This was a really unique and fun read! I loved the fantastical elements and always love Shannon Hale's writing.

I have been reading Hale since I was in middle school. I love her books to pieces. I was at first unsure about this one when I started the first few pages, but the doubt didn't last long as I continued forward. So what makes this book different than all the other books? At first the book reads like a cute slice of life with the hope of romance. As you get going though you realize there is so much more to this book (as per usual Hale books). Being sucked into books has been done before, but each author or movie producer writes their own twist to the tale. Josie's experience of getting "lost in a book" isn't like many others. She isn't physically sucked in and she isn't read into the plot, but experiences a bit of what appears to be vertigo and BAM! like a dream she is there...but so is everyone else in her life (adding more to her dream theory). But what is really happening within this novel? Is it magic? Or is Josie really just getting lost in the plot or even dreaming? And does she end up sticking with long time boyfriend Justin or is there a new man in her life (or maybe even none at all)? And, most important of all, does she reconnect with her long times dreams or forge on to a new path? You will need to read to find out in this wonderful and quirky new title "Kind of a Big Deal"! I just love books about books!

I wasn’t really able to finish this book. I got about 35% in and just felt it was so over the top and ridiculous that I was not able to keep reading.

You know, I wanted to love this. And I think, maybe, if I had read this a few years ago I would have eaten it up. I loved the characters and I found myself loving the "reality" storylines moreso than the bookish stories. There were just a few sections that tended to be slightly too long (at least for me). If I wanted to read a harlequin romance I would've picked one up (isn't that hilarious, because do I ever pick up a book without the possibility of romance)? But maybe if I liked those genres more, it wouldn't have bothered me. I much preferred the chapters that had a few paragraphs within a book instead of several chapters (but that's a personal preference). HOWEVER, the graphic novel/comic section was by far my favorite! So creative and whimsical.

This book in all its glory, is quirky and over the top and even had a few surprises for me. This is probably a 3.7, because there were enough elements that I really liked. I think teens would love it. Not to mention, I think a lot of people go through that period of life where you are no where near where you thought you'd be. You've drifted from your friends, your family's a mess, and you don't know what your next move should be. (In addition to that credit card debt that is forever looming at the back of your head) And you get that self-discovery here. OVERALL, I would definitely recommend to new adults/teens.

(Also...I wanted more Theater references...even though there was a lot...my musical loving heart didn't get enough)

*Thanks to the folks at Netgalley for an eArc*

This book wasn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon, but it’s not something I’m going to add to our collection. I have been a fan of Shannon Hale’s other books, but this one reads like something I would have written with my friends in high school. It’s very cliche and many of the characters are caricatures of themselves. The best relationship in the whole book is Josie and Mia’s. So as long as you know what you’re getting into, this is a quick and lighthearted read, but don’t expect any revelations or especially strong writing.

I love reading and books about books but this one just didn’t work for me.

Josie Pie was a high school actress who dropped out of school to try her luck on Broadway but now she’s trying to make ends meet and dig herself out of debt as a nanny in Montana.

The book traces Josie’s story as she works to emerge from her high school persona to a more adult self. There’s also a bookstore and a possible love interest, a trio of snooty fellow nannies and magical reading glasses that transport Josie through a series of fantastical fictions.

For me the whole book was too disjointed. I had a hard time identifying with or rooting for Josie who seems shallow and narcissistic (she was kind of a big deal in high school) and the other characters in the book are quite flat. To me they almost seemed like caricatures of a best friend, boyfriend, potential love interest and so on.

The magical, fiction-reading dream sequences seem like they should have been fun but were mostly confusing and tedious to me and I had a hard time being interested in anything about them.

It has many interesting ideas and touches on various coming of age themes, but because of the disjointed story line, strange pacing and lukewarm characters, this book really didn’t do it for me.

I received an eARC from Netgalley & Roaring Book Press in exchange for my honest review.

What on Earth is this book? Seriously?! What is it?!

The text was confusing. The storyline made no sense. There are no words I can really say so as not to spoil this for others. I genuinely cannot tell if this was intentionally bad, but this was a HUGE miss for Hale. I had high expectations & this fell FAR short (like miles far).

3.5 Stars

The beginning of Kind of a Big Deal is a little rocky. I spent the first couple of chapters sort of confused and a little ambivalent. It wasn’t until Josie actually finds herself inside a book that I was able to lose myself in the novel.

