Wonderful, heartwarming and hilarious coming-of-age novel with 70s vibes

Rating: 5 stars

This book made me so happy!

Mary Jane is a 14-year-old living in 1970s Baltimore. She comes from a strait-laced family and lands a summer job as a nanny for the household Cone. Her mother thinks it’s a respectable household of which the father is a doctor. Little does she know that he is actually a psychiatrist and that a famous rock star and his movie star wife move in during the summer to get clean. Through her summer job at the Cone’s, Mary Jane discovers a whole new world.

Everything about this book was perfect. The writing is great. The right details were used, so it paints a vivid picture in your head, without slowing the reading down by long sentences or an exhausting amount of details. You fly through it! Also, the author captures the thoughts of a 14-year-old and the developments of Mary Jane realistically and it’s absolutely endearing.

All the characters were so fun, distinct and authentic. I could picture everyone clearly and they all had their own behaviours and way of talking. The interactions (and Mary Jane’s thoughts about them) were heartwarming and hilarious. At times it felt like a sitcom in book form.

The pacing was on point. In almost every book – however good it may be – there are parts I find a bit less interesting or dragging, but with this book I had no such problems whatsoever. I thoroughly enjoyed every single page.

This book has sweet, summer-y vibes and I’d say it’s a feelgood book. Normally I don’t gravitate towards feelgood, because I want books to leave me crying, haha. But I loved this book, so I think that says something. I couldn’t recommend it more, it deserves so much more hype!