Now is Not the Time to Panic is a coming of age story that centers on the impulsive action of two teens, and what that action sets in motion in their small town. The story is weird, the kids are weird, the whole feel of the book seems off somehow - these teens seem younger than their stated age, the build-up to their odd “act of rebellion” feels overblown and overly dramatic, the characters all feel a little flat, and the writing is good in places, but mostly it feels like the author is just trying to hard - to make the book feel bigger than it is, and in the end, it just doesn’t work.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Now Is Not the Time to Panic.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a story about an artistic, ambitious sixteen year old named Frankie Budge who meets an equally creative soul in Zeke one fateful summer, but it affected me more than I thought it would.

I think it's because Frankie reminds me of myself at that age; angsty, frustrated, artsy, not like everyone else, seeking something she's not sure what but it's greater than herself and the small town she's from

It's a coming of age story as much as a story about redemption, art, love and loss.

I really liked Frankie; she was her own person and she wasn't afraid to assert herself.

But what really struck me was how amazing and wonderful the adults in her life were; her mother, Hobart, Mr. Avery, her college professor.

It means so much to a child or teenager, anyone really, to have someone listen to you, to hear your voice, to acknowledge your feelings, to support and care and love you.

I also liked how Frankie reconnected with Zeke; I know some friendships don't last forever, they're only meant for a specific amount of time and the ones you have when you're young and idealistic are the best and most meaningful friendships you can have.

Now Is Not The Time to Panic is about self expression, forgiveness, and yes, art and the amazing and crazy things it can do to or for you, but mostly it's about the individual.

What do YOU want to do with your life? How do YOU want to change the world?

This was a great, thought provoking read and I appreciate the opportunity to read it early.

This book was weird in all the best ways. The main character, Frankie, is the perfect representation of what it's like being a teenager on the fringe. I related to her contradictory feelings, her desire for something more, and the complicated feelings she had for Zeke, her friend for the summer. She was perfect.

Sometimes, when the action centers on teenagers, the dialogue becomes whiney and the storyline becomes, as the teens would say, "cringe." Not so in Now Is Not the Time to Panic. The dialogue and plot were pitch-perfect and I thought my teenagers would love reading it as much as I did because the representation of kids in high school was never grating or annoying but always true and honest.

Art was a major theme of the novel and I thought Wilson did a great job weaving big questions about art and the effects of art between the lines of this story. Like with his previous work, Nothing to See Here, I found myself thinking, "This book is about two teenagers hanging up posters during the summer...but it's about so much more than that."

After reading this and Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson has become an auto-buy author for me. Now I'm going to have to go digging through his backlist until his next book comes out.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. The book comes out in November but you can pre-order it now.

An unpredictable and jubilant coming-of-age story of two teen misfits whose lives are forever changed one summer through art, friendship, shared secrets and their search for purpose. Now Is Not The Time To Panic by Kevin Wilson is a quick and enjoyable read that leaves you pondering that one pivotable moment when your life forever changes.

I am grateful to Harper Collins and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Frankie, who wants to be a writer, spends another sad summer hiding from the world. Zeke, a talented artist and awkward product of a broken family, lives with his grandmother - he is a lost and lonely stranger in the strange land of a small and impoverished southern town. Their lives collide, igniting a creative spark that leads to the creation of an enigmatic poster that sets the town ablaze with rumors of Satanists and kidnappers, resulting in a series of murders, and what becomes known as the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Frankie's mysterious and unforgettable phrase - 'The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us,' takes on a life of its own as it quickly spreads way beyond their small town with heartbreaking consequences.

I enjoyed reading Wilson's book and believe it will engender some great discussions about life, art, love, and identity.

This is another quirky book from Kevin Wilson, although apparently a lot more personal than his previous book. Two teens who meet at the local pool one summer become close friends, perhaps a bit more, and bond over a strange activity - they create a poster that they duplicate and post all over town. The results of that act are unexpected, and a strong comment on human nature. When the book jumps ahead 20 years, we see how that act is still an issue. The author's preface explains the personal connection to the heart of this story, and why he wrote the book. I'm not sure why, but I could not get into the story or the teens and their issues. However, I do think that others may enjoy this unusual book. Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for providing an ARC.

