ARC Review: Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn

Title: Down with the Shine
Author: Kate Karyus Quinn
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: April 26th 2016
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



There's a reason they say "be careful what you wish for." Just ask the girl who wished to be thinner and ended up smaller than Thumbelina, or the boy who asked for "balls of steel" and got them-literally. And never wish for your party to go on forever. Not unless you want your guests to be struck down by debilitating pain if they try to leave.


These are things Lennie only learns when it's too late-after she brings some of her uncles' moonshine to a party and toasts to dozens of wishes, including a big wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was abducted and murdered six months ago.

Lennie didn't mean to cause so much chaos. She always thought her uncles' moonshine toast was just a tradition. And when they talked about carrying on their "important family legacy," she thought they meant good old-fashioned bootlegging.

As it turns out, they meant granting wishes. And Lennie has just granted more in one night than her uncles would grant in a year.

Now she has to find a way to undo the damage. But once granted, a wish can't be unmade...

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts:

I had so much fun reading Down with the Shine, the events that transpired in the book were unexpected and outrageous that I just couldn't help but enjoy myself. This is actually the first novel I've read written by Kate Karyus Quinn and from what I've seen of her other books, they seemed really dark and gritty which are characteristics that can also be seen in Down with the Shine but layered with an ounce of absurdity and snark that shifted its dark themes into something lighter and wholly funnier.

When I first read the blurb I thought that the story would only revolve around Lennie trying to fix all the crazy wishes that were granted but in actuality the plot was deeper and more mysterious than that. I don't want to get too much into the details because I feel like the purpose of the vague synopsis is to really shock the reader and I don't want to ruin that "holy crap" moment for anyone. All I'm going to say is that Down with the Shine is an enigma, don't let its weirdness fool you. This book is far from refined or perfect but the way Kate Karyus Quinn weaves the story is so wack that everything makes so much sense.

What really made me like this story was how trippy everything was (I'm on a roll with all these trippy books, I swear). The craziness didn't start when the wishes started happening, nope, everything went down as soon as the first chapter passed. Lennie's whole life is a twisty mess of thrills, magic and moonshine. The consistence of the oddness of the story added to its appeal and I liked that Kate Karyus Quinn didn't do anything half-assed, it's like she decided that if the story was already going to be weird, might as well keep adding to that quickly growing heap of awesome mess. The concept of wishes meshed with moonshine was so far out and so unique and I knew as soon as I read that bit about Down with the Shine that this book would be incredibly interesting, and I was right.

Down with the Shine is like nothing I've read before, and though the plot was really odd, I enjoyed it. There was so much going on but the different aspects of this book went so well together even though they normally wouldn't have (props to Kate Karyus Quinn for the cohesiveness of the story). The ending felt a little like a cop out for me though but it was okay, nothing as impressive as the actual story. I'm actually looking forward to reading Kate Karyus Quinn's other novels and seeing how different her writing is per book because I just know that is this different from her typical style; and if you're looking for a little romance, a lot of thrills and even more craziness, then you definitely need to try this one out.

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