emma's Reviews > You Must Not Miss

Currently, there are two main kinds of books I like:
1) literary fiction about unlikable women
2) magical realism (usually young adult) with friendships and banter at the center.

For a long time, Katrina Leno was one of just two authors I could rely on for the second option. But now she's trying to have it all.

These half-hearted magical realism books about damaged girls who have lives full of people who are trying to help them who they ignore and / or murder are not going to do it for me forever.

The other example of Leno's foray into this incredibly narrow niche, Horrid, worked for me primarily because of a) novelty and b) ghosts.

The former can make most things seem appealing, and the latter is my favorite subject of all time, in real life primarily but in fiction from time to time.

This is just worse Horrid, but with a fake world where the ghosts were. (Which is also a downgrade.)

Also, it is my firm belief that people are not as bad as these people. Leno has written about the same difficult topics as in this book with way more nuance and realism, so I'm not sure why this feels like it was by a totally different author.

Or at least written in half the timeframe.

I didn't hate this while I was reading it, but the more time that passes, the more I can't think of anything nice to say about it.

Bottom line: Even your most trusted authors can stray from grace sometimes.

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pre-review

i hope katrina leno doesn't write about unlikable teenage girls forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it seems like she doesn't know how to end them.

review to come / 2 stars

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currently-reading updates

this cover is how i feel.

clear ur sh*t book 58
no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish