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…

The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre
Published April 7, 2015 by Feiwel & Friends
Young Adult, Contemporary Romance
Format: e-book from Netgalley for review; 334 pages
Also By This Author: Razorland Series, 2B Series
Goodreads | Amazon | Author’s Website
My Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Thoughts:

I was immediately reeled into the premise of this book: two social outcasts helping each other heal from the past and find confidence in themselves.

Sage was such an easy character to sympathize with. Although she seems a little bristly on the outside, she has an altruistic heart and is the “queen” of acts of kindness. I loved how she posted words of encouragement on the lockers of her classmates. Whenever she noticed someone who could use a little pick-me-up, she would write a small compliment on a post-it-note and attach it to their locker. I wish I had done something like that in high school, but it’s never to late to be encouraging :)

This novel started out really promising for me; it wasn’t hard for me to get right into the story, and the only thing keeping me from giving this novel a higher rating is the pacing of it. After the first quarter of the novel it felt like things were progressing too slowly, and then towards the end of the novel it seemed that whole weeks were skipped over because nothing romantic was happening. I wish that the author had added a subplot to make Sage’s story a little deeper, but this book was still enjoyable.

Read This Book If…

…you love reading stories with positive-thinking, “do good” type characters.
…you enjoy novels about second chances and social misfits.
…you’re looking for a feel-good contemporary romance.
…you want to read a book that will encourage you to be a nicer, more encouraging person.

“If you want something bad enough, you do what it takes to make it happen.”

Final Musings:

This book started off really intriguing! And even though I wish the pacing was a little better, the characters and the major plot points made The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things an enjoyable, feel-good novel that will make you want to start handing out encouraging notes to strangers :)