You Must Not Miss

by Katrina Leno

Magpie Lewis started writing in her yellow notebook the day her family self-destructed. That was the night Eryn, Magpie's sister, skipped town and left her to fend for herself. That was the night of Brandon Phipp's party.

Now, Magpie is called a slut whenever she walks down the hallways of her high school, her former best friend won't speak to her, and she spends her lunch period with a group of misfits who've all been socially exiled like she has. And so, feeling trapped and forgotten, Magpie retreats to her notebook, dreaming up a place called Near.

Near is perfect--somewhere where her father never cheated, her mother never drank, and Magpie's own life never derailed so suddenly. She imagines Near so completely, so fully, that she writes it into existence, right in her own backyard. It's a place where she can have anything she wants...even revenge.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Audiobook

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2019

About the author

Katrina Leno has written a few books. She has also read a few books. Ah, books. You know?

Reviews

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC given to me by my amazingly kind friend - Kayla! at Books & Blends!

“You felt so deeply, and for so long, that your very sadness grew limbs and walked away from you. You have moved mountains, Magpie Lewis, and you are only just getting started.”

Katrina Leno is truly a gift to this world, and I’m not sure what the world has done to deserve her, her words, or her stories, but I’m forever thankful. You Must Not Miss is a masterful expose on rape culture and the things that everyone is willing to do instead of believing girls. And this is one of the best things I’ve read all year.

You Must Not Miss is a story about a girl named Magpie who is a sophomore in high school, lives in a small town called Father in New England, and whose life has drastically changed in the past three months. The abandonment in this book actually hurts my soul to think about, but basically Magpie first found her father cheating, and then something horrible happened to her, and then her father left, and then her best friend left, and finally her sister left. Magpie is now living alone with her mother, who is an alcoholic and unwilling to contribute anything to the household. And, friends, Magpie’s grief tries to be so silent, but you will be unable to hear anything other than its loudness, and it’s one of the most heartbreaking reads I’ve endured.

“Last summer her sister had been home, her father had been discreet, her mother had been sober…”

But when Magpie discovers a portal to a new world called Near, where she controls what happens to everyone, she starts to carve out a little bit of her own happiness. And she even finds a new friend, named Hither, who helps her learn about this new world and the abilities at her fingertips.

Yet, we also get to see Magpie’s reality, trying to go to a high school where people hate her, and trying to navigate the halls to ignore someone who was her best friend for all her life. Someone who she loved unconditionally. Someone who knows the truth and refuses to believe her. But we also get to meet some of Magpie’s new friends who have also been ostracized; Clare, who is carrying her own grief, Brianna, who was humiliated once over something natural that she couldn’t control, Luke, who is bisexual, and even the start of a something more than friendship with a trans boy named Ben.

My full trigger warnings will be at the end of this review, but I am going to talk about sexual assault in this review, so please use caution and make sure you are in the right head-space before reading any further.

“I’ve thought an awful lot about how many times a girl has to say no before a guy really believes her.”

This book is a big fuck you to rape culture and I was living for every single word on every single page. People don’t even want to believe girls when they know it’s the truth, and that’s the saddest fact of them all. Sexual abuse and rape culture are normalized every single day, and every time some ignorant person talks about how much the victim drank, what the victim wore, what position the victim put themselves in, even how many times the victim said yes before saying no. When none of that matters, rape is rape, regardless of any light you want to shine on it to make excuses you use to try to put the blame on the victim. And, again, this only helps to normalize the horrible things people are justifying doing because powerful people prove that they are able to get away with committing these horrible acts over and over again. And it’s just going to continue if we don’t commit to breaking these horrible cycles.

There is just so much good in this story, and it’s heartbreaking, truly, but it’s such a real heartbreak that so many of us will experience, while so many of us wish for our own Near to escape into. While talking to my friend Madalyn, she said that Summer of Salt is a quiet book about rape culture, where You Must Not Miss is an extremely loud take on, and that’s honestly the most perfect sentence in the world to describe these two books that I gave five stars to. Because sometimes you need to yell when you live in a world that does everything to prove over and over again that it doesn’t want to believe you.

Lastly, this story, and the way it is told, also is loosely inspired by “One for Sorrow”, and a genius interpretation that Katrina Leno gave us of it. From the title, to the chapter headers, to secrets that are never to be told. Like, I stan a creative genius who renders me speechless, because holy shit did Katrina Leno execute it perfectly.

“If she has learned anything in life, it was that you could always do without people. You could always find a way to do without them.”

Overall, I’m going to be really honest with you; this ending is a wild one. I can see a lot of people loving it completely, and some not liking it at all. This book has so many speculative elements, and I adored it with the sum of my being, but I know that that isn’t for everyone. But this book just meant the world to me, and it was so powerful, and so thought-provoking. Truly, me and my friends spent hours talking about the ending of this book, and it just made me cherish the book even more. And I promise, I’ll carry this story and Magpie in my heart forever.

