Review: The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean by Lindsay Littleson

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Lily's already got plenty going on living with a moody teenage sister, two feral brothers and a messy baby sister. Mum and Gran are stressed to the max, both dads are out of the picture, and the cats aren't exactly pulling their weight. But when she starts getting mixed-up warnings not to go on holiday to the tiny, "safe" Scottish island of Millport, her summer just gets weirder and weirder.
The thing is, whoever is talking to Lily doesn't even seem to know she's doing it. If she's a ghost, she's not a very good one. And there's something about her that Lily finds awfully, spine-tingly familiar...
Spend a summer with Lily McLean in this beautifully written, laugh-out-loud adventure by Kelpies Prize winner Lindsay Littleson.
(Ages 8-12)

MY TAKE:
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book.

In The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean. Lily is a young girl who is dealing with helping take care of her younger siblings while her mother tries to juggle work and taking care of the kids. Her Gran invites her to Millport for the holidays, and Lily is excited. However, she receives a mysterious warning which gets her thinking that maybe this trip wasn't a good idea.

The book started off quite strong. I loved the descriptions of Lily's siblings, her family life and her school life. Lily is a funny girl, and some of her comments made me laugh. The mystery of the disembodied voice was pretty interesting too.

Things started to go south for me once Lily meets a new friend at Millport. I found Agnes weird and a compulsive liar, so at one point, I was wondering if this was going to go the Single, White Female route. Thankfully, it didn't, but despite the positive ending, I didn't really warm up to Agnes.

The whole mystery of the disembodied voice and who it belongs too was interesting as well, especially when it was revealed who it actually was. However, I wasn't satisfied with the explanation for how it was possible. It seemed a bit of a stretch, even for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC for the e-ARC.

THE GOOD:

1. Lily can be quite funny.
2. Lily's home life feels very realistic.
3. Kids will be able to relate to Lily.

THE BAD:

1. The explanation for how the mystery didn't feel satisfactory to me. 

READ IT IF:

1. You like stories set in Scotland.
2. You like coming-of-age stories.
3. You like family-centric tales. 

RATING:


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