Goofy

I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t work for me. I ignored the awful cover art with hopes that the story would make up for it. The plot definitely had potential. The execution was so cheesy and cliché. This felt like any movie from the 80s with thirty-something actors portraying teenagers. There was a nerdy boy crushing on the girl that is “out of his league” and already coupled up with the popular rich kid. The nerd outwits the popular boy and gets the girl. A lot of times I felt like the dialogue didn’t seem authentic. It read like a 40 year old man posing as a high school sophomore. The severely overused dynamic of the handful of Black kids trying to navigate in a school full of wealthy white kids annoyed me. That theme is so tired. Overall, this felt too silly and stereotypical for my personal taste.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Brian Wasson for this advanced copy to review. #SevenMinutesinCandyland #NetGalley

This novel is slow and steady, a bit too slow for me. I enjoyed the role that Kalvin plays and his budding romance with Sterling as well as the concurrent plotlines with Rod and Dino. However it just didn't move fast enough for me and about 54% of the way through, I gave up. I just don't have enough patience and this is more of a me thing than a dig on this book.

The perfect romance for anyone with a sweet tooth. The prose was light and charming, with such a strong premise, I would find it hard to be disappointed. It definitely delivers and lives up to such a cute cover.

I used the Netgalley audio to listen to this absolutely awesome YA story of debut author Wasson.

Let's start with the cover and title. Can't get better than that.

It focuses on food- particularly candy and specifically making pithy candygrams as Kalvin's side hustle in school in a former AV closet that he has access to. He's an entrepreneur. Yes.

And then the girl of his dreams, Sterling, happens to pop into "Candyland" with tears in her eyes and a stupid boyfriend. Kalvin thinks this might be his in, but he also has something else up his sleeve- his parents are relationship therapists, and popular podcasting/tech savvy ones whose brand is out there in the world, so Kalvin dishes out more than just the candy, he gives advice.

Kalvin's voice along with his friendships are rich. How he weathers the storm that is the secrets of his parents (will they or won't they?) possible divorce lends weight to weightier topics in the book. And the romance is sweetly centered around his industriousness.

As the book came to an end, there were several vibrant scenes that made it an all around male protagonist forward story. Not that I want it because I can be judgmental, but this would make an adorable Netflix-adapted movie (please please make it like Heartstopper, To All The Boys, and Dumplin')

This book focused on the hardships of teenage life. It deals with being able to deal with situations and seek help when you are struggling. It showed that it's "okay" to not be "okay". It was a bit of a slow read for the first few chapters but I enjoyed the underlining theme.
If focused heavily on letting people make there own mistakes because that's the only way they can learn.
The main character Kevin had to learn that even though he gave great advice and counseling, he almost lost all of his friends due to thinking his way of conflict resolution was the only way.

This book gives great insight even for an adult reader.

The negative:

The book was a tad bit slow. I almost stopped reading it after the first few chapters, it just didn't have enough substance at first. Secondly, I think that some of the vocabulary would be a bit difficult for a younger reader. The material was easy to follow but the dialogue had me thinking of how unrealistic some of the conversations were.

Fluffy and cute read just what I needed to get out of a reading slump. It gave all the feels of young love and took me back to a time where I thought anything was possible with the boy I loved.

This book was a cute as a button YA for kids who love Never have I ever or On My Block. I think Brian hits all the right notes in his debut. LOoking forward to more from him

I had a chance to get an early copy! It was an absolutely fantastic debut! This author has a great future ahead of him.

I often forgot the main characters were in high school and really enjoyed all the personalities. I could feel many of my friends in Kalvin's friends and I think all ages could get something out of this book.

This was a cute book, I was expecting more but it never came. the romance was cute but in the end that all it was was cute

Fun YA story. I loved Kalvin and his shenanigans. I am not always into high school romance but this checked all of my boxes for a good read!

This was an interesting and unique storyline! I appreciated that it dealt with some difficult situations such as divorce, which many kids can relate to. There were many diverse characters portrayed in this story which is exactly what I look for in adding to my classroom library! Excellent book, thanks for allowing me to preview it!

This is the first time I’ve read this author so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Overall it was a good young adult book. Very light on teen romance though which is fine. Kalvin is a teen who has a crush on a young lady, has an underground candy business and wants to fix his parents marriage. He learns that he doesn’t have all of the answers and that he is human as are other people. The book focused on the teen issues and Kalvin and his friends at school. I would have liked to have seen him and his parents have an honest conversation about their family. It was more of a background plot but his views and how he came to give advice, came for, his parents and their careers. I think this is a solid debut YA novel.