I felt like this book was an inside joke between a reader and a book, a constant nudge nudge, wink wink. How many times have I put myself in the book I’m reading and imagined myself living out the plot? Enjoy your trip through a book that takes you on a trip through another book!

Josie Pie was kind of a big deal in high school. She actually tells people this several times in the book. At the beginning of her senior year her drama teacher convinces her that she's so good she should leave school to audition for Broadway. So, at seventeen Josie packs off to NYC to pursue her dreams. And, not surprising to any adult, that doesn't work out like she thinks it will. She goes from a big fish in a little pond to a very tiny fish in the ocean. Not wanting to admit defeat she stays in NYC and eventually becomes a nanny for a family that ends up moving to Montana. In Montana we see Josie basically raising the little girl while licking her wounds from her failures. Then one day the little girl pulls Josie into a bookstore and Josie rediscovers her love of books. Only now instead of just enjoying the stories she is literally pulled into them.

I liked the idea of a reader being pulled into the pages of the book they are reading. However, this was clunky at times. Part of what didn't work for me was she was envisioning the characters in the books as people she knew in real life. Which makes sense, but then the author would alternately refer to them as the in real life name and the book character name. It made things a bit confusing. I could see this working on the screen, but in a book it just felt hard to follow.

Josie does grow as a character and that was needed. She starts off as someone who is stuck in their glory days of high school and by the end she sees that she still has a lot of learning to do. I wish we had more in depth of her relationship with Nina. That would have been more interesting to see the past, present, and future of than her relationship with Justin. I could have used less of the crazy plot lines of the books Josie read and more of how she grew as a person within her real life relationships.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Definitely a break from the Sci-fi fantasies which have been over powering the YA and not a sloppy romance. While it wasn't my type of book and it might be too trite at the end it was a different way for a teenager to realize she needed to be herself and realize her potential. Josie made it big in high school so she left before her senior year for Broadway in NYC. A complete failure in her eyes she takes on a nanny job moving to Missoula, Montana. There she was given a pair of reading glasses and a book at a bookstore. Every book she read she popped into the story, each time controlling more of the story. The story had old friends and new acquaintances as characters. Through these stories she begins to see who she is. Spoiler alert. The employees in the bookstore are muses and they fight to keep her in the stories. That was the development of the story that made it a fantasy and I didn't care for. I didn't care a lot for her other stories even the one she received a Newbery Honor for.

I could not get into the book and I stopped reading. Josie was a flat character and not likable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely could not get into this book. Loved the concept, but not sure if it was the opening/introduction of the MC, but it was not to my interest and I could not connect with any of the characters. DNF.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free copy for me to read and review.

Shannon Hale has a way with words that allows you to escape into what you are reading....which makes perfect sense when the premise of this novel is exactly that! While this wasn't my cup of tea, and I often found myself skipping over parts, the story line itself of Josie and trying to find her way after dropping out of high school was enough for me to keep going. Sadly, the parts that lost me were the chapters when Josie was drawn into different books. I felt that it was drawn out, and at times unnecessary. Some parts of the novel were inconsistent, and it felt rushed.

Getting lost in a story...Josie Pie does this literally! She leaves high school early to make it on Broadway only to find that being a Big Deal in high school does not guarantee success. As she tries to make sense of her life, she discovers things about herself in the books she reads. I had to read parts to friends to explain my sudden burst of laughter!

I love Shannon Hale and was so excited to read this book. And while it's a fun "romp," I didn't love it. You would think that the ability to fall in and out of books would be a librarian's dream. But overall, this one was just ok for me. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters. Josie's growth seems predictable. The inclusion of the trans character seemed forced rather than organic. I am not sure which readers will gravitate to this story. I will purchase for the library if it is requested, but based on my read, I am not sure it will have much appeal in my circumstance.

This was a weird book. I didn't enjoy it and I started skimming parts that were long and boring. I felt like I accomplished a great thing just by finishing it.

This book was extremely confusing and while it started off great, it was like I was reading "The Magic Tree House" but not nearly as good. I was disappointed because this sounded awesome in it's synopsis.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I have some mixed feelings about this book, so let me break it down a bit.

