If you're looking for a lighthearted YA romance, I suggest you step away from this book. If you're however, looking for a unique novel about finding yourself, about growth of character AND teenage friendship and of course, a rad passion.. <i><b>What are you waiting for?</b></i>

<i>The Art of Escaping</i> is mainly about Mattie and Will. Two teenagers who go to the same school and yet have never actually interacted with each other, but find an unexpected friendship in one another. I'm not gonna lie, I totally expected this to become a sappy, cliché YA story with them falling in love with each other and yadda yadda yadda BUT! B u t!! I was pleasantly suprised by being proved wrong. This YA debut has zero nonsensical romance, no stupid acts of so called love but is focused on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, being honest with yourself, finding yourself and ACCEPTING yourself. This is not your ordinary YA novel, and not only because one of the MC's passion is escapology (which is hella rad on itself) but because of all the things I've listed before and I just loved this book so much, I'm kind of left speechless.

This had the potential to be so much better than it was. in my opinion. I loved the escapology element of the novel, and although it was definitely a prominent part, it wasn't the only arc. There was Will's story arc, where he was conflicted about hiding his homosexuality. There were a lot of comparisons between Mattie hiding her escapology secret and Will hiding his homosexuality secret - these two just don't seem like they fit into the same category as each other, so their friendship was a weird one.

I did appreciate the diversity, but I think it could've been executed better. A lot of the 'acceptance' just read as quotes from Google Images which had been shoved into a novel to tell everyone that it's okay to be gay. And yes, I agree that gay is okay; what I don't agree with is the way Erin Callahan dealt with his homosexuality. She had the room to explore it further and I feel like she gave up halfway.

The characters were a little unbearable and cliche at times, and there was one instance where the chapter was repeated, just from someone else's perspective, and I feel like that was a waste of words which could've been used to explore something else (for example: Will's sexuality). I think the first person narrative was a mistake for this novel - even though we did get a lot of insight, it was very two-dimensional. A third person narrative would've been better I think - I would've liked to see more from Miyu's point of view, for example.

So, although the plot idea was great, its execution wasn't so great.

Okay, I didn't expect this book to be so great, but it just happend. I was so surprised, how this was good! Mattie is nice, sweet and brave teen, who has big dream about becoming escaper - and these part of book (learning, performing)... It's just so gripping, exciting that I can't even tear away from reading! Definitely recommend this one! Probably one of best books I've read in April!

Thanks to Netgallery and publisher for ARC! <3

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan is a feel-good book that will not let you down.

It has amazing characters in it. With background stories. The mean girls have depth, the depressed video gaming brother and his friends do aswell. There is so many to say about the characters, but I don't want to be the one that spoils the book. :)
And let's not forget the amazing Mattie. She reinvents herself while every muscle in her body is yelling to her to give up.
I also love love love the friendships in this book.

Erin has written in a style that feels realistic. I especially felt this while reading the escape scenes.
She has written it in a fast paced style, which I can really appreciate.

I can highly recommend this book to everyone that would like to read a feel-good book! I promise it won't let you down.

This ended up being a relatively cute contemporary read that I worked my way through pretty quickly. The writing was good, the plot itself was very original, and the characters were well-developed. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it, and I think that’s because I didn’t feel invested enough in the story itself. At no point did I feel any concern that things wouldn’t turn out okay.

Maybe I’m just too distanced from high school now, but Mattie’s problems just… didn’t feel like real problems to me. She’s training to be an escapologist -- a death-defying badass -- but she’s terrified that people will find out and post something mean about her on LifeScape (this world’s version of Facebook). I feel like a story that focused more around her struggling through the training itself and less around her fears of exposure would have been more compelling for me.

There were actually more things (Mattie’s training aside) that didn’t feel fully fleshed out to me. Near the beginning, Mattie randomly has a nightmare about… LifeScape. This struck me as bizarre, but what struck me as more bizarre was that these (allegedly regular) nightmares didn’t come up again. Sure, her fear of being ridiculed on LifeScape came up a few more times, but it seemed more like an afterthought than anything else. I’m hoping this ends up more fully developed or pulled altogether from the finished copy.

The implication that Mattie’s secret double life and Will’s sexuality were on a similar level of potential life-destruction also made me uncomfortable. This is touched upon, but placing them side-by-side and making Mattie’s problems the main focus really felt to me like it was inadvertently minimizing the very real issue of coming out. I don’t think this was intentional by the author at all, but that was still the impact that I personally felt.

