chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)

Don’t read this book. 

THE DOG DIES. LIKE SUPER TRAUMATICALLY. FUCK THAT

This was cute, and I really enjoyed the narration. Both characters were voicy in the best way. The story was a bit tedious in its repetition at the time, and while I liked the general portrayal of Sarah’s anxiety, Im not a fan of the fact that, in the under two months in which the book takes place, she is able to get it from completely out of control to manageable with no help, no therapy, and only a single google search’s worth of CBT exercise. That’s not something a 12 year old can do alone, and I think it may do more harm than good to make it out as if that’s achievable to any 12 year olds with anxiety disorders. I know if I had read it at 12, when my anxiety was out of control, I’d have felt like a failure for not being able to do what Sarah did.

18+
2/5 spice

This was, objectively, not a bad book.
It was just…fine.
I wasn’t connected to the story, the characters, the narration. There was no depth to anything. The writing was average. The Reylo cliches were plentiful (although to me, that’s more of an upside than anything).
Frederick was also…too much. Yes, he’s severely out of touch with the modern world but he shouldn’t be quite so infantile, in my opinion. He seems to have no idea of how human interaction works at all—he’s too blunt, clueless on even the existance of hyperbole or metaphors, etc—but those things aren’t really connected to when in time you existed. Hyperbole and social tact exist in Jane Austen’s writing.
There were a lot of plot holes. I hated everything about the ending—it was so low stakes and the resolution was ridiculous—and not in a good way. It was annoying to read.
I did enjoy Cassie as a main character, though I wish she’d had more depth to her character. I also loved the Taylor Swift references. That alone may have bumped it up a half-star rating because that had me giggling.
In the end, I don’t necessarily recommend this, but if it’s something you’re really interested in, I won’t stop you.

4.25 stars
Age Rating: 17+
Spice Level: 1/5

The Matzah Ball remains my favorite Jean Meltzer book…
But this one is my new second favorite!
The disability representation was absolutely incredible. There were so many important discussions around living with chronic pain, medical mistreatment and trauma, pain management, sexual dysfunction religion and identity when you’re living with chronic pain and disability… and of course so much more, Judaism and family.
This book has it all—
Romeo and Juliet-esque feuding families
A feuding food establishmant fight over a secret recipe a la Mr Krabs and Plankton from Spongebob
Marijuana*
And of course, swoony romance

 *The book actually has some phenomenal discussions about marijuana, and medical marijuana that I really enjoyed. I loved seeing that stigma tackled and broken down in a book, and I think Jean Meltzer did it wonderfully.

This book was both incredibly fun and incredibly heartfelt. I love Avital and Ethan and the whole Best Babka crew. Sometimes—especially when it came to the rivalry—things got a bit too overdramatic for my taste, but all in all, it really is an amazing, important book that I cannot recommend more. Do be warned—it will leave you desperately craving pumpkin babka!

Rep: Jewish MCs, interstitial cystitis, chronic pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, vulvodynia, fibroids, menstraul problems, medical trauma
CW: chronic pain, suicidal ideation, sex-related pain & sexual dysfunction, ableism, medical trauma/gaslighting doctors/doctors that can’t or won’t help you, abusive parental figure, emotional abuse, parent loss (off page, in the past), cannabis use (medical and non-medical), sexual content

3.5 stars
This book is a fantasy that, despite the magic, reads much more like a contemporary in terms of themes and action. Don’t get me wrong—that is in no way a bad thing, but it is important to note. A child who prefers reading fantasy like Percy Jackson, Keeper of the Lost Cities, or Amari and the Night Brothers, could be easily bored by the slower pace and lower stakes in this book.
However, a reader who likes contemporary/realistic fiction would definitely enjoy this book—and many fantasy readers may as well, as long as they don’t go in expecting action and adventure.
I, personally, did enjoy this book. It wasn’t my favorite middle grade, but it was a solid read. It was a little slow at times, and there were a few tendrils of the plot that I felt distracted from the pacing and narrative, but I enjoyed the main plot.
At it’s core, this is a book about family, friendships, and starting over. Paloma has just moved to a whole new place, her family is at odds, and she needs to make all-new friends. All of these are common experiences for middle schoolers, and for the most part, I believe they were handled well.
The only complaint I have is in how the mother was written. I think she was a bit too dramatic. The other characters had the benefit of being pre-teens, but Paloma’s mom is a grown adult acting like a pre-teen. I hate when adult characters are super unreasonable, and you have no idea why the whole book, only for *big reveal reason* and then instantly everything is fixed, and this was one of the worst offenders I’ve had in a while. Adults can be unreasonable. They often are. But anyone doing a complete one-eighty and instantly fixing everything is unrealistic to me. And the reasoning for it in this book felt a little too convenient and didn’t (in my opinion) really make sense as compared to the amount of unreasonable she was acting.
For the most part, I did enjoy this book. While it wasn’t my favorite, I do recommend it.