I loved Kevin Wilson’s last book, and eagerly looked forward to reading “Now Is Not The Time To Panic.” It is similarly quirky and unexpected, although perhaps slightly less funny. Teenagers Frankie and Zeke set out to become street artists, in the style of Banksey, and unintentionally set in motion a series of events in a small town in rural Tennessee, in the 1990s. The setting, and the time period—prior to the widespread use of the internet—play into the event, referred to as the “Coalfield Panic.” As someone who is old enough to appreciate life before the internet, I understood the pace of life, the speed at which information traveled, and the roles of news and popular culture, which gave me a deep appreciation for this novel. But, I do think that Wilson describes this world specifically enough that younger readers will comprehend it too. At least, I hope they do, because people should read this book. This is an unusual and captivating story, although I felt the ending was just a bit underwhelming. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

I loved this book! Now is Not the Time to Panic was the quirkiest, funniest, weirdest book I’ve read in a while and I loved every minute of it.
Frankie and Zeke, two awkward teens in a small Tennessee town in the mid 90s, accidentally cause a national panic on their summer vacation. I laughed, loudly, several times while reading this book. There wasn’t a single character I disliked, and Frankie’s mom was probably one of my favorite characters, even as limited as her role in the story was.
My only complaint isn’t about the story itself, but the placement of the author’s note. I wish it had been at the end of the book. Knowing where the phrase came from beforehand kind of took away from the phrase’s origins in the actual story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Now is Not the Time to Panic in exchange for my honest review.

Now is Not the Time to Panic is a fictional story of two teenagers who change the trajectory of their boring summer with one pivotal decision. The aftermath of their choice has consequences for themselves, their families, and their town. The storyline is mostly set in 1996 where Frankie and Zeke meet and change the course of their lives forever. There is an alternating timeline in the present day where the reader sees the results of the actions of 1996, a/k/a The Panic.

I’m always interested in reading a coming-of-age story. Being about the same age as the characters in 1996, I felt that Wilson portrayed a realistic time and place. I could easily imagine the events that played out and felt that the relationship between Frankie and Zeke was authentic in how it developed and grew. The story kept my attention throughout as this was a fresh take on two teens conspiring to do something underhanded. While Wilson’s writing is excellent, I did feel that this book was missing a bit of a spark. I kept comparing it to his earlier work of Nothing to See Here and was expecting a bit more humor to accompany the storyline and character interactions. This work definitely had a more serious tone which supported the "outcast uniting" theme for Frankie and Zeke.

3.5 stars for this quirky but relatable tale. Special thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

First off, thank you so much for my advanced e-arc! I am a massive Kevin Wilson fan and this one did not disappoint.

I really enjoyed Now is Not the Time to Panic! While the title didn’t quite match up to the story for me, I was thoroughly entertained by this coming of age tale.

Wilson is such a talented, captivating writer. I absolutely loved the dual timeline narrative. From the very first page, I was immersed in Frankie’s story during that pivotal summer. I was rooting for her and Zeke. Wilson made me want to root for them.

Overall, I wanted more from the ending. It wasn’t wrapped with a pretty bow, but there was a lot of ambiguity (perhaps intentionally). But with so much of the story wrapped around the world knowing, I was curious to see how this impacted Frankie specifically.

Thank you again for my early copy!

It is the summer of 1996 and Frankie Budge is bored. As a sixteen-year old girl living in a small Tennessee town, she has no real friends and a difficult home life with a father who has recently departed to start another family. She meets Zeke, an awkward boy of the same age with a similar set of problems of his own. Frankie and Zeke quickly bond over shared artistic interests—she aspires to be a writer and he wants to be an illustrator—and they collaborate to produce an enigmatic poster using her words and his drawings. On a lark, they post hundreds of copies of their work all over town, which leads to a series of dire happenings—alleged kidnappings, claims of devil worship, mass hysteria, and even death—that are well beyond their control. The aftermath of The Panic, as it is called, continues to haunt both kids for decades following that singular summer, shaping the arc of their adult lives.