A lot of that early meh came with Josie. It seems like Josie’s supposed to come across as a sympathetic character, but she instead reads as self-absorbed. She took me straight back to the high school girls who sauntered down the halls as if they owned them. Thankfully, she becomes more interesting as the book moves forward.

The best parts of Kind of a Big Deal are the chapters where Josie is inside books. There, Hale is able to let her imagination go wild. Her world-building is spot on, and her action enticing.

Kind of a Big Deal is not my favorite Shannon Hale book, but it’s got merit. If you’re a diehard fan, you should buy it, otherwise check it out from the library first.

Have you ever started a book completely in love with its concept, only to realize that the execution just didn’t fit what you were hoping for? I began reading Kind of a Big Deal with pretty high expectations, and unfortunately I think that’s what doomed my experience of the book.

Let’s start with the negatives: I was so excited about the premise of a character disappearing into different kinds of books, as I felt it was a creative idea with so much room for exploring classic genre tropes and writing styles. Unfortunately, as the book went on I noticed that the tone stayed pretty constant throughout. As a result, I felt less and less interested in the book-hopping the more that I read. All of the featured genres (romance, post-apocalyptic zombie tale, YA fantasy, etc) are normally so distinct from one another, it felt like a missed opportunity not to vary the writing style from book to book.

It was hard for me to keep reading, both because of the writing style and because of Josie’s attitude. I enjoy reading books about characters that are unlikeable! And I think that teenage girl characters are often deemed annoying/rude for simply having a backbone, being loud or not taking any bullshit. That said, I just really didn’t click with Josie’s character. Especially at the beginning, it was difficult to sympathize with her, in part because of her disdain for anything she considered beneath her (ex: community theater???? Why). Her friendship with Mia, the girl she babysat, showed some of her depth and was just about the only thing that kept me from dismissing her character at the start.

The romance in this book also fell flat for me. The way that the book-hopping was set up, with Josie imagining versions of Justin along with her in the book that could never accurately represent the real Justin, made it difficult to root for them. For the most part, Justin didn’t seem like a fleshed-out character. And the love triangle felt forced and unnecessary. Personally, I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if it had focused solely on Josie’s personal growth and her relationship with her best friend.

The last negative: while the full ending of the whole book-hopping mystery took me by surprise, it also felt like it kind of came out of nowhere. I could see hints of the reveal throughout the book, but I wish there had been more of a mystery element that would set up the drama of the final outcome. (I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone who decides to read so I’ll leave it at that!)

Onto the positives: I feel that this book deals with a lot of topics that are pretty relevant to teenagers – especially those on the verge of finishing high school. Josie feels lost, unsure of herself and her place in the world, and like she has already failed at life. It was nice to see a character realize that there are so many more ways to live and paths to follow than just the one that you start out with. Josie grew significantly, and her journey felt relatable to what most young adults go through at some point.

I especially liked the growth that Josie exhibited at the end of the book when it came to her dynamic with her best friend. Friendship breakups are difficult and often as painful as relationship breakups, so I was glad to see a book that addressed that and the importance of healthy and balanced friendships.

Ultimately, this book was quite a mixed bag for me. Some parts I enjoyed, and others I just didn’t connect with at all and was quite disappointed by. While I admire the creativity of the concept and the character journey, I think that this book would be better suited for younger readers with a love for musical theater, or ones questioning their life goals and plans.

Great premise, but it felt like it could've been an adult novel based on the character. Love, love, love the idea of falling into book worlds.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book had an interesting premise, Josie could actually hop into stories and live the plot line. There was a suspense element, and a decent plot twist at the end. I think we can all relate to Josie as she’s trying to find her path post-high school. She’s trying to navigate her long distance relationship and a strong friendship that is changing.

Overall, I think this was a really well-written and a creative premise. But it was just not my cup of tea. I’m glad I read it. And it’s something I could share with my students who are looking For a fast-paced, engaging story.

I didn’t connect well with this main character, however! That doesn’t mean that others will. My main issues is that she read younger than most YA main characters right now. I know that probably means she was written true to age, hence, why I feel this story will be widely appealing it just wasn’t to me.

Once upon a time, Josie was kind of a big deal. She owned her high school stage, and there were many who believed she would "make it". Encouraged by her drama teacher, she dropped out of school to audition for a Broadway production in NY. But after not quite making the cut, she fled and hid out in Montana working as a Nanny. Feeling the weight of her failures, she found herself escaping via the pages of a book, but there seemed to be a bit of magic fueling these escapes.

I had a rather good time reading this book. I think Josie's conflict is one people could relate to on some level. She felt as though she had peaked in high school and there was really nowhere for her to go. In reality, she was impeding her future by constantly looking back. She let her high school hey-days and day dreams define her self worth, and that was keeping her from moving forward, taking chances, and also from forming meaningful relationships.

Via the different stories she dropped into, she was able to gain a bit of perspective on her past and who she was now. She discovered quite a few truths about what she thought were the best-days-of-her-life, the person she was back then, and the different things she was capable of now. I thought it was a rather ingenious path to self discovery.

Overall, I enjoyed jumping from book to book and seeing Josie grow and learn.

Copied from Goodreads: I received an ARC of Kind of a Big Deal from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I wanted to love this book. The concept is so amazing. Plus, I love reading AND Broadway, so this book should have checked all the boxes. Shannon Hale wrote this book for years in between other projects and I think that was the problem. It felt really disjointed. Josie is not a likable character for most of the book, and that was hard because the plot wasn’t enticing enough for most of the book. There were moments I enjoyed, but most of it was odd and awkward.

I want to commend Hale for REALLY going above and beyond with her musical theater research. She included the Jimmy Awards among other great little details.

I have no idea what I am reading… is this book a romance, fantasy, is there magic involved?? I have no clue what’s going on and I feel so lost. The synopsis was so interesting but I just do not think it held up to what I was expecting. This is a DNF for me.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I adored this book and this author is a autoread for me. I enjoyed the stories mixed in with life and making friends and choices. I loved the glasses were a portal to the different worlds. I liked that she tried her best.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah author Shannon Hale’s new young adult book is a bookstore’s shelving nightmare.

That’s because it’s a romantic comedy, musical, fantasy, contemporary with a graphic novel section.

“Kind of a Big Deal” (Macmillan, 400 pages, ages 12 and up) was released Aug. 25 and is Hale’s first young adult novel in five years. She debuted in young adult with “Goose Girl” in 2005. Now, her repertoire includes adult romantic comedies such as “Austenland” — which was made into a major motion picture in 2013 — middle grade novels including the Newbery Honor recipient “Princess Academy,” picture books, graphic novels and Marvel adaptations. Her range is tremendous, and she shows it off in this newest book.

“Kind of a Big Deal” stars Josie Pye, who was the queen of high school. But after dropping out to take on Broadway, she failed hard and ended up nannying a little girl in Montana, not knowing what her next move should be. When a spontaneous purchase from a bookstore ends up sucking her into the story (literally), she risks losing herself in the fantasy world of books instead of facing up to her life, her relationships and who she wants to become.

The first spark of inspiration for this story came many years ago when Hale’s now teenage son was a toddler and while on a walk he pulled her hand toward a weedy, abandoned lot.

“He did it with such determination, like he knew where he was going,” Hale told me in an interview. “Being a writer, I couldn’t help but immediately start making up a reason for this.”

She had a book in her purse, so she imagined when they got to their destination they would be magically transported into whatever book they had on them.

Hale didn’t sit down to write the story until she reached a point in her publishing journey where she needed a break, but found it impossible to stop writing entirely. Instead, she decided to write the story that became “Kind of a Big Deal” as a screenplay.

“I thought I would write something that could never sell so it would be low pressure,” she said. “So I thought, ‘I’ll write a screenplay,’ since those are impossible to sell.”

Once she’d written it, Hale decided she liked the story enough to turn it into an adult novel. But even with her successful track record at that point, she couldn’t get any agents to take the novel on in that iteration.

“Everybody wants a book that’s already been proven, that has a market premade for it,” she said. “When you look at adult books in the bookstore, they are classified down into micro categories. (Publishers) just didn’t know what to do with this book. It wasn’t clearly one thing. They want it to be a fantasy or a comedy or a romance.”

Hale eventually decided to change the book entirely to fit into the young adult category.

“It’s not as simple as changing the age and a few details,” she said. “It changed in every sense … (and it) resonated through the whole story.”