The Pros:
-The concept is really fun and unique (the MC being able to get sucked into, and manipulate the plot of, books)
-The overall cast was a wide array and I liked how the MC thought of them (Blonde and Blonder Trophy Wife, Cowboy, Frisbee Guy)
-The writing style was generally pretty good.
-Josie was an *interesting* MC
-Mia, Josie's 5yo charge and a total sweetie pie

The Cons:
-The execution of the story was not great.
-Every time Josie was sucked into the book, it seemed to drag on FOREVER and I found myself wanting to skip right over and get back to the real world because
-WHAT ABOUT MIA?!?! I had some serious anxiety with Josie just diving back into the books, KNOWING Mia was still in the real world and that time WAS passing, although slowly. What kind of person just LEAVES A 5YO ON A PLAYGROUND WHILE SHE CHECKS OUT?!?! Not a good one, thats for sure. Josie could have AT LEAST saved her reading for night time when Mia was soundly asleep in her own bed. jkfjkhasdfklj
-As interesting as Josie was for an MC, she was VERY hard to like. I am all for a flawed character, but endangering a child and never having to face any sort of repercussions for that is not okay.

All in all, this was a book. It didnt suck, and it passed a few hours of time for me, but I am unlikely to ever revisit it. Maybe the author can give us a spinoff about Nina (Josie's best friend), because I would like to read more about her.

For once, I am kinda at a loss for words when it comes to this book. I cannot seem to make up my mind how I feel about this book- Do I like it? Do I hate it? Did I just not get it? I feel like the jury is still out on this one. This is the kind of book that needs to sit with you for a few days before you can fully appreciate it.

Kind of a Big Deal follows Josie Pie, who was a big deal in high school, as she grapples with the cards life has dealt her. She was a star in high school and was encouraged to leave high school and go for it on Broadway. She did at seventeen, and wracked up a ton of debt. Now she is in Montana, out of happenstance, acting as nanny and responsible adult. It is here that she falls back into reading and finds the magic in reading.

Now here is where I end up having some qualms. I can 100% get on board with the magic of books and magic in general, but it seemed like this book could not choose a side. Josie thinks she is going crazy, then thinks she has an active imagination, or maybe it is a super power. I am not sure. The jumping between genres when she visits all of her books is pretty intriguing, and I haven't really read much like it. But when you get to the reveal part, the switch to a more high fantasy genre just seems out of place. There were definitely part of this book that I loved, but I was confused overall. It isn't that I don't understand what happened, more so that the premise didn't mesh for me. I will say that right now the jury is still out on this one for me- I definitely want to see what others think before I invest in this for my school library.

Kind of a Big Deal ​will be release late August 2020- http://kaitlynrcarpenter.weebly.com/blog/kind-of-a-big-deal-by-shannon-hale

My daughters always enjoy Shannon Hale so I gave this to my 13 year old and she inhaled it. Not all of the storylines/books were to her taste but overall she loved this book.

This is a lighthearted fantasy about a popular high school performer who dropped out of school to move to New York, certain that she would be a Broadway success. When her plans didn't go as expected she had to get a job as a nanny with a family that moved to Montana. Losing confidence as her musical abilities aren't appreciated, she takes up reading, and finds herself immersed into fantasy worlds suggested by the books she reads. At risk of losing her best friend and long-term boyfriend, she increasingly finds solace in her fantasy worlds. There is plenty of disbelief for the reader to overcome, and a final battle between the real and imaginary is too long and overwrought, but this is a fun diversionary read during pandemic times.

While I'm generally a fan of Hale's, I didn't like this book as much as some of her other works. While I could tell the author was having fun exploring the side genres that appear in the novel, the protagonist hid her backstory too much from the reader. I'm OK with an ambiguous ending but this one didn't seem to set the protagonist up for much growth.

The description of this book sucked me; however, this book ended up being a disappointment and was hard to finish. I just couldn’t get into the book, and the main character, Josie, isn’t likable at all. This book just wasn’t for me, but I’ve noticed it has plenty of 4-5 star reviews. It could just be a personal preference. Also, I don’t think my middle school students would enjoy or connect with this book.

