RATING: ★★★★★
Publication Date: February 25, 2016
Publisher: MacMillans Kids UK
Genre: YA
Pages: 96 pages
Today is World Book Day and in honour of this special day, several authors wrote novellas that are only £1! A full list of the participating books can be found here, and this is my review of one of these books: Rainbow Rowell's Kindred Spirits. As mentioned in my previous post, I received this novella from Macmillan press, but this in no way influences my review.
So unless you've never been on my blog, Twitter or Tumblr, you are probably aware of the profound love I have for Rainbow Rowell books. I love her YA books like Fangirl and Eleanor and Park, but also really enjoy her books for an adult audience, especially Attachments. Kindred Spirits is a YA book again and delivers everything you want out of a Rainbow book: it's funny, endearing, surprising and most important of all, it makes you feel all warm inside, even on rainy March day.
Elena is a Star Wars fan through and through and when the new movie is released, she can't way to join the queue early and surrender herself to the "line experience". However, when she gets there four days before the release, there are only two other people in line, Troy and Gabe, and the cold Omaha winter quickly ruins her joy. However, Elena is not one to give up and is determined to stay in the line until the midnight screening. The 60ish page novella chronicles her adventures in the line and why Star Wars is so important to all three characters in the line.
As I said, I loved this book. Elena is an amazing narrator who is determined and doesn't take any shit from anyone in the line (hello epic rant about guys always judging girls who like something nerdy). It's easy to get into Elena's head and to understand why she wants to stay in the line and I guarantee you'll be rooting for her to stay in the line after the first five pages.
The story is short and I really enjoyed how it only focused on the three characters in the line. It means that there's enough depth to all of them to understand and enjoy them, while never feeling bored with one of them. Even though I am not a Star Wars fan at all, and didn't even see this last movie, I somehow got swept up in the excitement of Troy, Gabe and Elena and was almost tempted to watch the movie - something that only shows how amazing Rainbow Rowell's writing is.
Though the book might feel predictable half way through, it really isn't. Nothing happens as you think it will, but it's still familiar enough that you're comfortable and just enjoying the ride. Rainbow Rowell again creates a world where it's okay to believe that fairy tale endings do happen, to only want good things for characters and to embrace the fact that happy stories can be amazing too - something I usually never think.
Kindred Spirits is obviously a quick read, but also an amazing one and a great pick for World Book Day. If you're unfamiliar with YA, this is a great introduction to one of the best authors the genre has to offer and if you are a teenager constantly forced to read classics in school, this book shows you that literature has stories on offer that you can relate to and thoroughly enjoy.