Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary YA novel. I love this author and have read many books by her but this book didn't shine quite like some of the others. Main character, Josie, is stuck on herself and her past fame in high school and can't seem to get out of the slump she now finds herself in. While she reads different books, she finds herself in those books and adventure ensues. The writing is ok but the character is shallow. I will continue to read other things by this author for me this book wasn't a favorite.

This is a cute enough story. I like the idea of falling into a book you are reading! Josie has some fun adventures. I did get a little bored towards the end when she was doing all of her life reflecting but it ended fine and I know many teens who will love this one.

I usually write very long, very detailed reviews, but this doesn't deign a long response or a kind response. No less than 14 times within the first 20% does the main character mention "being a big deal" or thinking that she was a "big deal." I get that we name books after the overall theme, But it's horrible and annoying to hear such a narcissistic MC think of herself as a "Big Deal" so frequently. I really don't understand. If we knew a person like that in real life, we wouldn't want to be friends with them because we'd be so annoyed and pissed and would just end the friendship immediately. She starts random conversations with people and begins to talk about how much of a big deal she was before she stops herself. People don't do that. I've never met a single person be that caught up in their past popularity that they bring it up in every conversation. She seems totally normal, like every other teenager with everything else she does, so clearly it doesn't bother her as much as she thought. There are other ways a story like this could have been written that would have been 10 times better.

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.

When her money comes to a end Josie has to put her dream of being on Broadway on hold and take a nanny job. She has a hard time with not being on Broadway after everyone told her she was so good in High School, so good in fact she left high school early to go to a call and never went back because she was so embarrassed she didn't get the part or any part. When her job takes her to Missoula she doesn't know what to do. when she takes Mia, the girl she nanny's for, to the playground she passes a book store on the way and gets a book and reading glasses. When she starts reading the book she finds herself literally in the book.

This is a cute book with twists and action, not to mention a talking teddy bear. The plot is new and refreshing among young adult books. The characters are the best really, who doesn't like Josie Pie and the books she jumps into are great, I hope everyone will like this as much as I do.

This review will appear on my blog on Aug 25th.

I did not enjoy this. I think Hale is a gifted writer and I have enjoyed things she's written across genres and age groups, but the one area I've consistently disliked her work is YA with a speculative fiction bent. Dangerous was one of the worst books I have read and this wasn't that much better. Josie is boring and nothing about the speculative angle worked for me. Also, all the books she fell into felt the same. Yes, they were written by the same author IRL but something should have been done to make them feel like different books.

Josie dropped out of high school to go after an acting career in NYC. It turns out that her acting skills were not as good as she thought. So she becomes a nanny to Mia and moves to Montana.
In Montana, while out with Mia, Josie stumbles upon a bookstore. When she reads the book she picked up there, she finds herself literally in the story. The more books she reads, the more stories she lives in. But being in these stories does not make her real life problems go away. Josie needs to find a way to solve them and to stay in the normal world.
Opinion
You are going to want to buy this book. Once you read the story, you will want to read it again and again. This book is so well written, with so much attention to detail, that upon the re-readings, you will find yourself having that “ah-ha” moment of understating as to why Ms. Hale included that little piece of the story. As I was finishing up this story, I was reminded about earlier parts that seemed like it was just a fun detail but in all actuality had a greater reason for being included.
What I loved most about the book, however, was not the little details but just the fluid way the story flowed. Ms. Hale is such a powerful storyteller that you can empathize with Josie. You feel as if you are in the stories with her.
I also enjoyed seeing the characters from Josie’s real life end up as the characters in the stories she read. As she read/lived the stories, Josie’s relationships with the characters changed. She became less self absorbed and was able to see the world from other peoples view points. As Josie matured/grew up in these scenes, she began to see what is truly important. This made all the difference at the end of the book.

Loved the story concept - down on her luck actress/nanny falls into the books she is reading. Fun, quick read with a somewhat predictable dash of romance. The book fell down a little bit for me though because the characters are slightly one dimensional and not really empathetic characters.

2.5/5 This book fell halfway between cheesy and cringey for me. The protagonist, Josie Pie, loves going around telling people about all of her high school accomplishments and letting them know she is kind of a big deal- pretty much every chapter (or so it feels). Needless to say, no one cares. I also did not care. Then there's a subplot where she literally enters the books that she reads, interacting with the characters, etc. That part was interesting, but Josie's "I'm kind of a big deal" hangup didn't allow her to fully embrace this newfound power and left me wondering what the point of the power was if as a reader we couldn't fully enjoy it. I loved the idea behind the Muses, the book power- just wish we could have left Josie Pie back at her high school (where she clearly still belonged) and had a better heroine to go on quests with.