Creative, imaginative and engaging, this book is a fun escape while also being remarkably thought-provoking. Kind of a Big Deal focuses on a universal question - what if the best life has for offer is in the past? What if what comes next is nothing like what was expected? A quick and entertaining read.

Ever start a book and know it just isn’t for you? That was Kind of a Big Deal for me. I was drawn to the book due to the concept of the main character, 17 year-old Josie “Pie” Sergakis jumping into actual books and becoming part of the story. Who hasn’t wanted to do that? I certainly loved it in Austenland. But unfortunately, no matter what role in any story Josie is playing, she’s still completely and utterly unlikable--and no more so than in the reality of her own, convoluted story with a depressing message.

“Sometimes younger students stopped Josie in the halls to ask for her autograph. ‘In a few years, this signature is going to be worth a lot of money,’ said a freshman girl with a sincere smile. Josie laughed the laugh of a confident upperclassman and thought, Yeah, it probably will be.”

Josie, as she repeatedly tells herself and literally anyone who will listen, was “kind of a big deal” in high school. There, she was the popular star of all the musical productions, beloved by all. Because apparently in some universes, theater kids are popular and get stopped for autographs. They also get encouraged to dropout of high school by their teachers in order to audition for Broadway, which you know, isn’t competitive or anything.

“A surge of anger tingled in her toes and rushed up through her middle, into her face bringing both a hot flush to her cheeks and a feeling that, if she were a cartoon, her eyes would be blazing red. Don’t they know who I am? Came the sincere but also instantly ridiculous thought. No, Josie Pie, they don’t know who you are, because you aren’t Millennial High School’s precious rising star Josie Sergakis here. Or anywhere, anymore.”

That is what exactly happens to Josie. She finds herself with no job--let alone a starring role on Broadway, ample credit card debt, and no return in New York City, at age 17, nonetheless. Somehow, with no experience, she’s hired as a nanny to a five-year-old girl and moves to Missoula, Montana to work there in the hopes of paying off her debts. There, she’s miserable, as no one but her knows what a star she was in high school, and her best friend and her boyfriend have seemingly moved on with their lives that are actually going somewhere reasonable, like college.

“There is nothing worse than peaking in high school. And no one knew that better than Josie Pie. Eighteen years old and already a flop.”

Books soon become Josie’s only method to escape, as she can’t even get a role in community theater. After a visit to the local bookstore, she finds herself living out a romance novel. But what I hated the most was that every time she jumps into a book, be it romance, dystopian, or historical fiction--she always ends up singing the Spice Girls to exit? I’m sure it had something to do with female empowerment, but it was just baffling, random, and irritating. 

As was the fact that her best friend, a freshman in college, manages to buy a plane ticket out to see her for one night, just to leave. How do these kids have all this expendable income and freedom to do whatever they want without anyone to whom to answer? But it takes the entirety of the book for Josie to realize not only is she a crappy friend, who has no idea what’s going on in her friend’s life, but also that there’s more to life than her and her freaking high school experience. Frankly, if she loved school so much, the place she willingly left to follow her dreams and spends 99% of the book longing for, why not just go back? Because she couldn’t stand her classmates and other hometown people knowing that she didn’t make it on Broadway. I’d say that surely a young woman with such determination has more than just her musical aspirations going for her? But Josie really doesn’t. Literally all there is to Josie is high school and singing. 

“If she stayed far away, perhaps Justin wouldn’t notice what she really was. Perhaps he’d still see her the way he had that night after the school talent show. As a star.”

Even her boyfriend is more of a groupie than a support system. For most of Kind of a Big Deal we are treated to flashbacks of how much he supposedly used to care for Josie, but really just focused on how he looked at her like she was a star and how because of him, she felt like one. We are told how they were the king and queen of high school. He’s noticeably absent from the entire novel, except for in Josie’s book-hopping fantasies where he's more fictional character than her actual boyfriend, and it’s hinted that he’s cheating on her. But lo and behold, he shows up at the very last minute of Kind of a Big Deal and the two laugh about her failed career and everything’s just hunky dory!

