*I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Harper Collin's Children's Books.*
4 stars for The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux
"Never meet your heroes, she thought, hurrying to find her backpack."
Synopsis:
No matter how different best friends Adelle and Connie are, one thing they’ve always had in common is their love of a little-known gothic romance novel called Moira. So when the girls are tempted by a mysterious stranger to enter the world of the book, they hardly suspect it will work. But suddenly they are in the world of Moira, living among characters they’ve obsessed about for years.
Except…all is not how they remembered it. The world has been turned upside down: The lavish balls and star-crossed love affairs are now interlaced with unspeakable horrors. The girls realize that something dark is lurking behind their foray into fiction—and they will have to rewrite their own arcs if they hope to escape this nightmare with their lives.
The Book of Living Secrets had me asking myself “Am I enjoying this?” throughout most of the book. As someone who has their fair share of book boyfriends and would love to be able to jump into their favorite book, the premise of this story appealed to me immediately. Jump into my favorite story? What is this magic and where can I get some of it?! Even knowing that it wouldn’t end up being the fairytale Adelle and Connie had in mind, did not necessarily prepare me for what happened.
The Boston of Moira is really confusing. Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but besides all the odds things happening, it also took me a while before I realized that Moira took place in Boston. I could have benefitted from a little more world-building. That being said, events happen fast and furious from the start and as I’ve mentioned in past reviews, I’d rather feel like a book is moving too fast than too slow.
I felt the representation in the book was good, particularly Connie’s very real struggle with admitting to herself and others that she is attracted to girls. I feel throughout the book there were some sweet moments around this topic. I also really just enjoyed Connie and Adelle’s BFF friendship and there were some other great, surprising characters and moments throughout the book.
The end of the epilogue is what finally had me deciding whether or not I enjoyed the book. The last couple of pages completely caught me off guard, so much so that I had to reread them. I had not anticipated that ending and it instantly increased my enjoyment of the book and made me want to flip back and see if I had missed any clues!
Burger Buddies is Adelle and Connie's go-to food spot, with Pigmalion burgers (described as being the size of a toddler's head) with all the toppings, a massive mountain of fries, and vanilla milkshakes their go-to orders. Especially since Adelle's stepdad made her family go vegan, Adelle and Connie's trips to Burger Buddies were sacred. Since trips to Burger Buddies were mentioned both at the beginning and the end of the story, to me, there was no other food option that could represent Connie and Adelle better. While my version of the Pigmalion is definitely not the size of a toddler's head, it was still delicious. This delicious bacon cheeseburger and rosemary fries are from Burger Shop Worcester (https://aruleoftum.com/burgershopworc Instagram: @burgershop_worc) and were the perfect way to celebrate Connie and Adelle's friendship.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Kim
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