Josie Pie peaked in high school. After her dreams of making it big on Broadway go bust, she’s now working as a nanny in Montana. With her boyfriend and best friend too busy to talk, and her family distant, Josie is stuck wondering if this is as good as it gets. Then one day, she ends up being sucked into a book while reading. Literally. As she realizes that she can be the protagonist in a storybook, maybe she can be the hero in her own life as well. Can she figure out how before she ends up stuck in a novel forever?

This was an interesting read. It has kind of an inkheart premise. It wasn't my favorite Shannon Hale book, I find it kind of hard to connect to the main character but that might relate more to my place in life then the book. I really liked the comic book part.

Let me start by saying I love Shannon Hale's middle-grade books. This book for YA was a different story and I had been really looking forward to reading it. I didn't totally dislike it, but it wasn't love at first reading, either.

I had a hard time getting through it and found it somewhat disjointed. The main character, Josie Pie, was not a solid character and that was a part of the plot point. But nowhere in the book did I start feeling anything for her; she just felt dull and wishy-washy. That's pretty much all I have to say about this book. It was a disappointment.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy of this digital ARC. This review can also be found on my Goodreads page.

Kind of a Big Deal is a book about growing up, feeling lost, and searching for your identity after high school.
The main character, Josie, is working as a nanny in a small town in Montana after her dreams of being on Broadway don't work out. She feels like she is losing her friends and her purpose. She starts reading to escape her depression and ends up literally falling into the world of every book she reads.

I think this book will be pretty relatable to lot of young people, especially those who feel like they don't have a direction after high school. Josie feels like she peaked in high school which is an interesting point of view and I think one that isn't explored as much in young adult fiction.

I found Josie's inner thoughts kind of hard to follow and the writing felt disjointed at times. I know sometimes the book was supposed to give you that feeling when Josie fell into the different literary worlds but it got in the way when it happened in Josie's regular thoughts.

Overall, this was a fun, quick read and I think that there are quite a few kids out there who could relate.

This book was a hot mess. The writing seemed incomplete and unemotional. The tone of the book felt like it was trying too hard to be current and progressive and funny and sympathetic. The whole idea was nice, but I didn’t care about any of the characters except for Mia. Then the fantasy aspects were all over the place and felt weird with the rest of the story. I couldn’t decide what kind of book this was. There is some romance, fantasy, comedy, and even some graphic novel in the middle. It’s not written as carefully and beautifully as some of Shannon Hale’s other books.

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to be honest, it was hard getting through this book. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It was more like I couldn't get inspired to care for the main character. She pities herself so much, and there isn't really much of a reason to pity her in the beginning. She keeps saying that she used to be a big deal, but that doesn't seem like a strong enough reason for her to act so pathetic. She isn't mean or horrible; she just isn't very interesting. The plot device of her traveling into books is really cool, and I think that's what helps the story move along. It's much more plot-driven than character, so if you love books and fantasy, then maybe this book will be enough for you.

Omg, Shannon Hale, can we be best friends? The plot of this book is basically a dream. Josie Pie is a dream protagonist. When her life is falling apart and her aspirations have landed her nowhere, she literally finds herself in falling into a book over and over again living as the lead in a variety of genres. I absolutely loved the creativity of this book, and Josie Pie’s voice is one I wanted with me far after it was over. It was like a teenage girl version of The Pagemaster with so much more moxie. Something like this could have the likelihood of leaning into hokey territory, but instead it was delightful every step of the way. Thanks so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book I am sure to have students clamoring to read.

I like Shannon Hale because, generally, her characters are sharp and someone tends to have a warm-hearted, somewhat profound, slightly moving revelation before all is said and done. This book had those elements, but didn't come together at all. Also, I didn't like feeling so anxious about Mia.

Characters need further development. Despite being a popular younger readers author, I don’t think it will appeal to Young Adult readers

This was a cute YA contemporary! I enjoyed the foray into different novels and thought the concept was very cool and unique, but I didn’t fully connect with the characters/feel invested in the romance. Still a light, easy read and fun to see Shannon Hale return to YA!

Shannon Hale is all about living one's fantasies in whatever way a person can. In Austenland, this held the book together and the main character comes out stronger for it. In Kind of a Big Deal, the main character lives out her fantasies by falling into various book plots. The teenage angst, fear of becoming an adult, not knowing what the future holds are all believable in Josie, but the resolution of the story is not. This was a disappointing read where I continued until the end in the hopes that it would redeem itself, but sadly, it did not.