It also really caught me off guard and really upset me that Mattie is constantly disgusted by her brother’s inability to do anything when the narrative makes it clear that he is depressed and an alcoholic. To be fair, the author did note that the final copy clears up some ableist language, but I’m not sure how thoroughly this part of the plot was changed -- the implication is that Mattie thinks she can inspire her brother to pull himself together, or something? When it seems like he really needs help and everyone is just… letting him languish.

Besides that, there were a few other things that made me cringe. Mattie sleeps with her older brother’s drunken friend -- but she was 16 or 17 at the time, and he was in his mid-twenties. She also has hella “not like other girl” vibes. I think it’s fine to be different and quirky, but this treads dangerously on “I’m better than other girls because I do alternative things” territory. There are a couple other things, but mentioning them would be spoilers and I’m going to avoid that for now.

Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable read, but I worry about some of the content and hope things were cleaned up for the final copy.

A interesting tale using magic and escapism to discover one's true self, and the double lives people may lead. It is all about the secrets we keep and how they can reveal our truths. Secrets that are shared with select people can creating truer and deeper friendships, but can not always be a secret forever.

I absolutely adored every minute of this book. It wasn't fast paced exactly, but there was the air of mystery that added to this book. The fact that it begins with high school and the drama and expectancy to be perfect, then goes into a summer where secrets are made, told, and exposed, makes for quite the interesting read! The characters were witty, relatable, and entertaining. I particularly like Mattie's witty and often sarcastic remarks the most.

I really liked this book! The friendships are great and escapology is an interesting subject.

I thought so long about a sufficient review for this book but all what comes to my mind is ‘so so good’, ‘I love it so much’, and ‘I want to read it again!!’ Which is amazing because I don’t usually feel the need to reread things but, yeah, not good enough for a review. So, I’m gonna try something new! And maybe I’ll add more after I reread it possibly in the near future...


What this book made me FEEL??
✨like sun rays are shining on my face through really dark clouds
✨like I were dreaming
✨so so motivated to find something I LOVE and start DOING IT
✨also, motivated to open up to people
✨like, no matter what I will find my place in the world
✨so so AMAZED by the escapology!! It’s such a niche subject I’m glad this book gave me a possibility to get to LOVE it!!


What this book have that I LOVED??
✨Mattie!! She’s so complex and she pursues her goal even though she’s So Scared!! And it influenced so many people including me!!
✨Will! At first I thought he’s just another privileged boy but I ended up feeling his fears, his growth, his fears again!!
✨woman in a position of mentor!!
✨Miyu is allowed to be complex and not perfect and still be a great mentor!!
✨how the legend became human
✨nicknames!!! or rather stage names!!
✨chosen family trope
✨but also really interesting born family dynamics
✨great parallels between Mattie and Will
✨the parallels still acknowledge how different their situation are
✨no focus on love life
✨character development! They all gained so much and went a really long way throughout this story!
✨great representation of mental illnesses! I can’t say much about Miyu’s agoraphobia but Mattie’s anxiety and her brother’s depression really connected with me and I related a lot
✨coming out scenes are so well-done! I won’t say too much about it so I won’t spoil it but it was great!
✨I loved the use of diary entries and text messages!
✨the writing style!! I was turning pages so fast!!
✨I thought I’m gonna go through it just turning pages and smiling at my phone but in the end I couldn't hold it and teared up at the last pages

I really wanted to do one of those big and awesome reviews because I believe this one really deserves those big and elaborate reviews.. But my mind has been drifting sooo much, I can't even if i tried.. So it's going to be a bit short, but I do hope to get my enthousiasm for this book into this review..

Mattie is one of those super awesome and relatable main characters.. She's funny, selfconscious, loving and has this one awesome passion of hers.. She has her best friend, who is friends with people she kind of likes? I guess? But basically, she just has her best friend. Quality over quantity, right?
When her best friend goes to boarding summer school, practically leaving Mattie alone the whole summer, Mattie decides she'll have to keep herself busy before her anxiety runs out of control.. She decides to seek out Miyu; the daughter of a world-famous escape artist who, since her mothers passing, hasn't voluntarily talked to anyone or left the house..

Miyu takes Mattie (Girl Scout) under her wing and starts training her.. Picking locks, locking her up in boxes. Those kind of things. And when she's ready she performs.. And when she performs? She's a different person. She's strong and independent and she pushes through.. She doesn't let her anxiety get the best of her and the crowd loves her.

During this summer Mattie turns into this amazing escapologist and with her, she changes her friends too.. Will (with two L's) becomes a whole new person, her brother.. Her family.. Everybody. And that is awesome.

Read this book if you're looking for a feel-good story, this will not dissapoint!

