The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly
Ratings11
Average rating3.8
This was a sweet debut. Women in history are often ignored and forgotten. There were women in battle but media rarely shows it. Kit Sweetly knows this erasure being a history nerd and working at a medieval fast food and entertainment joint. It's nice to see that Jamie Pacton has written about lower income protagonists in both of her YA contemporaries. The struggles being poor brings. I love how friendships and found family is a huge part of this debut, which is a repeated theme in her second book ( lucky girl 5/5) and most likely in her newest one this fall “ the vermillion emporium “- a ya fantasy debut.
Because the book happens in a span of two weeks. Not every side character could be fully fleshed out but you still feel the essence of the characters. The romantic tension and subplot felt believable. Friends to lovers for the win. Jett is such a sweet guy.
Totally read kit sweetly for the tackling gender roles, the friendship dynamics, bits of romance and the desire to eat pancakes right after. Damm I really want
The Life and Medieval Times of Kit Sweetly is a cute book about a girl wanting to be a knight at a Medieval Times-esque restaurant and being told that only cis-male people can become knights. The book has a good message at heart, and is rather entertaining at parts.
HOWEVER – I was blown away at the descriptions of smoking in this book. It's projected as something cool to do around other people, and done socially. At one point, I think the main character even mentions craving a cigarette. Am I insane in thinking this is AWFUL? This book isn't years and years old. It came out LAST YEAR in 2020. We should not be hyping cigarette smoking up anymore, I don't care if it's in a fictional book. Honestly, the smoking sections of the book are not necessary plot-wise, and frequently tugged me right out of the fantasy of the book.
So, yeah, mostly-cute book about gender representation and feminism that was partially ruined for me by depictions of smoking.
Technically only 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up because I feel sorry for this book.
Its a nice bit of fluff but the pacing is uneven and everything was just so damn predictable. Also making Jett a brown boy seemed like tokenism and it loses marks for all the pop culture references. Still, the plot is cute enough and while not meaty, there's enough to carry the story and characterization of major players is solid. Given this is the author's debut novel, I would read future efforts.
Cute feminist rom-com as advertised. Bonus points for some actual medieval history woven into the story.