After reading Kind of a Big Deal I can honestly say that I think the biggest deal of the novel was not Josie or her failed Broadway career, but the profound lack of parenting. Why did Josie’s mother let her be influenced by a drama teacher to the point that she let her daughter dropout of school to move to the city to predictably have her dreams crushed? It’s a miracle that the worst thing that happened to Josie was that she ended up with credit card debt. Just wanting her male drama teacher, who believed in her only to ditch her just like her actual father, to be her real father screamed, young, impressionable and dangerous to me. It is beyond me that no one preyed upon her, a girl from a small town in New York City who was desperate enough to yell, “I can do anything!” at several auditions. 

Josie had absolutely no good judgement whatsoever, which she demonstrates by her complete lack of care for anyone but herself, and the kid for whom she nannies, Mia. Plus, I think she really only cared for Mia, because she saw the kid as herself as a young girl--no parents who cared, an absentee father, etc.  It would have been so easy for someone to take advantage of Josie. I was also horrified that at the end of the novel, her mother told her not to come home, but to pay off her debt, give up on her Broadway dream, and to become like, a “hairdresser” or something.  Um, what? No “finish your high school education?!” No, “if musicals and drama means so much to you pursue a higher education after high school that might better equip you for that?”

“Even worse than peaking in high school was to never peak at all. To treat life like a big waiting room, idly reading whatever magazines were available playing a game on your phone, killing time till your name was finally called. It wasn’t in Josie Pie’s nature to wait. Broadway was never going to call her name. Community theater was barely even bothering. Time she got out there herself and started re-peaking. And she couldn’t do that until she let it go.”

For the life of me, I have no idea what the moral of this story was--give up your dreams? Settle for a mediocre existence? Don’t go back to high school? All I know after making it through this novel, was that Josie was most definitely Not. A. Big. Deal. And apparently, neither were her dreams, since she had no problem giving them up when she wasn’t some teenage prodigy. I feel that it would have made more sense if Josie discovered a love of writing musicals or screenplays through all the reading/novel-hopping she did in this story, or some other career that was musical-adjacent that she could hope to accomplish, but instead, she just completely gives up and the novel leaves her future up in the air, stating maybe she’ll continue being a nanny or get her GED. Regardless, it seems clear that Josie will be taking the easy route of quitting her dreams and staying with her high school boyfriend, even though Kind of a Big Deal tells readers multiple times that high school sweethearts never last. 


Besides having no idea what the purpose of this novel was,  I am not really sure who the intended audience for Kind of a Big Deal was. As someone who experienced high school for herself, I found Josie’s experience there completely unbelievable--as was her experience in every single novel she jumped into, her dating life, her friendships, and literally every other facet of her existence. The author seems horribly out of touch. I cringed at the things Josie said and did in her real life--even though I think they’re supposed to be funny or relatable--or the things she fantasized about in her novel hopping.


I would say this novel is more for middle graders who haven’t yet experienced high school and maybe enjoy musicals, but I would hesitate to recommend this to any young reader due to its lack of any kind of a good message. Furthermore, Kind of a Big Deal is written so simplistically that I feel it would actually be better suited for a kid in elementary school, but again the message of giving up your dreams makes that an iffy recommendation to make. Ultimately, if you have a young reader who is really into musicals and singing, they may absolutely love this novel. But get ready to have Kind of a Big discussion about dreams and realistic expectations afterwards.

Sadly, I am so disappointed in this book. I think Shannon Hale is an excellent author. I have read and enjoyed every book she has written. This book has an engaging idea and all of the elements of something I would love, but I don't. That's why I'm so disappointed in it.

The main character is selfish, egotistical, and a terrible friend. I understand character development must occur, but 2/3 of the way through she is still self-centered and awful. The supposed main draw of her love interest is his ability to be there for her? His character does not improve on this. The best friend and child she watches are cute but receive little page time.

The resolution is tidy but didn't redeem the book for me. This one is a miss.

I won't give up on Shannon Hale though, I know she's capable of great things.

I love Shannon Hale's books! However, this book was a disappointment. I really could not get into it. My middle-grade students would have a hard time relating to a student out of high school, so it didn't seem like a good fit for my classroom. However, it seemed kind of juvenile to just read for myself. I understand that the main character doesn't have to be perfect, but I had a hard time liking anything about her.