Perhaps the reason that this book disappointed me so much was that I was expecting it to be wlw. But it wasn't. And instead, I got a cishet character who kept implying that keeping a secret about escapology was in any way comparable to being in the closet. But I should back up a little.

The Art of Escaping tells the story of Mattie, who is obsessed with old escapologists such as Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich. Living in the same town as Mattie is Miyu, the daugther of an escapologist herself, and Mattie decides that she's going to get Miyu to teach her escapology. She also decides that this is a deep dark secret which no one must find out about. (Yeah, this bit lost me too. Because what exactly are going to be the repercussions of doing escapology? Are you going to be ostracised from your family and friends? Is anyone really going to give a monkey's? Probably not.) One night, she's performing, and sees Will, a schoolmate, in the audience. And this is the bit that annoyed me. They swap secrets in some kind of "mutually assured destruction" deal. Mattie's secret is that she does escapology. Will's secret is that he's gay. And to be blunt: these are not nearly comparable. In no way does keeping a secret about escapology measure up to keeping a secret about your sexuality. Like I said earlier, is someone finding out you do escapology possibly going to result in ostracisation, some form of abuse, or whatever else you might think of? No. It's not. So reading a book that for 81% (I counted) implied that they were comparable was a bit of a slap in the face. And I know that, yeah, she has an epiphany late on that perhaps Will's secret is a little bigger than hers, but I really didn't have the patience for it given I'd had to read almost all the book with her blandly asserting that this wasn't the case, that they were comparable.

Besides all that, there were other aspects which annoyed me. (One note: I can't work out if I was annoyed by these things because the whole "comparing escapology to being in the closet" riled me up That Much, or if these were genuinely annoying things, so. There's that.) Firstly, Mattie gives off distinct "not like other girls" vibes, despite not actually saying those words aloud, and she's fairly sanctimonious about those "other girls". Secondly, everyone in this book goddamn whines. I swear to god, every other speaking verb was whined and it made me so frustrated. If I could be bothered, I would count the number of times each character was described as having whined, but Mattie was by far the worst of them. Just please, find some synonyms or something. Or just use said. No one notices if you overuse said.

The final points are mostly surrounding Will (my favourite character, it was an absolute travesty that he only got one chapter for every four or five Mattie got). Mainly, I am so tired of having high school age gay characters in a relationship with college age characters. I know Will was 18, but he was only just 18, and an 18 year old with a 21 year old? Makes me fairly uncomfortable. I'm 21 and I wouldn't even consider 18 year olds, that's just creepy. There's also a comment that Will makes at one point about someone being "an easily identifiable member of team-QUILTBAG". Firstly, what is people's problem with avoiding LGBT as a descriptor? Why am I having to read ""QUILTBAG"" in an actual published book? Secondly, way to stereotype I guess. An "easily identifiable member". What makes them "easily identifiable"? Because unless they're wearing a gay pride flag or holding hands or something, seems to me that means there's stereotyping going on.

Finally, there's a comment that Mattie makes within the first couple of chapters, when the guidance counsellor is asking her about joining school societies.

"Gay Straight Alliance?" "I'm apolitical."

Nice to know that LGBT people's existence is still considered political in 2018, I guess.

At least Will wasn't outed for the angst though, right?

This book was provided to me via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

"It'll never be a cakewalk for weirdos like us, you know? But that doesn't mean we're not allowed to be happy."

The author of this book must have heard my desperate wishes for YA books that don't only focus on romance, because this book was exactly what I'd wished for – and it was absolutely brilliant. I loved it so much I finished it in one sitting, instead of going to sleep, and when I'd read the last word I cried a happy little tear because the book was so great. It's a story about friendship and finding yourself and your passions, and the author tells it so well.

Each and every single character was lovable in their own way – flaws and all. The friendships in this book made me tear up and I laughed out loud more often than I can count, when one of the characters said something particularly witty. In the beginning, I highlighted the parts that I particularly liked or that I found important, but I quickly gave up – there were just too many good parts to continue doing that and still have it mean anything.

This is one book that I will be buying as a hard copy when it's published, because I expect that I will want to reread it often. Yes, it's that good.

