A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on September 5th 2017
Genres: Young Adult, Magical Realism
Pages: 347
Source: The Publisher
My content rating: YA (Nothing more than kissing, Themes of death, suicide, physical abuse)
My rating:
From the author of Our Chemical Hearts comes the hilarious, reality-bending tale of two outsiders facing their greatest fears about life and love—one debilitating phobia at a time.
Ever since Esther Solar's grandfather was cursed by Death, everyone in her family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime. Esther's father is agoraphobic and hasn't left the basement in six years, her twin brother can t be in the dark without a light on, and her mother is terrified of bad luck.
The Solars are consumed by their fears and, according to the legend of the curse, destined to die from them.
Esther doesn't know what her great fear is yet (nor does she want to), a feat achieved by avoiding pretty much everything. Elevators, small spaces, and crowds are all off-limits. So are haircuts, spiders, dolls, mirrors and three dozen other phobias she keeps a record of in her semi-definitive list of worst nightmares.Then Esther is pickpocketed by Jonah Smallwood, an old elementary school classmate. Along with her phone, money and a fruit roll-up she d been saving, Jonah also steals her list of fears. Despite the theft, Esther and Jonah become friends, and he sets a challenge for them: in an effort to break the curse that has crippled her family, they will meet every Sunday of senior year to work their way through the list, facing one terrifying fear at a time, including one that Esther hadn't counted on: love.
This book starts out super fun and quirky, and to be honest, that’s all I was expecting out of it, but it turned into something more. In fact, there were parts of this book that were downright heartbreaking.
By about halfway through, I realized that there was more than meets the eye with this little gem. It’s not just a book about facing a list of fears (often in humorous and quirky ways). No, this book is about the fears that we shove down so deep that we hide them even from ourselves. It’s about facing the fact that sometimes fear rules us because we let it. And that some fears are well-deserved, but that doesn’t mean we should let them keep us from truly living.
So, I loved pretty much everything about this book, from the family relationships, to the friendships, to the romance, to the way it handled mental illness, to the magical realism (which is constantly questioned throughout the book—you’re kept guessing until almost the very end as to whether or not there is really a curse and whether or not Death actually exists). I also enjoyed the fun ways that Jonah and Esther faced her fears—though I realized just how deep a few of my own phobias truly go (I literally felt like I might have a panic attack when Esther describes being stuck while spelunking—there might have been some tears involved. On my part. While reading a book about someone feeling claustrophobic. I have issues).
If I had any complaint at all, it’s that Sutherland likes to make her characters extra quirky, which sometimes makes them feel a little unreal—but I still managed to relate to them most of the time. I also wasn’t that fond of the fact that one of Jonah’s “quirks” is that he steals things. It was a cute joke that that’s the way that Esther and Jonah meet (or meet again, since they knew each other as children), but then it was implied that he stole some other rather pricey items as well, and I couldn’t help but think that this was not the type of behavior we should view as “endearing.” Still, I forced myself to get past that, and I really did love Jonah, for the most part.
For the first half of the book, I was feeling like I’d give it a solid FED MY ADDICTION rating but the second half was so much more emotionally impactful that I decided to bump it up to DEVOURED IT. Highly recommend this if you enjoy a book that handles tough topics in both a lighthearted and an emotional way.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
Today, Sutherland is sharing her top ten addictions with us. I’m especially intrigued by Buzzfeed Unsolved, which I didn’t know existed before now…
Krystal Sutherland’s Top Ten Addictions
- Baking videos on Instagram. Oh the many hours I have lost to mouth-watering shots of cake decoration and cookie icing.
- Worcestershire sauce. My grandfather loved this sauce. My mother loves this sauce. I love this sauce. It’s good on eggs, pasta, pizza… even toast. Try it, you’ll be a convert.
- Xiao long bao. I first became addicted to these Chinese soup dumplings while living in Hong Kong, and now I try to track them down whenever I can.
- Social media. Must. Check. Twitter. Just. One. More. Time.
- Buzzfeed Unsolved. From real-life murders to supposed hauntings to aliens, Buzzfeed’s Shane and Ryan take you through some of the world’s most tantalising unsolved mysteries.
- Wikipedia articles about serial killers and strange disappearances. I like mysteries, okay?! And Wikipedia always has that dangerous “See also” list of links at the bottom of the page, which leads you on three hour reading binges.
- Tea. Specifically, black tea with toast in the early morning. My brain doesn’t start without tea.
- Dissecting Taylor Swift’s latest music video. Because, um, have you seen it? The layers!
