I loved this book! I loved more than Nothing to see here and Family Fang!

It’s liberating, artsy, rebellious, powerful, sad, genuine, realistic, complex! I’m also Gen-Z! I know how hard to find your place in the world when only thing you want is becoming visible to the others without pretending or acting like somebody else!

Two sixteen years old teenagers hold each other with their differences, unique aspects to the world, shared hates for their own dads, their sadness, resentments, extraordinary abilities.

Frankie Budge, living with her mom and her triplet cavemen brothers who are responsible of any kind of misdemeanors happen in town, abandoned by their dad to another woman. The town they live Coalfield/ Tennessee might be the most boring, eventless, random place the outsiders ignore to stop by.

Frankie’s whole life changes when a young, nerdy, artsy boy Zeke moves from Memphis with her violin prodigy mom after his dad’s cheating. They are both outsiders, loners. When Zeke asks her to spend the summer by creating art, it seems like an innocent offer.

Frankie decides to use Xerox copy machine that her brothers stole, which left broken at their garage. Zeke fixes the machine and a few tries later they start creating their own posters: they even add a few drops of their own blood and suddenly those epic words appear on Frankie’s mind: “The edge is shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.”

After they finish, they start making copies, posting them around the town. But they have no idea their innocent art concept will turn into something liberating, explosive, rebellious! Some people thing Satan worshippers wrote those words as some people think this is bunch of vagabonds’ criminal act against the law. But most the of townies became inspired and entire town get covered with those posters till some unexpected events change everything, things escalated and become more chaotic!

2 decades later Frankie becomes Frances Eleanor Budge, a famous children books author, mother of a little girl, happily married with a dentist, getting a call from a New Yorker reporter Mazzy Brower. The woman finds her true identity and her involvement with Coalfield Panic of 1996! Can you Frankie lie and get away from her past or is she brave enough bring out dirt which means she has to confront with the people who never knew what she’s done and what she’s responsible of!

I read it in one sitting! Definitely a must read!

Highly recommended!

So many thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Quirky funny so well written second book I’ve read by this author really enjoyed both,zThisone so well written great characters moments I laughed out loud a really well written novel.#netgalley #ecco

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 3/5 Characters: 3/5

This latest from the author of the uber bizarre The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here is another tale of weirdness focussed on two lonely and awkward teens (Frankie and Zeke) with nothing to do one summer in Nowheresville, Tennessee. Together they craft a poster with the captivating phrase “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us” and distribute it anonymously throughout the town with gobsmacking (British for astonishing) and kind of scary results. Decades later,a reporter tracks Frankie down, somehow having discovered her role in what became known as the “Coalfield Panic” and sends Frankie into a tailspin of fear.

It’s a coming-of-age story packed with trauma, art, young maybe-love, and some eye-opening insight as to how one can inadvertently have a big impact on the world. Wilson’s books tend to be unconventional stories with somewhat broken characters that you like in spite of yourself. To be honest, while I did enjoy reading this, the story didn’t feel like it was enough to keep my interest for as long as it took to read the book, and the characters were broken (as expected) but somehow less appealing than in previous books. I got kind of bogged down in the middle. The phrase — albeit an interesting phrase — didn’t fascinate me quite enough to make the constant repetition anything other than dulling.

So fun. Loved my first book by this author and would highly recommend it. I will say I was a bit let down by the ending. The rest of the book was a blast. Read through this gem in two days. Looking forward to reading the author’s debut book now too.

This novel is so clearly written by the same person/same brain as NOTHING TO SEE HERE and for that reason alone it was delightful. Here is the same gentle humor, the same human misunderstandings and misapprehensions, the same sort of bittersweet resolution in the end, where things may not be perfect, but they are as perfect as possible..

I would have liked the story better without knowing the backstory that was revealed in the Author Note included in my ARC edition. Also, the story felt a little stretched, and in need of more happenings for me to have felt completely satisfied. And even if there is nothing in this novel that's so fantastically odd as combusting children, I was sometimes pulled out of the fictional dream when I found myself thinking: "people would never act that way."

A perfectly adequate followup book that leaves me looking forward to reading the next one.

I had heard of Wilson before but not read any of his books. This novel was many things, but mostly it is endearing as it relates the tale of Frankie and Zeke, two "misfits" who meet and devise a poster that they hang all over town, much to the chagrin of the people as it's believed there is something like a Satanic cult ravaging their city. But Frankie and Zeke are sixteen and bored so what better way to "shake things up" except to put their talents (writing, drawing) to use in something "fun" and innocuous. But of course nothing goes according to plan as rumors abound and they aren't sure what to do. Adulthood finds them in different cities but my heart broke for them as we saw adolescence as "their" time to shine. A very bittersweet but funny and heart-wrenching read!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing me a review copy!

I really enjoyed Nothing to See Here and Now is Not the Time to Panic was no different. Kevin Wilson knows how to write quirky and loveable characters. Frankie's whole journey was so interesting and weird and lovely at the same time. I kind of wish Zeke had more of an impact toward the end but ultimately, it was wrapped up fine. Looking forward to more from Wilson!

I loved this book and devoured it in one sitting. It is so different from the last book I read by this author – Nothing to See Here, which was hilarious. This novel is more subtle, and while a sense of humor is still evident, this is a sweet and serious coming of age story.