High school senior Mattie is fascinated by Houdini and the art of escaping, so when her only and best friend is gone for the summer, Mattie tracks down the agoraphobic daughter of a famous escapologist and convinces her to become her trainer. As Mattie becomes a successful performer at a quirky local club, she keeps her passion a secret, both because she knows her parents wouldn't allow it and because of what her high school classmates would think. Meanwhile, the story of Will unfolds, also revolving around a secret. A well-liked basketball jock and boyfriend of a popular girl, Will is actually gay and a serious thinker. Fortunately Mattie's and Will's stories collide, and they enable each other to deal with their secrets and anxieties. Interspersed between the Mattie and Will chapters are excerpts from the famous escapologist's diary/miary. The three different voices are well-defined, and the transitions are not at all annoying. As a matter of fact, the first person narrations are smart, funny, and thought provoking, and I found this novel refreshing and enjoyable, and much as I liked the ending I was disappointed when I finished it.

The Art of Escaping is a Young Adult novel by Erin Callahan. It tells the life of Mattie, a budding escapologist, and Will, a popular student hiding a secret. It also, in part, tells the story of Akiko and her daughter Miyu, and the struggles they’ve faced.

There are two things I am very grateful for in this book. One, there is no weird Asian fetishization, no stereotypes or awkward moments. It’s refreshing to read, as the Asian heritage is not glossed over, and race is spoken of, but I never felt that it strayed into creepy territory. Second, there is no romance in the story between the main characters. It’s honestly amazing to read a YA book that doesn’t try and set up the main female character with a random boy halfway through the story, and I am so, so, pleased that Callahan didn’t go down this route. Mattie doesn’t need a love story to be herself.

This is my personal opinion, but I don’t think the dual perspective was needed. I liked Akiko’s excerpts from the diary, but Will’s ‘footnotes’ got in the way of the main story, as it just repeated what had happened to Mattie but from a different viewpoint. I also was not interested by Will at all, and I found him really boring and pretentious at times. He was the Marlon Blando of the book.

There were some interesting subplots throughout the book, Mattie’s older brother Kyle for one. I also liked how there wasn’t a big focus on Mattie’s virginity, as normally happens in YA books. Stuff happened, and that was that. It was nice to read, as you don’t often get that casual perspective in books for teenagers.

In conclusion, The Art of Escaping is the book for you if you like escapology, teenage girls with developed personalities, and LGBT subplots. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves Young Adult novels.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for a review.

This was not the book I was expecting. I did not enjoy the beginning and at first I found the double narration jarring. But, by the end, I really enjoyed the cast of characters and the different kinds of relationships shown in the book. Some of the book had me rolling my eyes, but I think this may be the perfect book for some of my teen readers!

Gosh.

I loved this one a lot! I had a little trouble getting into it and following the format at first, but once I was hooked it was all over. This book follows our main characters, Mattie, who is following her dream of becoming an escapologist. This book is a coming of age story about friendship, growing up, finding your passion in life and making your dreams a reality.

10/10 would recommend.

“But I didn’t have to, because Mattie made it okay. More than okay, because that’s the magic of Mattie. She resides at that strange little way station between stark reality and larger than life fantasy. She wants so much more than just-the-facts-ma'am. She lives for those miraculous moments when you stumble upon something that’s somehow truer than the truth.”

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Amberjack Publishing. I requested this book based on a recommendation from Roberta at Offbeat YA, who had a chance to beta read it. Check out her blog for a post talking about that experience or her exclusive cover reveal!

When Mattie is faced with a summer without her best friend, she screws up her courage to ask the cantankerous, reclusive daughter of renowned escapologist, Akiko Miyake, to be her mentor. Soon, Mattie is immersed in a world of lock picking and underwater escape tanks, but her braver alter-ego is threatened when Will, a popular basketball player from school, witnesses one of her escapes. Worried that he’ll tell everyone, including her parents, about her strange hobby, Mattie and Will strike up an uneasy friendship based on mutual secrecy and learn that sometimes, our secret selves are the truest ones of all.

This is contemporary YA very well done. Callahan is a solid story-teller, and the novel is well-written and well-paced with a cast of interesting, believable characters (and some LGBTQ representation). Most of the tension in the novel is self-inflicted from Mattie’s insistence on keeping her new life a secret, but I enjoy plots that don’t take drama to extreme heights. Mattie and Will feel like people I could have known in high school, and their problems deal mainly with acceptance–self and otherwise.

One of the major themes is authenticity, and that’s a great angle to explore in YA fiction. Mattie is frequently preoccupied by this question: how to be a real person in a world where teenagers are expected to do extracurricular activities just to pad their resumes. It’s the Holden Caufield question approach on a much less obnoxious level (I can hardly stand The Catcher in the Rye, even while acknowledging its merits). I remember being very concerned about this in high school, and it makes Mattie easy to relate to.

