ARC Review: The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things - Ann Aguirre

Title: The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things
Author: Ann Aguirre
Pub Date: April 7th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Sage Czinski is trying really hard to be perfect. If she manages it, people won’t peer beyond the surface, or ask hard questions about her past. She’s learned to substitute causes for relationships, and it’s working just fine… until Shane Cavendish strolls into her math class. He’s a little antisocial, a lot beautiful, and everything she never knew she always wanted.

Shane Cavendish just wants to be left alone to play guitar and work on his music. He’s got heartbreak and loneliness in his rearview mirror, and this new school represents his last chance. He doesn’t expect to be happy; he only wants to graduate and move on. He never counted on a girl like Sage.

But love doesn’t mend all broken things, and sometimes life has to fall apart before it can be put back together again…

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Featuring instalove, awkward pacing and info dumps, this book should've sent me on rage. However, I found myself in some instances not caring about these problems. - Nova @ Out of Time

I'm in a reading slump and I really thought this book would be what would get me out of it. I saw the decent reviews on Goodreads and it only raised my expectations. Perhaps that's why I didn't like this as much as I should've? We get introduced to a girl called Sage and very early on, I'm able to figure out who she is. I didn't connect to her but I didn't hate her either which is pretty good, considering my mood. What I didn't like was how I felt like her life story was being shoved down my throat within the first twenty pages. I ended up skipping over a lot of the background details simply because they bored me. I did, however, have a huge amount of respect for her because despite what happens a few times, she does have good intentions and a good heart.

What I didn't like was the pacing. In my perfect contemporary, there's perfect pacing between the encounter and love blossoming. This book defied the rules weaving instalove with some alright development. Like what how can I rate something like that? It was both disastrous and wonderful at the same time.
The beginning starts with her instantly falling for him. By page fifty, she's having trouble getting her "urges" in check. But then after there's a relationship, it felt so flat. I wish there had been more development in how they got together, that way it would feel more real. The middle was alright but it lagged a while. The ending, however; that was great. It was a little quick, because the middle made it look rushed, but I liked it.

I was really on the fence about Sage and Shane's relationship. On some occasions, it was cute. So cute that it was feels inducing with some flailing and maniacal giggling. However, on the other side, I was a little weirded out. Sage's character is very kind and very loving. She kept insisting on taking care of Shane and not in the girlfriend. In some instances, she was so doting, she was pretty much his mom. That comparison made it an INSTANT mood killer. I tried to ignore it as best I could, but it kept showing up!

In the end, it was the characters' personalities that won me over. Even though Sage had a lot going on, I found her enjoyable. What could've been better were her personal demons being more of the focus. Aguirre had some really good ideas but they were never really elabored, which is a shame.
My favorite character was Lila. I felt like she just brought a lot of life to the story. She had an attitude that I could connect to. But again, like everything else, there was something I didn't like. For Lila, I felt like her introduction to the story was disjointed and awkward. It didn't make sense and felt really random and weak.

Overall, this book didn't get me out of my slump but it didn't make it worse. It wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend to others, but I don't in any way hate it. [Note: it would've been two stars but I had feels.]

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Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She likes all kinds of books, emo music, action movies and Doctor Who. She writes all kind of fiction in multiple genres, both YA and for adults.