Wasn't a big fan of the writing or the main character. Found her incredibly annoying, especially her obsession with all the boys in her life. Couldn't fall in love with the story, even with the audiobook.

Oh goodness no, this story was not good. I felt it was a hot mess that was all over the place. I still have no idea what the overall story was about and I couldn't be bothered to care enough to find out. The magical realism side of the story was weak and made the story worse. The MC was not likeable and I didn't care what her story was. I do not and will not recommend this.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

It took a lot for me to finish this book. The character of Josie Pie made it difficult to get through the book. She was once big deal in High School and now out in the real world things aren't going her way and it's like she expects everything to be handed to her just because she once was a big deal. Let's not mention the awkward conversations she has with other characters.
I really hoped to like this book but it's a pass for me.

I did not finish this one, and I tried. I really, really tried. I do realize that I'm not the target audience for this book, but I normally LOVE young adult. This felt like a children's book masquerading as young adult. I think Shannon Hale should stick to middle grades - my elementary students love Real Friends!

This really didn't work for the audience. The author is one of my personal favorites so I expected to love this but it just felt so bland and unoriginal. the cover is also so generic. I will not be purchasing this for the library.

A lighthearted and funny YA rom-com, Kind of a Big Deal explores all the emotions around discovering who you are and where you want to be in the world.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

It's a tremendously cute idea, but I struggled a lot. Since Josie leaps into books, we have to remember who the characters are in the story with who the characters are in her real life, and there's not much character development to make me care about many of them.

Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale follows Josie Pie, who has dropped out of high school to audition for a Broadway show and ended up in Montana. While I appreciate Hale for addressing the difficulties of transitioning into life after high school, I really struggled with this book. I'll be interested to pass it along to my theater-loving students and see if they like it more than I did.

Oh god I really wanted to like this book but I just didn't. I'm normally okay with an unlikeable main character, but I'd at least like to see some growth or relaxation, or just something that makes me feel like they're more self-aware. But wow did this book not do any of those things. Jodie, the main character was so annoying and I dreaded anytime I had to pick this up because of her attitude. Josie is whiny and self-absorbed, and though she appears to learn some home truths at the end, they don't feel at all significant; handed to her by the narrative voice instead of truly earned.
I also just found this book to be generally boring and generally lackluster, I loved the initial concept of Jodie finding herself in the worlds of of a book to be intriguing, but it got so old do fast. To find the same experience repeated again, and again, the only substantive difference the genre of the story she falls into. She never really handled any of the books that much differently, so I wish this was a short story or a novella.
Lastly I didn't like the writing at all. I've never read another book by Shannon Hale, so I don't know if this is how she normally writes, but I didn;t mesh with it at all. it's so jarring to jump from book to book and have the writing style completely change. I understand that it makes sense in the context of the story, but it made the reading experience feel stiled and uncoordinated.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I used to love Shannon Hale books when I was a bit younger but I don't remember them to be so darn boring. I had no interest in finishing this one.

The plot of this book is every book lover's dream: a girl can pick up a book and be automatically transported into it! Who doesn't want to be able to pick up Harry Potter and go to Hogwarts or be the here in their own epic fantasy? So fun! I think younger audiences will enjoy this book a lot, but the writing didn't work for me. I like more exposition, descriptions, and even contemplative writing, but those who like a more fast-paced novel will enjoy this a lot!

Purchased this YA/middle grade novel for my middle school library. Superb character development, elegant world building, and compelling plotting.

Like most people who read this book i was excited. I absolutely love the author but this book was just meh. The story plot was amazing but the actual book was just boring. I don't know if I wasn't the intended audience but it just wasn't for me.

I was pretty excited a see a new book by Shannon Hale. I've really loved so many of her earlier books and the premise for this book sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, I didn't love this book quite as much as I had hoped.

Oh dear. I'm afraid this is a classic case of a super cute cover catching my eye but the book just wasn't for me at all. I do read YA books every now and again and for the most part really enjoy them, but I'm wondering if this one just didn't click. Based on some Goodreads reviews I've read, it didn't click with a lot of other people as well (so I feel a bit better about saying a book that isn't in my normal "genre" just wasn't that great). I love the idea of a character getting sucked into different books and living life as the characters (another reason I wanted to read this one) but there was just so much lacking in the writing, dialouge, and characters that the story wasn't enough to hold it all together. And some of the stuff that happens (in the real life parts) are honestly bonkers! It weirdly seemed to me like this would be a much better and super fun TV show. As a book though? The best part of it may just be the cover (with the CATS playbill and everything!)

This book had SO much potential, especially when I saw the cover and the author. Shannon Hale is phenomenal writer, but this novel fell a little flat for me.

I really wanted to love this book because I loved the idea of book jumping but this was a tough book to get through. I love all things cheesy romcom so it's kind of hard to believe that I had a hard time getting through this one but it's true. The story was pretty choppy. The characters were very underdeveloped, in my opinion. It would have been nice to see Josie have some growth with her relationships but I didn't feel that happen at all. She felt distanced from her boyfriend to the point where she mentally "let him go" but then everything ends up perfect when he shows up. I don't know. I feel bad for not liking it more but I had to force myself to finish.

I was so close to DNF'ing this book at every second. The main character is so unlikeable that it became hard to read from her perspective. She was awful at communicating, but so were all of the other characters. None of them seemed realistic.

Then, there was the plot. It didn't really make any sense to me, and the writing of it as a whole felt more like a middle-grade novel than YA.

This was such an interesting concept but the execution was unfortunately very poor.

Surprising and insiteful. Enjoyed Austenland a few years back and thought I'd give this a chance. Good character growth and lots of humor.

The synopsis for this book was irresistible to me! Escaping into books, literally? That sounds like my kind of story!

I had a difficult time getting into this book initially, because something about the writing style and dialogue just didn’t click for me. It was awkward and stilted. But once Josie started escaping into the books she was reading, I had a lot of fun reading this!

I really liked Josie’s character development. While she was a mess at the beginning, she came to understand herself, and her relationships with her best friend Nina and boyfriend Justin, in a way that I thought showed real growth and insight.

The dialogue and writing style never grew on me, but the story was inventive enough that I got past that and had fun reading this one.