She’s so middle-ground that it’s refreshing. Mattie isn’t the best student or the worst, but she has a few things that she really loves. Will’s chapters were a little more trying for me. I understand his love for twenties slang, but it’s distracting in the way it litters his narrative. I don’t know if this is a thing that actually bothers teenagers, or if I’m just an old woman stuck in a younger person’s body, but it tries too hard to sound hip. That aside, I like Will, and I like his friendship arc with Mattie even more. I also enjoy the resistance toward mean high school girl cliches; even the minor characters feel well-rounded, and there are no flatly wicked pretty girls trying to ruin everyone’s lives.

There’s barely a hint of romance throughout the whole novel because the characters are distracted by much bigger questions than “does that person like me.” Mattie and Will’s friendship, and their secrets, provide them an outlet for testing out new, better, and more authentic selves, and it’s a fascinating and well-drawn process. They give each other the space to become who they really are. Having the courage to be yourself is a major part of growing up, and Callahan’s portrayal is realistic, sometimes funny, and often heart-warming. Plus, who doesn’t love a good escape act? I’d absolutely recommend it for fans of the genre, and I’m going to need a physical copy for my library when it’s published.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

This book had everything a good teen novel needs. A strong female character, humor, a sence of adventure
and a story that really keeps the reader hooked. Its hard to do a typical review on what the real story
is about because while the story is amazing its more what it brings to the reader that makes this book
special. It has a feel to it that is hard to explain there is no special gifts but the young girl in this
book is very special is someone that all women young and old can look up to. While most reviews tell a bit
about the story this one is a little harder to write. This book has a basic story but its really more about
how it made you feel that is what makes it so good. The story is good however it starts out with the main
character Mattie hiding her love of magic from her friends and family because she doesn't want to get judged. When her best friend leaves however she becomes friends with Miyu, the daughter of an escape artist. With Mayu's help the two put together an act of pure magic. Things can't be any better for Mattie. When Will a popular student from Mattie's school finds the two girls at the magic show her double life is about to be exposed. Or is it? When Will confesses a secret he's never told anyone the real pressure is on. And with secrets bubbling to the surface who knows what will be the next one revealed. I liked everything about this book. This book has every thing that makes young adult books so magical. A sense of adventure, very entertaining characters and the best part was there no love triangles and no actual magic. I loved the way that the author wrote this the whole thing just read out like a movie with each paragraph flowing into the next one. I feel that the simplicity of this novel makes it easier to relate to. This is one that should not be missed.

Mattie a 17 year old girl in a small town has some pretty big ideas. She wants to be an escape artist, inspired by Akiko Miyake, Houdini, and Wil Wheaton. This is a story about one girl who becomes the glue to the "misfits" of her hometown. She finds a recluse and shows her the bonds of family and love, aids her friend into becoming who he truly is, and finds her true calling. This book did a great job not to trivialize the emotions and struggles of teenagers, even those who romanticize earlier eras. This was a fast paced read and made me sit clicking the last page wanting more. I think this is a great book for young adult readers to show that escaping is actually just a way to find the best version of yourself and having people love you for it. Escape being the theme for Miyu escaping her home, Mattie escaping her mundane life, and Will with two Ls escaping societal confines to find himself. My only critique is I didn't think Stella and Frankie made enough contributions to the story for them to have a moving experience as well. This book was a great journey for the reader to take and I hope many more do!

"There’s something romantic about a young girl sneaking out in the middle of the night to fulfill a lifelong dream. Unless you’re the girl. Then it’s just a giant, anxiety-provoking pain in the ass that turns you into a lying liar-face."

I had the chance to read an ARC of this book from NetGallery in exchange for an honest review. The Art of Escaping is the story of Mattie who, once her best and only friend leaves for the summer, decides to take on her dream to be an escapologist. Somewhere along the way, she becomes friend with Will, a boy from her school who also share a secret. This is a story about friendship, growing up and finding yourself, finding your passion. There is no romance plot in this book, which is part of what makes it so good. I also appreciate that the main character has such a good relationship with her family, especially her older brother (who helps her lie to their parents). The characters are all multi-dimensioned and charming, the author makes it very easy to relate to them. AND there is lots of swearing, which makes the dialogues much more realistic (teens swear, people! this is how people talk! include it!).

I thought the book handled LGBT themes well, minus a few minor flaws here and there that other people pointed out in their reviews (e.g. the GSA thing). It is present without being such an important presence in the book either and manage to touch on important issues such as coming out. I especially liked this line, "If I come out in high school, I still have to come out in college, and then at work. It’s like I’m facing an endless line of people assuming I’m something I’m not."

Overall, it is such a light and enjoyable read, with humour and such an original subject too! When was the last time you read about escapology?