Hale said it’s harder to change a book this drastically rather than writing an entirely new one, in the same way it can cost more to renovate a house instead of knocking it down and starting over. But, she’s found that younger readers are more accepting of genre-bending.

“Younger readers will go with you anywhere,” she said. “But by the time we get to be adults we’ve lost our imaginations. Our brains harden and stiffen like pinatas. It’s very sad.”

She admits the genre-meshing in “Kind of a Big Deal” asks a lot of the reader to be able to let go of expectations and “go for a ride.”

The mixture of genres is part of what Hale has always liked most about this book, she said, and what kept her coming back to it over the course of more than a decade and many other writing projects.

“I don’t know what it is with me. If it’s not a challenge, then I feel like I’m cheating somehow,” she said. “Also I get bored easily, so I’ve written in over a dozen different genres. I like playing with, exploring and combining different genres and seeing what I can come up with. This book has so much of that.”

She also enjoyed being able to poke fun at the genre tropes of the books Josie falls into—from zombie apocalypse novels to romance to young adult.

“My goal with comedy is always to laugh at the thing while loving the thing,” Hale said.

She gave the example of “Austenland.” Hale said she loves Jane Austen books and movies, but also recognizes how ridiculous it is that Austen fans are so obsessed with fictional characters in a period of time that was not great for women and didn’t have indoor plumbing. She tried to capture that loving and mocking spirit in the genres she showcased in “Kind of a Big Deal.”

Hale also pulled from some of her life experiences in creating the character of Josie, especially related to her love of theater.

“I can say with much confidence that I was not a big deal in high school,” Hale said. “I am not a singer and nobody saw me on stage and went, ‘That girl’s going to be something,’ but I did grow up doing theater. … It was my happy space. It was where I made most of my really close friends, so I always wanted to write a book about a theater kid and really infuse my love of theater.”

Hale even met her husband doing theater in high school, similar to Josie and her high school boyfriend.

Another aspect of “Kind of a Big Deal” that breaks out of established categories in books is Josie’s stage of life. Generally, young adult books are about high schoolers and adult books are about adults past college age. This leaves the years immediately after high school pretty neglected in most popular literature.

“I think it is really a fascinating age,” Hale said. “Where suddenly you’re like, ‘ready, set, you’re an adult. What am I supposed to do now?’ I think it’s exciting and fun and it’s also scary and daunting. It’s great for storytelling because (young adults) are trying to get their feet under them and figure out who they are and where their place is in the larger world.”

Her goal was to show how there are a lot of possibilities at that time of life, and that young adults don’t have to decide everything right away.

As for what’s coming next, Hale and her husband, Dean, have the eighth “Princess in Black” book scheduled to release next fall. A few other projects have yet to be announced, especially with all the uncertainty coming from COVID-19.

“It’s hard to write in quarantine with four kids at home,” Hale admitted.

She added that she misses being able to do in-person events and meet readers in person.

But pandemic or not, “Kind of a Big Deal” is finally out in the world after more than 10 years and more iterations than Hale has ever done on a book before, she said.

“It took many years of work,” she said. “But I finally have a book that I’m proud of.”

Shannon Hale’s latest novel sounds adorable! I mean, who doesn’t want to escape into the plots of your favorite books? Who doesn’t want to escape into fantasy worlds when your own life is crap?

Josie Pie (yes, there is an Anne of Green Gables reference) used to be a big deal at her high school. Her teacher even convinced Josie she would be a Broadway star as soon as she went to NYC. So much so, that she quits school and heads out to New York for her big break.

Her teacher is AWFUL in so many ways, and Josie completely naïve. Of course, her huge Broadway career doesn’t happen instantaneously. And as a teenager in NYC who has no clue about reality, Josie has no way to support herself but become a nanny. So, she does (somehow with no experience) and ends up in Montana.

It’s there she meets a bookstore seller who convinces her to escape into her imagination. But what happens when she literally starts escaping into various novels? (Note: I did love the hilarious bodice ripper story and kind of wanted a whole book about that.) Meanwhile, there’s the high school boyfriend back home in Arizona she barely talks to anymore, and life just gets more confusing from there.

As a whole, the premise is excellent. However, this isn’t Hale’s best work. While sweet, the execution is stilted with dialogue that doesn’t read naturally. Also, the romance with the non-existent boyfriend doesn’t really work either because he has no characterization. Plus, I just couldn’t connect with Josie, who was frustratingly self-absorbed (though I get that was the point).