In Now Is Not the Time to Panic, author Kevin Wilson tells Frankie and Zeke’s story in a humorous and tender-hearted manner, with just enough of the weirdness that fans have come to expect from his fiction. It is Frankie who receives most of the attention—in fact, the book is narrated from her perspective—which makes the entire tale feel like a somewhat twisted coming-of-age story. However, in a revealing Foreword to the main narrative, the author indicates that his real reason for writing this novel in the first place was to base the plot around these seemingly profound, but ultimately nonsensical, lines: “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” So, the whole saga of Frankie and Zeke actually had its beginning in Wilson’s desire to immortalize a catch phrase, which had become a touchstone in his own life and development as a writer!

I think that origin story is important because it simultaneously points to what makes this book so special as well as why it does not always work quite so neatly. Above all else, the characterization of the main protagonist is excellent, both in the development of her angst-ridden internal struggles, her idiosyncratic family life, and the urgency she feels to become something more. Also, Frankie’s relationship with Zeke seemed real and not a mere device to move the story along. On the other hand, it was hard to understand how The Panic developed out a relatively innocuous phrase, to say nothing of the hold that it has on Frankie throughout her life. I never understood why those words were so incendiary and I certainly could not fathom why both Frankie and Zeke felt any guilt whatsoever for the events that unfolded. As a consequence, the threat to reveal their secret did not seem like much of a catalyst for the second-half of the story. Still, I found this to be an enjoyable novel that told an engaging and quirky tale. It is one that I can easily recommend, despite its few shortcomings.

A coming of age story of two lonely misfit teenagers, one a resident (Frankie) and the other a visitor (Zeke) to a small Tennessee town where nothing happens, who create a poster (her writing his drawing) which they copy and spread all over town creating mass hysteria-thoughts of kidnappers, satanic cults, as well as some tragic unintended consequences.
Twenty years later Frankie, now a mother, wife, and published author is about to be discovered and searches desperately for Zeke, to alert him. The conclusion at least for me, was bittersweet, but the coming of age story certainly worthwhile. A good read!!!

I love the cover and the title of this book and I really enjoyed ‘Nothing to See Here’, so this was a book I was looking forward to diving into.
From the first paragraph I was captivated by the characters and the need to know more. Frankie and Zeke are the kids we were and the kids in our present neighborhoods, the whole thing took off in a way which was as believable as it was fantastical.
It really made me think!
I was a little disappointed by the ending but I wonder if that was because I just didn’t want it to end.

It pains me to give this novel 2 stars because I love Kevin Wilson's previous works. First off, the writing was subpar. It's like he forgot how to write honestly. The prose was so repetitive and awkward. The main character, Frankie is awkward so maybe it was intentional. I just couldn't give into the story. It was so bland. I ended up pretty much skimming a huge chunk of this book. I can't really say the ending was good either. Normally I feel such a strong connection to his characters, but not this time around. I know this story means a lot to Kevin Wilson because of his past, but I just didn't like it. It was flat and overwrought. I recommend "Nothing to See Here" and his short story collections, "Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine" and "Tunneling to the Center of the Earth".

Thank you, Netgalley and Ecco for the digital ARC.

Frankie Budge finds an unlikely friend and ally in the new in town kid, Zeke. Together they create a unique piece of art that ends up causing a panic in their small town. When a journalist tracks Frankie down decades later, Frankie is forced to face her past. Suspenseful and quirky.

A coming-of-age story that kept me engaged until the end. This is my second book by Kevin Wilson and I enjoyed it even more than the first. I enjoyed the bits of nostalgia woven through the book. When it first started I kept thinking of movies like "Goonies" and "Stand by Me". I always love a book with a dual timeline and trying to piece together how the past and the present will intersect. It was a little darker than I originally expected it to be, but overall I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Ecco & NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book ☺️ I related to our main character, Frankie, 16 years old in 1996, living in rural Coalfield, TN. She’s a bit of a loner and loves to read. I lived in a rural town until I was 11, and I was 15 in 1996.

@kevinwilsonauthor is one of my favorite writers; he creates these detailed, bright worlds. He writes the female voice better than some female writers do (how?!). Here, Frankie makes a new friend, Zeke, at a pivotal point during her teenage years, and together they create a piece of art that somehow sets off a hilarious, weird, dangerous and boggling chain of events.

Adult Frankie tells this story, and it’s striking to see how she still carries this summer with her, how it has shaped her into adulthood. Wilson is masterful here — he captures both the heightened sense of meaning and possibility unfolding during a summer, and the nostalgia we feel looking back. For Frankie, this summer defined her and she holds those memories dear. So when she is forced to look closer at that summer and consider Zeke’s experience, it’s amazing to see how she puzzles this out while not allowing her memories and experiences to lose their power.

There’s a lot going on here and I don’t want to say much because it’s too delicious. While Wilson has a light touch and this never ventures into darkness, there is a certain dread hanging over Frankie’s memories — what could happen? What’s the worst that could happen? And the dread a lot of us can recall: what will happen when summer is over.

Kevin Wilson is magical in his ability to conjure up those hot days of summer, full of possibility, invincibility, where you could devote yourself to someone or something with reckless abandon. Oh and the secondary characters — Frankie’s mom, her brothers, the neighbor — are all so wonderful.

Lastly, I gasped out loud when I recognized the very oblique reference to one of my favorite childhood books, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. It felt like an Easter egg for avid readers of my generation and I love Kevin Wilson for dropping it in there.

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson, is a story set across two timelines. In one. Frankie Budge is a 16 year old trying to figure out how she fits into the world, and more specifically small-town USA Coalfield, Tennessee. In the other timeline, Frankie is all grown up and her seemingly put together life is potentially about to be torn apart by a reporter who thinks she has uncovered the truth of the role that Frankie played in a strange and ultimately deadly series of events that unraveled that summer so long ago in Coalfield.

This story captures a lot of the awkwardness of teenage years in a nostalgic and relatable way. There is both humor and heartache, and even a little suspense about where the unraveling of an innocent art project will go.

Overall this was an entertaining read. 4 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco publishing for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A quirky coming of age story that didn’t strike the same chord as Nothing to See Here, but still enjoyable. Frankie is a lonely teen who meets Zeke one summer at the local pool. They be one instant friends and begin making “art” on Frankie’s dads copy machine. They make posters of their art and hang them around town. This somehow creates a hysteria abt who is behind the posters. A cult maybe? I enjoyed or related to a lot of Frankie’s anxieties and liked the writing a lot. It’s definitely not going to be a book everyone likes but those that like quiet coming of age stories will enjoy this one.

I think that I can safely say that I have never read anything similar to Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. It is a quaint, yet bizarre coming of age story. The book focuses on Frankie, a lonely young girl who meets Zeke, a transplant to her hometown. They find a camaraderie with one another as two creative teens from broken homes. And as these two teens grapple with their relationship, their differences, and developing senses of self, they prompt one another to create a poster. Frankie develops the phrase while Zeke provides the illustrations. Intended to be an innocuous form of self-expression, it spirals out of control. Accusations abound and creates panic which explodes to a national level. Frankie and Zeke remain in the shadows until years later, a reporter discovers the truth and threatens to expose it all.

  I really liked the themes of consequence and the rippling effects of our actions. I thought the characters were likable. The plot was relatable to a point – I know there are some poor choices we all make as adolescences. But there was something a bit too odd about Frankie’s obsession with the phrase and its overblown importance that just rang as disingenuous to me.
 
  But overall, enjoyable! Especially if you like an artistic, quirky read.

Many thanks to Ecco and Netgalley for this title in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Kevin Wilson's latest and perhape greatest novel, Now is Not the Time to Panic. Wildly original, funny and touching, Kevin Wilson has done it again with a new cast of flawed and outrageously lovable characters.

In the 1990s, Frankie is a teenager living in a small town with her triplet older brothers and her hard working, loving mother. At the neighborhood pool she meets Zeke, an awkward but endearing artist who becomes her first true friend. Together they create a work of art with an unforgettable catchphrase that they display anonymously all throughout their town. The outcome creates a mass hysteria that they never could have anticipated and their lives are forever changed.

Years later, Frankie is contacted by a journalist who knows that she is at least partially responsible for the panic in Coalfield. With the secrets from her past on the verge of being exposed, Frankie is confronted with choices that will change her life forever.