Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for giving me an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!
As some of you might know, I'm a sucker for quite a few elements. Autistic leads, plus sized leads, a scrappy lead with a noble, if a bit unconventional cause. So when I found a book that's about a plus sized con artist falling for an autistic librarian, it was a no-brainer. I had to get it.
Synopsis according to GJ: After years of honing her skills, Harmony is ready for run the con of her career: A Fyre Island-esque scam with the goal of taking everything from the local mayor, her father's old business partner who scammed him out of a fortune. Don't worry, she'll give the money to the townspeople, she's not in this for the money. Now, if only she can get the local librarian to loan his family property....
Preston Jones has enough on his plate. The caretaker of his little autistic sister, Preston has to deal with teaching piano to make ends meet and the local PTA trying to ban books and drag events. He doesn't have time for gorgeous women with husky voices trying to use his sister's property for some festival! Even if she seems to understand him and he's been struggling with his loneliness. Nope, nope nope.....Or maybe.....
Book review: I really enjoyed this book. I know the writer pitched the book as a gender flipped Music Man but I saw the premise and thought of the TV show Leverage. It's still a common enough story, the charsmatic grifter and the target who makes this a little too real and gives us the central conflict. Oftentimes, it's hard to balance out our affection of the Grifter with the fact that their schemes have very real victims, including the person they fall in love with.
Schwartz handles this well by first establishing that Harmony is kinda like Robin Hood. Yes, she does take a cut but every one of her targets are abusive leaders of their communities who deserves what's coming to that. As I read Harmony's interactions with the Mayor and his wife, I audibly said "A tech bro and a book banner? Oh, now I HAVE to root against them!". I love a complex antagonist as much as the next girl but sometimes, you need a hate sink to root against, you know?
Despite the book dealing with heavy topics such of homophobic parents, book banners and ableism, the book still felt light. Schwartz did a great job of reminding us of the stakes while letting us enjoy the ride. Sometimes the book does feel a little too glib for my taste. I would have liked to know more about Harmony and Preston's background as well as some secondary characters but the book is a quick fun read so I won't hold it against it. (One could also argue that it matches Harmony and Preston's desire to stay "casual" but I don't know if I'm reading too much into it).
As a recently diagnosed autistic person, I really enjoyed the portrayal of autism here Sometimes, in an attempt to accurately portray a disability, a writer can go overboard in their characterization or overexplain. Other times, it can feel like the character is more like a vehicle for the disability rep (And the writer's internal biases). Whenever I think of bad rep, I think of the "My job is just Beach" line from Barbie. No nuance, no messy humanity or goals. Their job is just Disability Representation.
Here, Preston is a fully realized person and his entire struggle isn't his autism. It's the book banners, his loneliness and his fears of not being enough. Preston is quippy and caring and really invested in his community. Preston is as at peace with his diagnosis as someone who's juggling 5 things can be. Much like Harmony, he carries his past trauma with him but it's not all that he is.
His job is not Autism. His job is Hot Librarian.
(BTW, there's a scene where he's playing Rachmaninoff on piano and I thought "Hmm, a good composer. Strong emotions, bold music but you need massive hands to play his stuff- MADAM, ARE YOU IMPLYING WHAT I THINK YOU ARE?!")
And Harmony. My sweet Harmony. She's easy to love with her charm and smarts but as we watch her fall in love with Preston and his stability, she just started breaking my heart. She sees the stability and home that she never had as a kid, the security to be herself. At the end of the book, she reveals something about herself that just gutted me. Still, through it all, she's determined to do the right thing and hold her fabulous head up right. She's great.
Overall, I rate this 4 stars. I struggled a bit with the middle but it was a fun way to spend time. I look forward to reading more of Schwartz's work
TW: Mentions of fatal car accident, parental death, parental abandonment and alcoholism. Brief blood, violence and homophobia. Brief mentions of sexual assault (Including church assault on minors). On-page sex, fatphobia (Including brief moralistic discussions of food). Brief discussion of ABA therapy.
No comments:
Post a Comment