Stevie‘s review of Live, Laugh, Kidnap by Gabby Noone
Contemporary Young Adult Fiction published by Razorbill 29 Mar 22

Being a teenager sucks at times. That feeling that nothing is completely within your control, even when the adults around you are behaving irresponsibly, erratically, or just being plain mysterious for no good reason. Of course, all that feels so much worse when you’re also stuck in a dead-end town in the middle of nowhere with no obvious route to civilisation, as is the case for our three protagonists: Holly, Genesis, and Zoe.


Holly has been struggling to keep up – socially and academically – with the rich girls at the prestigious private school to which she won a scholarship. When she is caught stealing (in an attempt to solve at least one of those problems), her mother and stepfather send her away for the summer to stay in Violet, the Montana town where she was born and where her father still lives, running the diner he inherited from his uncle. Desperate to salvage something from the mess, Holly tells her friends she’s going to Iceland, which sounds far more cool, but gets cut out of their lives regardless. Arriving in Violet, Holly is initially reluctant to make friends with any of the locals, but soon finds herself drawn into the lives of two girls whom she meets in the diner.

Zoe works as a waitress for Holly’s father, using the money she makes to help her impoverished family while her mother spends unheedingly on multilevel marketing schemes that never come to anything, and her brother hoards banned energy drinks in the hope of one day selling them to collectors. She dreams of the day she will come into the money left in trust for her, believing it will be enough for her to leave Violet with her girlfriend and for them to start over in a bigger, more tolerant, town. When Zoe discovers that her inheritance has already been spent – by her mother, the main trustee – she teams up with Holly and a third girl to get the money back from the church leaders she believes to be responsible for her mother’s worst spending mistakes.

Genesis meets Holly and Zoe when delivering pies to the diner with the boy she has a crush on – although he may also be her brother, since they both grew up in the same group of former doomsday cultists, who are now eking out a living as organic farmers, and no one is entirely sure how all those born on the farm are related to each other. Her understanding of the world beyond the farm comes mostly from reading social media on phones she borrows or finds, and she is particularly fascinated by the wife of the mega-church’s pastor, who seems more glamorous than anyone living on the farm, and whose children all seem far more loved than Genesis, whose own mother pays more attention to the running of the farm than to her daughter.

Once Holly realises that a boy she keeps giving lifts to in her borrowed car is one of the children of the church leaders, the three girls hatch a plan to fake his kidnapping and recover Zoe’s lost inheritance. Nothing quite runs to plan, however, and the group find themselves falling ever deeper into a series of unlikely escapades.

I liked this book. The characters were relatable, even though the chaos they managed to cause wasn’t always believable. There were some great comedy moments, but also a few points where I could see exactly how their plans were fated to go wrong yet again. I’d like to see more from the author.

Grade: B

Live Laugh Kidnap
By Gabby Noone

I loved this book's cover and the title and the blurb really made me want to read this riot of a novel about a small town and its overrun by a megachurch more focused on how to scam the so-called believers. I was not very invested in the characters and the writing though quirky and interesting did not hold my attention - heavy themes and not as light as I thought it would be. I believe that readers will enjoy this one who enjoy cultish themes, nuanced teenage characters, small town crazies, and just an overall fun read outside of the usual tropes for a YA read.

Part Righteous Gemstones, part Nine to Five.

What a hoot! I knew I wanted to read this book, buy honestly, I didn't really remember by the time I picked it up, but wow this book is hilarious! A commentary on cults, MLM, and megachurches (which I suppose are all cults in their own way).

I really don't want to say too much about this one because it's so unique. Our cast of characters have all been hurt by these entities in their lives and decide to try to fight back against it when it all goes wrong.

All the characters felt unique, had their own motivations, and I really enjoyed reading from them all. (Bonus points for sharing a name with one of the characters). They called each other out on their bullshit, but I think that could have been a little more clear in the book.

4 stars because I think this book could have been a little stronger with some more background on Dustin and a few more chapters.

Live Laugh Kidnap was super fun, and it made me snicker a lot, but I found myself wishing it had more diversity. The characters were all really funny, and they all had really distinct personalities, and I love how the plot brought that out and shared it.
I don’t normally read books like this, but I found myself picking up Live Laugh Kidnap, and was immediately intrigued by the summary. A megachurch? LGBTQ+ rep? A kidnapping? And yes, I can promise that the book delivers all of those things. There is a megachurch run by a scheming family, as well as a wlw girl, and a kidnapping.
But of course, this is a novel, and so nothing can go as planned. All of the changes, and the way the characters react to them is very fun. I enjoyed reading the dialogue as the characters reacted to surprises in their plans, and learning how they would handle the issues that arose. The character dynamics in this book were really fun, and lighthearted. This book was definitely made for humor, and it shows in everything that came out of the book.
I thought all of the characters were super funny, and I would love to tell you all about my favorite character (the funniest), but that includes major spoilers, and so I will refrain from doing so.
Speaking from the standpoint of someone who was formally religious, I really enjoyed hearing about the characters and how they all related to faith. Some of them were really close to God, and others were still questioning or had decided that they didn’t truly believe. Hearing all of the characters talk about these things, without being rude or condescending or trying to convert people to their viewpoints was really refreshing, and it made me feel seen in the novel. I enjoyed the thoughtful discourse, and thought that it was accurate.
That being said, I was hoping for more diversity in Live Laugh Kidnap. Although there is a wlw relationship, it’s sidelined, and not really the focus of the novel. The cast otherwise is primarily white, and cisgender. This is set in Montana, so I can understand why there would be a majority white cast, but I would have liked some more diversity in skin tone, gender, sexuality, and disability status. I liked that I could see parts of myself reflected in the book, but other people deserve that chance too.
However, the cast of the book did have different family structures, and none was portrayed as better or worse than the others. Some of the choices parents made were not great, but there was no implying that certain ways that families are set up are better or worse than others. That was nice to read.
I don’t normally read kidnapping books, or anything like Live Laugh Kidnap but I really enjoyed the plot. I thought it was really fun, and that the stakes were appropriately high. I loved the balance between lighthearted scenes and more serious scenes (and how even the more serious scenes had a lighthearted tone sometimes). It made the book really fun to read and it made me snicker to myself as I read.
All in all, even though I wanted more diversity in Live Laugh Kidnap, I thought it was a pretty good book. It’s a fun novel, with well-done humor and lighthearted scenes. I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for access to this arc.


The blurb caught my attention with its description of "laugh out loud funny and bitingly clever." I'd also seen it compared to "9-5." From this I expected a screwball comedy or perhaps a dark comedy that would have me in stitches as I read it. What I got is a fairly bland, dull, and boring read. It's also a heavier, sadder book than I was expecting. Sadly this one is not for me. DNF

I loved this book so much! Like a, I couldn't put it down, level of love. It was funny and touching and I felt like I was caught up in the middle of a smart and thrilling teenage film that doesn't exist yet but probably should.

very fun read. i actually wasnnt expecting to enjoy this one so much but i wad pleasantly surprised