I'm not sure if I was just in the wrong frame of mind for this story but this book was not to my liking. I did finish the book but it was a struggle and I heavily skimmed the last third of the story. Extreme indifference is probably what I most felt whilst reading this book. ( )

A charming, sweet story about learning to trust, both yourself and others. Sage and Shane have a picture-perfect teen movie romance on the surface, with a darker current running underneath.

Some of the writing was pretty simplified - it's definitely a story for younger young adults, I think. Also, some of the pop culture references seem too current; it might not age well. ( )

I've liked a lot of books lately, but The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things hit me on a totally different level. Sage and Shane are completely awesome, beautifully flawed characters who defy pretty much every teenage stereotype that exists in young adult novels.

Sage prides herself on leaving her dark past behind her and moving on to a cheerful future. She makes a point to leave a compliment on a random student's locker every day (written on hot pink sticky notes in sparkly purple pen, no less). She helps out so much at home that her friends think she's crazy. She volunteers. She tries her best to get good grades. All this so that maybe she can forget what an awful person she used to be. Shane is trying to lay low and make it through high school without ending up in juvie. He made a lot of mistakes at his old school, so he just wants to keep to himself, avoid conflict, and make it through the next few months. Sage and Shane weren't counting on finding each other, but maybe they're just what each other needs.

The first thing that I noticed about The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things was the beautiful writing. Each sentence flowed so well, and the dialogue felt natural. Actually, everything felt really natural, from the personalities of the characters to the conflicts to the pacing. It was pretty near perfect, and I had a tough time putting it down at night!

I felt like the characters were really well-developed, from the main characters to their friends and the minor characters who have their own little lives on the sidelines. I think it's rare, particularly in young adult novels, to have minor characters whose personalities are so developed that we understand the rationale for their actions. I was surprised at the amount of attention given to the main antagonist in the story, and the fact that small offhand comments from the beginning of the book were followed up on throughout.

The only semi-negative comment I can make has to do with the language used in the book. Yes, it is 100% natural for RIGHT NOW. But in five or ten years, I'm wondering if the people who read it will be thinking, "She can't even? She can't even what? That's not a full sentence!" or "Why do these characters keep saying 'forever alone' and what does that mean?!" Aguirre does a great job of not dating the book through its use of pop culture (for example, when Sage watches Crazy Stupid Love, she mentions that it came out years ago but she'd never seen it), but as a total linguistics nerd, I wonder how today's slang is going to hold up in the future.

Aside from that totally minor complaint, everything in this book is amazing, and you should probably preorder it right now.

Thanks to Goodreads First Reads and the publisher for the free copy!

[see all my reviews at the bibliophagist] ( )

My review (plus a giveaway) first appeared on One Curvy Blogger

When you see the cover of The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things you probably think bubbly contemporary romance – I know I did. I’m all for the cute YA romances these days so I picked it up thinking I would probably enjoy it, but I never expected an true emotional connection! So while this book was cute in some parts and the main characters, Sage and Shane, were “awwh” inspiring, the book wasn’t just ponies and rainbows and everything nice. It had a darker theme to it that I would never have guessed if I hadn’t picked it up and given it a try. (Just another reason not to judge a book by its cover, Tika and Blessie!)

One of the biggest things that I enjoyed about The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things was the fact that these characters all have flaws. We can all list off some popular young adult and even adult books where the main character is the best person ever whom never makes a mistake and if they do, they never have to atone for them. This is not the case with Sage. Though she may try to appear like the epitome of a perfect young adult, the more I read the more I knew she had done something horrific in her past that she was trying to make up for by helping others the best way she can – taking care of the Earth that we all have to live on and writing out notes of encouragements to those who need who need them.

In some ways, this book made me ashamed of the way I hid in books when I should have been trying to better myself and my community. Even though I tried to help out an underdog when they needed someone to stand up for them, I never made a point to go out of my way to notice who was having a bad day and cheer them up and I would never have stood up for anyone if it meant compromising my own safety. I would more often tell a teacher or anonymously send in reports of bullying than draw attention to myself. I had thought I was doing enough – I wasn’t ignoring bullying, instead I was helping out behind the scenes – but after reading about what Sage did for her friends and for Shane, I knew I could have done more.

In my review of The Fault in My Stars, I noted how irregular it was to find a young adult MC that I could actually see as a role model for future young adults, but I am glad to find out that I have read two new books this year that have defied the odds. Even in realizing that Sage used her “save the world” campaign to mask the emotional trauma from her past, she does it a helluva lot better than most troubled young adults. It was nice to see her and her new circle of friends grow as characters in the course of getting to know one another. Sage isn’t your average “flawed” YA character, and the plot wasn’t the most unpredictable but it was a fun, emotional read that made me a better person in the long run. I would recommend everyone – even readers who aren’t usually a YA fan – read The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things at least once! ( )

Pages Read: 50ish

I actually DNFed this a couple of days ago, so I'm a little blurry on the exact reasons, but here's the short version:

1) The MC is the bad kind of judgmental, aka she doesn't seem to realize how mean she is. Also, she insulted Gillian's hair, which is fabulous.

2) The central conceit that her best friend was pretending to be dating her so that he could engage in a sexual relationship with a 21 year old who thought he was 19 skeeves me out. He's making that girl a statutory rapist.

3) Just a couple chapters in, Sage describes herself as having a Shane-shaped hole inside of her, even though they've barely spoken. Not feeling this ship at all.

4) A number of unnecessary details that distracted me from the overall story. No, I don't care why the other patrons of the coffee shop named Coffee Shop are there.

I loved Ann Aguirre's Razorand trilogy, but her contemporaries don't seem to work so well for me. *sighs*