interest was musical theatre. So, you've got the main narrative, you've got all this musical theatre knowledge to keep up with, and then the books within books. And I'm like, are today's teen readers really going to be eating up Ethel Merman namedrops? Do teens love Cabaret and relate to Sally Bowles? That feels NICHE.

Ultimately, the slipping in and out of books part of the story doesn't really work. It doesn't create a lot of real tension because Josie has left a child unattended in the real world, and the reader knows she's going to return. So it was consistently hard to get invested in those stories.

In the end, the overstuffed nature of the book left me reaching for something to ground myself in the story, and I just kept coming away with loose handfuls of story.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.***

I love Shannon Hale's books so when I saw this one I jumped to read it. I rated it a 4 star but it's really like 3.5. Josie is in a deeep rut since she though she would go on to Broadway at age 17, since her gay high school drama teacher encouraged her but didn't make it. Now she's just baby sitting a child of a an absent mother and a non existent father. All her other relationships, including her friends and boyfriend are out of the picture because of her moping. Of all Josie's relationships she has with the characters, I love the relations with Mia her baby sitting charge the most. It's the relationship that Josie keeps as her anchor to her real life. But despite the awesome book jumping and escape from reality and some of the titles I would love to read that Josie jumps into, the story fell a little flat. I enjoyed how Josie slowly realized that she couldn't go back into the past and be stuck there, and she needed to move on with her life, but her boyfriend I thought needed a little more work then what the ending suggested. There is a instance of bullying that is not cool against a trangender. That character and her gay drama teacher to me felt a little out of the left field. It was ok, but not oh you need to read this right now. I must say despite some hiccups, the twist that Josie had to deal with was good and she ended up being a heroine, not just in her own story but in a few others. I like that a lot. She not the only one sucked into a book you know.

I became invested in the character early on. While the leaps in and out of books was a bit dizzying I found the theatre geek background of Josie to be intriguing and was rooting for her to find her way.

This was silly, for sure. And it was just the kind of light read that I was looking for today.

Although Josie is really hard to like in the beginning, she does grow as the story continues. I can relate to her desire to perform, the thrill she experiences from being on stage. And although she is very self absorbed (and she knows it), I appreciated how much she genuinely loves Mia, the young girl who misses her own mom and who seems wise for her age.

I loved the eye-roll humor. Hale knew just how to use puns, social commentary, and literary tropes to make me chuckle. The voice reminded me of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill or Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Finally, the last third of the book actually sucked me in, which was a fun surprise.

This was a nice change from what YA usually offers. I recommend this to readers who want something light and funny, for readers who don’t take themselves (or reading) too seriously. Recognize this story for the escape read it is and just enjoy the ride.

As an English teacher/high school librarian, I see in the premise of this novel exactly what I want students to understand about why reading is fun. You can get drawn into a story and completely escape real life for a while! I pretty much always try to put a face on characters in books, and sometimes those faces will be like actors I've recently seen in movies, or they will be the faces of people I know in real life. Many struggling readers don't visualize while they read this way, and I appreciate the way Hale's novel presents a solid example of someone doing this effectively. I wouldn't say that the falling-into-the-story scenes are executed the way I would do it if I were the author, but I'm not the author, so that wasn't my decision to make.

Another feature of reading that I frequently mention to students is that a good book worth reading should make you reflect on something in your own life. Maybe you realize that your own behavior is more like that of the an undesirable character or even a villain, so you decide to change. Maybe you recognize in yourself some unfounded prejudices that you hadn't been forced to consider before. Maybe you are able to see a situation from someone else's shoes and it gives you a new sympathetic angle. Ultimately, that's the point of this story. Through her reading experiences, Josie comes to some realizations about her own life and relationships.

As much as I appreciate these qualities in this novel, I don't think it's going to go be widely appealing to students in my high school library. I can think of a handful of students in my school right now who will definitely appreciate it for all the musical references and theater background info, but overall, the plot is slow to get rolling and draw non-theatrical readers into the story. It will appeal to a niche market, though, and they're my regular voluntary library users, so it's worth purchasing for my school library.

Josie Pie was kind of a big deal in high school. She starred in all of her high school productions and her theater teacher assured her that she was destined for Broadway. However, when she moved to the big city, she fell flat on her face. Now, living in Missoula and working as a nanny, Josie realizes she has the ability to enter into the books she reads and live in their stories.

I was very excited to read Kind of a Big Deal because having the ability to enter books is such a cool premise! I thought the story was interesting, and as a theater fan, I enjoyed all of the Broadway and show tunes references. However, I found Josie to be a frustrating character. I understand it would be difficult to fail at achieving your dreams, but instead of trying again, it mostly seemed like she wanted to throw herself a pity party. The love story was also a bit confusing. I spent most of the book thinking her love interest was a bad guy, only to have them work things out at the last minute.

Overall, Kind of a Big Deal didn't blow me away, but I was interested enough in the story to want to keep reading until the end. If you are interested in dipping your toe into the YA fantasy genre, this one might be a good place to start because there was a good balance of fantasy and reality.