// Thanks to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC to review //

“Real secrets weren’t sweet nothings you whispered in your arm candy’s ear.”

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*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*

I am such a sucker for stories with good characterization.

I just need to say that even though I was not a fan of the plot and all at first, the characters really intrigued me and I was very much pleased with their development by the end of the book.


~ the plot did not intrigue me enough at first which I think was mainly due to the fact that I expected whose plot revolved more on, literally, "The Art of Escaping". I expected it to deal with different issues and topics and sadly, that was not what I got.

It felt like your typical modern teenage story at first. It started slow but was also able to pick itself up about halfway. It was greatly amusing though and I believe that it is something that would appeal to younger teenagers since it seems like this was the target audience the author had in mind while writing this.

I'm not saying that the actual plot wasn't good, but it was not the plot that I was looking for.


~ I love the characterization. I thought that the characters would also be following the steroetypical template. Every character had a life in them, no matter how ridiculous thir names sounded or how absurd they were acting.

Our main character, with a snarky attitude, seemed to be against the world or have the world against her and I can't help but feel sorrow for her, but not pity, which I think is a very fine line that a lot of authors forget was there in the first place.

I felt bad for her without pitying her, so she still appeared strong, in a way, to me.


~ the excerpts before each chapter was a big part of what gave the whole story depth and meaning. It tied together the story more and the chapter titles were really creative for the writer.

They honestly balanced out the ridiculousness that might have been happening in the plot itself and put the plot on the right path again. They were most certainly not random and you can understand how the author put a purpose to each one that was placed there.


~ the writing style was not bad, I just don't think it was meant to appeal to me. It had a light tone, which was unexpected, for me, because of the title. It had good morals and things to relate to, while still being able to maintain a decent amount of creativity.

I was ready for some hardcore-heart-pounding book. It is a potentionally good coming-of-age story and this is something that those along the lower end of the age range should try picking this up. ( )

Genre: contemporary young adult
Pages: 320

Synopsis

Mattie tries to hide her passion with escapalogism from her family, friends and classmates. She has one best friend, Stella, who leaves for boarding school for the summer. Her anxiety for college applications and being completely alone for two months propells her into finding and starting her project. She's been watching videos of artists like Harry Houdini for a long time, and she goes to find Miyu, the reclusive daughter of another famous escape-artist. Her loft if full of equipment, but the training is challenging and sometimes dangerous. There's lots of locks to be picked and a submersion tank to dust off.

Mattie learns of her potential, of what she can do if she throws herself into her passion onstage, finding a community who cheer and heckle her. But then her worst fear comes true, someone she knows finds out. She imagines her new separated worlds crumbling. It helps when she realizes other teenagers are also trying to figure out themselves and carrying secrets.

My thoughts

I went into this book without expectation and it blew me away with its witty dialogue, truth on friendship and characters being passionate about their interest (which is possibly my favourite thing).

It was an entertaining read, Mattie and her friends were so well-written and I never could've imagined how real their characters or world would feel. It's a good plot, I especially liked how things in everyones life built up to each of Mattie's performances on stage. Which for the record was in true magician style with anxious assistants and a baffled crowd, where I wanted to clap for her myself in relief.

Miyu goes from being just an obvious mentor to becoming a whole human being as I learned more about her, she kind of transformed in front of my eyes in a way that facinated me. At the beginning I did not care about the small paragraphs about her mother's life, then as I realized what they were it gave the book some nice details along with giving another perspective, the story was no longer just about Mattie, but had become bigger.

I can't get past how painfully relatable Mattie's thoughts and attempts at friendships was. In books like this some big events happens that forces the introverted character to come out of her shell, but I really liked how in this book it was a choice. It was definitely started by smaller things happening, like Stella going away for the summer and trying to find out what she was passionate about before big decisions like college. But it was Mattie herself who chose to put herself out there, to go to Miyu and ask for training. The way it went down was actually inspiring, especially for someone who keeps her interests very to herself.

The official release date of this book is June 19th. I need more young adult books with the realness I've found in this book along with Maureen Johnsons "Truly Devious" and Becky Albertallis "Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda". They're all very different books plot-wise, but to me they felt very similiar in style and how relatable they were written, in a genuine way I wish more ya had. Genuine characters that could've been actual teenagers, I hope it becomes even less of an exception in young adult books.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


*some more discussion and spoilers below this*


There's a couple of things that bothered me, and I don't know how to explain them without spoiling a few things. There's this string of events that drives the plot, mainly started by Mattie choosing to go to Miyu and get really into escapologism. And somehow it ends up with bringing them all together, which is fine, but one of the last performances leads everyone to end up with someone. Everything always works out in the rest of the book as well, in a way that took me out of it at points. Everything bad that happens I can think of, like Will being outed, turns into something that propell further actions. Also the friend group talk about being awkward people, yet everyone knows what to say in any situation, which creates a split in my perception of them.

That said, everything good in the book heavily outweighs this, and I would completely recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining young adult story about finding oneself. It seems like a perfect summer read as well. ( )

Note - won this title in the December 2018 Early Review batch, but never received the book. Borrowed from the library.
And am I ever glad I did!

A wonderful debut!
I loved every single thing about this book - the plot, the characters (all of them), the settings, the emotions, the writing.
The summer after her junior year, Mattie decides to take control of one of her wishes - to learn escapology. But she cannot let her family and friends know about this passion. She secretly goes to the house of Miyu Miyake.. Miyu is the daughter of the local famed escapologist, Akiko Miyake. Akiko died tragically and Miyu became a recluse in her mother's home. But Mattie won't take no for an answer and they develop an interesting mentor/mentee friendship.
During one of Mattie's performances at an underground club, she sees a familiar face in the audience and fears that her secret will be out.
Will is that familiar face. He is a popular boy from the school basketball team. But he has a secret of his own that he shares with Mattie in the hopes that by doing so, she will trust him to not tell her secret. Will she allow him to continue his beard relationship with Betsy in return for not telling about her escapology?
Another friendship is born.
Mattie's best friend, Stella, is at a brainiac camp for the summer and Mattie has kept her secret from her as well. But Stella has news when she returns- she befriended the precocious Frankie, a boy in their class who skipped two grades and has few friends.
All of these characters seem so different but they become friends.
A most interesting story for all involved. ( )

High school is possibly the most difficult time of life - full of expectations, pressure, image. And somehow you are supposed to figure out who you are and also protect yourself. The way that Mattie & Will each make that journey and their friendship gives one hope that taking the risk is worth it. This is a beautifully written story of taking chances, failing, and trying again. ( )

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Art of Escaping is a young adult novel about finding your passion, focusing on a very unique art: escapology, or escape art. I was intrigued by this book both because the topic sounded like something I’ve never read before, and because I heard that one of the POV characters is gay.

This book could have easily been a 5-star read if it wasn't so hard to get into. I really disliked the beginning, but once I pushed through that, I adored the rest of it.

I'm not really sure whether to tag Will (the gay boy) as a main or side character, because he has his own POV sometimes, but less frequently than the straight girl protag, and mostly in the second half of the book? I'm going to tag him as main, but be aware of this. (I'm tagging the m/m relationship itself as side because it only happens towards the end.)

To learn more about what specifically I liked and what I didn't, check out my full review on my blog.

warnings: there are some homophobic comments that are all called out in the book. ( )