Many readers will relate to that one summer from adolescence that we will remember always and some of us may have one that altered the trajectory of our lives, as in the case of Frankie. The setting in a pre-internet world was so nostalgic and perfect for this 50 something reader. I can’t wait to see what younger reviewers think of this book or if they will be able to relate as well as I felt I did to the characters and the small town life.

I appreciated the author’s introductory comments on writing this book. He intended to write a book about friendship, art, memory and growing up. He has succeeded in a massive way. The fact that there are autobiographical elements to this work made it even more meaningful

Frankie is a character who will stay with me for a long time. I’m reminded of myself at that age, trying to be authentic and not sure who I was becoming. Her story reminds me of how difficult it is to be a teenager/young adult and how it feels to want to be belong or be part of something. Zeke gives her an opportunity to do just that. I appreciated the dual timeline and how the years changes the perspective but ultimately Frankie is the same, unapologetic strong female.

The writing is amazing, and the themes around friendship touched upon are universal and nostalgic. I especially would love to talk about the artist’s responsibility, or lack thereof, for the consequences of their work in the world. This is a fascinating debate that’s hinted at throughout this book.

Thanks to Kevin Wilson for another outstanding and thoughtful read. And thank you to Ecco Books and Net Galley for this review copy. I hope Mr Wilson is busy with his next book as it will go to the top of my TBR!

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ebook. In a small town in Tennessee, in 1996, two sixteen year olds, Frankie and Zeke, create a poster with an odd saying and various drawings around it, make lots of copies and secretly hang them up all over town. The consequences (the mystery becomes a minor national sensation) go beyond what they imagined and are now coming up again twenty years later through a reporter. This is ultimately a sweet tale of two outcasts that find each other for one summer that will change both of them forever.

Kevin Wilson is a magician. I have treasured every book he's written and this might just be my favorite. Frankie absolutely lives and breathes on the page. Her struggle to understand herself and her art was moving and relatable. I particularly appreciated Wilson's nuanced treatment of adolescent sexuality here. The connection between Frankie and Zeke was precisely as fraught and confusing as intense teenage relationships really are. Frankie's Mom and brothers were similarly satisfyingly drawn and the family made a perfectly odd kind of sense together. Minor though he was the character of Randolph Avery was absolutely right and really added layers to the narrative. Finally, the foreword was unmissable. What a lovely frame for this story.

Kevin Wilson is master of the unique and quirky! This novel was great! A lot of fun, with great writing and characters!

Kevin Wilson has done it again. There is absolutely no question now that he is totally one of my favorite authors, after adoring THE FAMILY FANG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE, and now perhaps my favorite of the three, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC. This book doesn't actually come out until November, but thank you to the NetGalley overlords (and Ecco of course), I was blessed with an early copy and began to read it right away. To say I wasn't disappointed was an understatement. I inhaled this book, savoring each turn of phrase and plot twist, laughing out loud and gasping in horror from one page to the next. It is a masterpiece on art, friendship, obsession, and coming of age.

This story follows two sixteen year olds in the 90s, Frankie and Zeke, who team up to pass the boredom of summer by creating art that, long story short, ends up creating a mysterious panic that takes over a small town. I don't want to give too much more away, but what follows is pretty bonkers but also heartfelt and moving. I fell in love with Frankie, the wayward high school girl who is discovering herself through friendship, awkward kisses, and her writing. She is a fantastic main character, one you will root for throughout the entire book. This novel has everything I love - a close look at what art means, a decade long story with a mystery at the core and characters that drop in and out, and a coming of age story of teens in the 90s. I don't want to give too much away, but know that this book is absolutely wonderful and you need to get your hands on it as soon as you can.

This book was amazing. It was weird, it was sweet, it was fun, it was imaginative. It was so different from anything else I have read. I just finished this book, and I know that this will be one of those books that I remember for a long time.

Frankie is a misfit in a small town. She then meets another misfit - Zeke. They bond over their mutual love of art, and the fact that they are "different". They create a poster that they start plastering all over town. The poster takes on a life of its own and has unintended consequences. This takes place in the days before the internet, when things went "viral" in the real world.

I loved the characters. I loved the story. I thought the writing was excellent - I could picture the whole thing, and think it would make a great movie. I could not put this book down and was up half the night reading it.

I want to thank the author #kevinwilson the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I am now going to see what else Kevin Wilson has written.

I would like to thank @netgalley and @harpercollins for the opportunity to read this ARC by Kevin Wilson. I adored Nothing to See Here, so I was excited to see that he has another book coming out. This book was just as good. I really like how Wilson takes a normal event and puts an odd twist on it. It just works. This is a coming of age book about Frankie and Zeke. One summer, they decide to make posters and put them up around town. The posters cause an uproar in the town and lead to the deaths of some of the community members. Frankie and Zeke remain anonymous and part ways. A reporter tracks down Frankie and wants to write a story about the Coalfield Panic which will expose everything.

Astonishing author Kevin Wilson has written the most imaginative, often times harrowing but ultimately rewarding novel I have read in a long, long time. Frankie and Zeke are misfits who meet at 16 and bond over their love of kissing and a mystical poster they create together. The two xerox the poster and plaster it all over their small town. This burst of creativity wreaks havoc and changes the small town and Frankie and Zeke forever. I loved this enchanting book and could not put it down. I recommend it highly.