"The Art of Escaping" by Erin Callahan

Seventeen-year-old Mattie is hiding her obsession with Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrrich from everyone, including her best friend Stella. When Stella takes off to boarding school for the summer, all of Mattie's anxieties bubble to the surface, leaving her feeling adrift. To distract herself, she seeks out Miyu, the reclusive daughter of a world-renowned escape artist whose life and career were snuffed out by a tragic plane crash.

With Miyu's help, Mattie secretly transforms herself into a burgeoning escapologist and performance artist. Away from the curious eyes of her peers, she thrives in her new world of lock picking, straitjackets, and aquarium escapes. But when Will, a popular varsity athlete from her high school, discovers her act at an underground venue, she fears that her double life is about to be exposed. But instead of outing her, Will tells Mattie something he's never told anyone before and the two of them find out that not all secrets can remain secret forever.

Told through the perspectives of the witty main characters, this funny and fresh debut explores the power of stage personas and secret spaces, and speaks to the uncanny ways in which friendships transform us.

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

*Only minor spoilers below*

I loved the two main characters! Mattie is such a fun main character and I loved how real she felt. She's so witty and funny in the exact way I love a main character to be, but still manages to be vulnerable and human. Especially during the escape scenes, her emotions are really raw and human.

Speaking of escapology, that aspect was so cool! The escape scenes were so cool and realistic that they actually made me scared for Mattie while reading them. It was just such a cool thing to have in a book and I loved watching Mattie get into escapology. But the best part of her training was Miyu.

Miyu is that classic, snarky mentor who gives sarcastic nicknames. I'm such a sucker for that kind of thing. She's sort of like if those strong, snarky male leads like Rhysand but if Rhysand was an agoraphobic 30-something woman. I wish that there was more of her in the story. She was such a great character and also had a lot of emotional depth.

Will was also a well developed character. I loved how he starts off seeming like a stereotypical joke, but then as he spends more time with Mattie and the readers get to know him better we all find out he's so much more. He was such a sweet, relatable character and I genuinely enjoyed watching him come into his own. He has great character development through the story.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was how it wasn't heavy-handed with the message it's trying to get across. The themes in the book are certainly there, but it doesn't feel overwhelmingly like the author is pushing anything too much.

It still wasn't a perfect book. I found Mattie and Will's chapters were sometimes hard to differentiate at first. Once I got more used to the characters, it was easier. The ending felt a little forced and more like the story just fizzled out rather than concluded.

Overall, it was an excellent book and a truly stunning debut. The book was a total breath of fresh air and the characters were well-developed and likable. I'd definitely recommend this book.

Rating: 4.5 stars