- Being warm. It’s winter here in the southern hemisphere, and I’m a cold-blooded reptile at heart, so cosying up to sources of warmth is practically a pastime.
- Procrastination. Because everything on this list is more fun than doing actual work! *sobs*
About the Author
Krystal Sutherland was born and raised in Townsville, Australia—an inhospitable land where crocodiles, snakes, and jellyfish are always on the prowl. She grew up living directly across the road from the local library and spent almost every day after school (and weekends, too) having adventures between the pages of books (mainly because it was too dangerous to go outside).
She moved to Sydney for college (and safety), where she cut her writing teeth as the editor of the student magazine at the University of New South Wales. She kept gathering tales as an exchange student in Hong Kong and as a foreign correspondent in Amsterdam. Her first book, Our Chemical Hearts, was released in 2016, and was published in over twenty countries.
Her three greatest fears are heights, dark caves . . . and (perhaps worst of all) frogs.
Follow the Tour:
September 5 – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Chase Away the Nightmares: A Playlist
September 6 – Arctic Books – Reviews
September 7 – YA Wednesdays – Favorite Quotes
September 8 – Feed Your Fiction Addiction – Author Guest Post: Krystal’s Top 10 AddictionsWeek Two:
September 12 – Twinning for Books
September 13 – Love is Not a Triangle – Author Guest Post: Would You Rather? With the Cast of ASDLOWN
September 14 – Forever Young Adult – Review
September 15 – Adventures of a Book Junkie – Author Q&AWeek Three:
September 18 – Xpresso Reads – Review & My Top 5 Fears/Phobias
September 19 – Chasing Faerytales – Review
September 20 – Boricuan Bookworms – Review
September 21 – YA and Wine – Author Guest Post: Krystal’s Biggest Fears
September 22 – A Book and a Cup of Coffee – Psychology of Phobias
Related Posts
30 responses to “A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland: Review, Giveaway and Sutherland’s Top Ten Addictions”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
The magical realism aspect of the story sounds unusual. I’m interested. Great review! 🙂
It is! I hadn’t seen this concept before.
Great review! I love that this book not only has humor, but also digs deeper and tackles emotional issues dealing with those fears that sometimes consume us. I am looking forward to reading this book.
Books that deal with tough subjects with both humor and heart definitely call to me.
If Krystal Sutherland likes baking videos, I also want to recommend The Great British Bake-Off and the kid’s baking championship shows on the food network!
I love kids’ cooking competition shows!
Between the magical realism aspect and my feelings about Our Chemical Hearts, I decided to give this one a pass. But I’m so glad it was such a good one for you! Especially the fact the second half picked up and made it even better.
I enjoyed Our Chemical Hearts, but this one had a similar feel to it with the “zany” characters, so if you weren’t a fan, you might not like this one either.
I eat on my eggs too! I haven’t known anyone to use Worcestershire sauce on eggs. I cook it right in there.
I’ve never tried that, but it does sound yummy!
This book sounds like a fun read! Thank you
Good luck in the giveaway!
This book was ah-mazing! Seriously, I was laughing until I was crying, but it was a beautiful pain and definitely gave the story a lot more depth. I read this book in the beginning of August and still can not properly express my thoughts, but you did a great job!
I LOVE books that handle serious subjects with humor AND tears.
I love it when I get more than I expected from a book. This sounds very entertaining. And that title is clever! I enjoyed your review:)
I agree that it’s great when a book goes above and beyond your expectations.
I love it when a book is even deeper than we expect, or can go from light and quirky to deep and pull it off. And the idea of facing fears, especially deep down phobias. I haven’t read much magical realism… glad this was so good!
I love books that can do this—handle tough subjects with both levity and seriousness.
That was a great post! When she says frogs are one of her worst fears in her bio I have to laugh! Clowns #1 for me – #2 frogs!
Really? But frogs are so cute! 🙂
I’m so excited for this book! And I’m happy to know I’m not the only one who loses so many hours to Instagram baking videos.
Ha! I’m sure there are plenty more like you!
I’ve been wanting to read this one! I’m glad to see you enjoyed it so much!
It was a great surprise!
I’ve been seeing this one everywhere. It sounds like one I’d love to get for the school library where I work. I love that the author admits one of her addictions is social media. Mine is Facebook. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
I’m sure lots of us have social media as an addiction!
This sounds like an amazing book! Thanks for sharing!
Happy to share it with you!
I’ve heard so many great things about this book – can’t wait to read it!
Hope you enjoy it!