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it when she jumped into stories, and I think this will be a fun read for young teens just graduating from middle-grade novels. Overall, this is a lovely story that merely needed more development. I still love Shannon Hale, and I am looking forward to her next book!

Adaptation Recommendation: Truthfully, I feel like Kind of a Big Deal would be better as a TV series. There’s more room for expansion (which it needs), the visuals of entering various book worlds could be hysterical if done right, and more time on the romance would fill out the story nicely. The writers could even create new book worlds. It would be so much fun!

Kind of a Big Deal | Shannon Hale

I'm not sure what I was expecting but this definitely wasn't what I had in mind. While I adore that xx was falling into books and in a sense escaping her current reality, the book just didn't work for me.

Kind of a bummer, it was a title I was really excited to get the chance to read - I received an advance reader ecopy thanks to Netgalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group but I just felt like the writing was too juvenile even for a YA & was just expecting more. I couldn't connect with Josie because even though it was a book about moving on after high school, I just wanted her to grow up & get over it. & just because it was the title of the book, it being her catch phrase was just so cringeworthy.

It skirts around Nina being transgender, but it's not confirmed until about 60% of the way in. It just made it seem weird to me, why make it so awkward? It just felt incomplete to me?

I will say the shout outs to Columbus & Middletown, Ohio were fun, since I live almost near perfectly in the middle between the two!

I WANTED to love it. I mean a YA semi romance where the lead character falls into the books she's reading? Sounds amazing, and exactly something I could go for, but this one just fell a little short of its standing ovation for me. I rated it 3 stars because I did enjoy the beginning and ending, and Josie's relationship to Mia but that 3 even seems generous.

Like Josie's Broadway career this book was lacking a callback... umm or some other way to say it just didn't work.

The Good:
Josie is a character that peaks in high school, is weirdly encouraged to purse Broadway before she even graduates high school and (not) shockingly fails to succeed... I'd say that in this book Josie is a pretty solid character that I personally loved to hate through most of the book. I've seen reviews that she's unrelatable ... but really she was well developed as a girl who was a big fish in a small pond, with the standard issue underdeveloped frontal lobe of a 17 year old girl, seeking stardom and completely at a loss for what to do when she doesn't get it. I really didn't like her - and that credit goes to the author and the development of this character.

The Rest:
(SPOILERS BELOW)

Overall, this book felt like two separate books that could have both had success but were smashed together and when that happened it was all a mess. First Novel: A coming of age story that begins to take shape as Josie a failed Broadway star now turned nanny discovers a love of reading. Josie's reading becomes an opportunity to develop and grow. Allowing her to see life from other perspectives and seek to change through them. Second Novel: A story of a lonely girl that is trying to find where she belongs. She strikes out in reality and stumbles into a bookstore run by the supernatural who sees the opportunity to take advantage. Josie is given magic glasses that transport her into a dream world that she can't stay too long in or she'll suffer the consequences. Of course Josie is left to her own devices to learn these rules of magic. Will she find where she belongs in the real world or be locked in the magic world forever?

See huge possibilities within either of those novels! What we got was a mash up that had some weirdly chosen rhetoric "Give me back my real life or I will Spice Girl the crap out of you!" Rushed plot and yet extensive time within the dream/book scenes ... I would have much preferred more attention to the "bad guys" that put Josie into this predicament - Instead the reader is left to shore up the "what just happened" of the cute new bookstore boy wasn't actually a future love interest that helps Josie move beyond the ghosting high school boyfriend she's been pining/complaining about most of the novel... (Novel One, yup now I'm just writing my own plot) with the fact that the cute new bookstore boy was a supernatural weirdo (ok that's my opinion) that was feeding off of Josie's daydreaming/reading, who Josie battles against in a bizarre fight scene (see above quote), and then the novel ends with Josie and the high school boyfriend together after all when he shows up at her door magically (but not actually) moments after she wished him to be there. Oh I'm sorry, did I lose you? Confused? Yah...

I love love love Shannon Hale and her children's stories (the Princess Black series my daughter has read over and over again!) so I am so sad to dislike this so much... but it happens. I give it two stars because well - the main character WAS well developed and I did love "Novel One" if only that was all it was.