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The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Content and trigger warnings for talk of suicide, bullying, talk of past cheating, underage drinking, alcoholism, abandonment, talk of rape, talk of date rape, semi graphic oral rape, abusive friendships, abusive parents, and anxiety attacks.

Buddy read with Jane! ❤

[megs_bookrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4.5-stars rounded up**

This book was just my kind of WEIRD!

Thank you, Katrina Leno. I can't get it out of my head. It has eaten into my brain like a worm. This disgusting analogy is quite apt in regards to this story.



You Must not Miss is truly a unique and disturbing tale, and it just so happens, unique and disturbing are two of my favorite things.



Now comes my plea: Y'all, please read this book!

If you are not sold on it simply by the fact that it is written by Katrina Leno, how about that it is one of the most darkly delightful YA stories I have ever read!?

This is literally a Revenge Thriller at its most bizarre.



There's really no way to easily describe what this book is. I would say the following:

It's Horror like Stephen King's, Carrie, is Horror.

It's Fantasy like Seanan McGuire's, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, is Fantasy.

It's moving like Nina LaCour's, We Are Okay, is moving.

It's like so many other things, while simultaneously being like nothing else.



Leno's writing is so fantastic; drawing me in immediately.

Magpie is a high school girl who feels silenced, like her power has been stripped from her by others. This is about her taking that power back.

I was surprised how dark this got, but in such a creative and beautifully-written way. I love dark stories, so this suited my tastes perfectly.



I would highly recommend You Must Not Miss to people who like when an author isn't afraid to take it all the way, but also to anyone who enjoys a solid contemporary story with deep fantastical elements.

I need everyone to give this a shot!!!

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here comes: one slap for the money of the bullies!

Two slaps for the show of fake and mean friends who abandon you when the crisis hits the fan!

Three slaps for getting ready and slap more the neglecting parents including alcoholic mother, cheater father (with your wife’s sister, what a scumbag), selfish sister who leaves you alone to deal with the drama.

Four punches for the blue suede shoes for the abuser who drugs you at party and forces you to have sex with him and made the whole students call you “slut”!

And FIVE, fantastic, not only NEAR-ly but completely earning, rising, shining STARS for the book!

I love Elvis but I loved different, fast-pacing, riveting books more! I gladly say this is the one of hidden gems that deserves better cover!

There are too many King book vibes hidden in the story from “Tommyknockers” to “Dark Tower world” and a crumble of “IT”. There is not a clown or another monster in this book, but there are too many monsters hiding inside human forms. There is also “losers lunch club” consisted of a group of outsiders, out-liners, off-siders. The popular kids a.k.a gang of bullies and mean student council members thought that they deserved to be neglected!

This story is about abusers, dysfunctional families, bullies, meanness, broken friendships, sharpen your survival skills at the high school. But it has different perspective from most of the books I have written about the same topics.
That’s MAGPIE’S story about betrayal. Her father cheated her mom with her aunt and she caught them in the action. Then her mother started to drink to the death. Her sister ran away as fast as she could for not getting involved into family drama. SO ALL FAMILY MEMBERS BETRAYED HER!

Then her best friend Allison invited her party. She got drugged by Allison’s boyfriend who also forced him to do other things. And the worst part was Allison acted like she didn’t believe in her and called her slut! The rest of the school parroted her. SO BEST FRIEND ALSO BETRAYED HER!
So did she plan for revenge? NOPE! She created NEAR to get away from all the people betrayed her: A secluded, safe place with the better version of her parents (loyal father, non-alcoholic mother, caring sister), better version of friends. But when her creation start to intercept with the real world, the problems started to begin! Which world will win? What will happen to Magpie? Is she delusional? Is this the creation of a brain tumor? Or does she have supernatural powers for real?

Too many twisty, mind-bending, OMG WTH I’m reading now, brain cell frying questions fly around your head.
You need to give your full concentration to enjoy this book. The answers you’ll get will depend on your perceptions and your emotional states. But one thing I know that any POV and any state I have, any mood I’m in will make me love this book again and again and again!

[Lala BooksandLala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katrina Leno's best. TBH I don't think this book is going to be for everyone, but oooh boy was it just my perfect taste. This book is odd and unsettling- Magpie is going through a ROUGH time in life, so she escapes to her own little world, and uses this opportunity to enact revenge on those who've wronged her. She was such a complex character, and I feel like as a reader you don't really know who you're rooting for or what you're hoping to happen in the end. Deliciously vicious.

Part of me does want to critique this book for not being quite dark enough for my taste. It could have gone way further. Honestly, regardless of tone- this book should have been 100 more pages. I needed more and it could have ended up as an all time favourite.

[Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was bizarre and strange and I have no idea how to even begin to write a review so just know that I REALLY, really liked it. If you’re someone who likes weird books that defy genres and don’t make a ton of sense (in a good way u feel me), read this book.

TW: sexual assault, adultery

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 5 out of 5]

She hadn't meant it to be so honest, so prickling and sharp, but there it was. Prickling and sharp and oh so honest.

This is one of the weirdest books I’ve read this year… and also one of the most cathartic.

Fundamentally, You Must Not Miss is a story about the struggle for kindness in a world that wishes to crush the outsiders. While Magpie’s personal journey is of course the focus, a great deal of the book focuses on her struggle to be open and honest in her relationships with her closest friends. Ben, for example, a cute guy at school who sees her for who she really is because he’s also been the one on the outside due to being trans. Clare, her classmate who is dealing with grief of her own after her father’s widely-publicized suicide. The importance of Magpie’s friendship with these two, and with two others, Brianna & Luke, is emphatically the closest to goodness the story gets.

Magpie’s character arc, however, is excellent. I think there’s a certain way of portraying and handling trauma that this book plays into, where you give the audience the portrait of a character, and hint at why they are the way they are but do not explicitly say it. In a book of this structure, we’ve generally figured out the past trauma before any character explicitly states it. In the past three months, she has caught her father sleeping with another woman, seen her mother turn to alcohol, and lost her best friend, all at once. But there are details to this story that the narrative slowly allows us to discover.

And discover, we do. Slowly but surely.

There’s a sentence in this book that keeps staying with me, in which Magpie’s mother promises to stop drinking:

“Magpie? You do know how sorry I am, right? I’m going to do so much better. I’m going to get some help. Finally, I’m going to get some help.”
And Magpie had heard it before. The daughter or sister or brother or husband or mom or dad or cousin or friend of every alcoholic in the world has heard that before.
And every time you heard it… you believed it.

This… landed. I think this book does such a ridiculously good job discussing and unpacking Magpie’s trauma while still not making her into a character she is not, a character who explodes or cries in front of friends. The narrative allows her, and by extension us, catharsis in atypical ways.

In a lot of ways, You Must Not Miss is one of the angriest books I’ve read in recent memory. It is, in all essentials, a story of revenge against those who hurt. But it is also a book about learning that even valid anger is not the best thing to be driven by. Sometimes, the world fails people, and much as we may wish it to be, anger and violence are not the best options for us. You Must Not Miss both allows hate, and counters it with love and kindness.

There were other reasons for her choice: she did not like her house, she did not like other people's houses. She liked neutral ground, neutral territory, a fair and fighting chance for everyone.

TW: rape, murder.

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[emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Currently, there are two main kinds of books I like:
1) literary fiction about unlikable women
2) magical realism (usually young adult) with friendships and banter at the center.

For a long time, Katrina Leno was one of just two authors I could rely on for the second option. But now she's trying to have it all.

These half-hearted magical realism books about damaged girls who have lives full of people who are trying to help them who they ignore and / or murder are not going to do it for me forever.

The other example of Leno's foray into this incredibly narrow niche, Horrid, worked for me primarily because of a) novelty and b) ghosts.

The former can make most things seem appealing, and the latter is my favorite subject of all time, in real life primarily but in fiction from time to time.

This is just worse Horrid, but with a fake world where the ghosts were. (Which is also a downgrade.)

Also, it is my firm belief that people are not as bad as these people. Leno has written about the same difficult topics as in this book with way more nuance and realism, so I'm not sure why this feels like it was by a totally different author.

Or at least written in half the timeframe.

I didn't hate this while I was reading it, but the more time that passes, the more I can't think of anything nice to say about it.

Bottom line: Even your most trusted authors can stray from grace sometimes.

----------------
pre-review

i hope katrina leno doesn't write about unlikable teenage girls forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it seems like she doesn't know how to end them.

review to come / 2 stars

----------------
currently-reading updates

this cover is how i feel.

clear ur sh*t book 58
no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really was fucking weird. My thoughts are a jumble.

The good news is I was prepared for weird. If I wasn’t I might not have enjoyed this as much.

Margaret/Magpie is having a shit time. After discovering her dad cheating on her mum with her Auntie, her mother then turn to alcoholism and abandonment by her sister she then suffers something even worse.

I will not tell you what it is, though it is implied throughout before being clearly revealed.

Magpie is angry as fuck, rightly so and also severely depressed. So when she discovers a world where she can control everything, why wouldn’t she want to spend all her time there?

Near is everything Magpie ever wanted. A world where her dad didn’t cheat, she didn’t lose her sister or her best friend and her mum didn’t turn to drink.

However soon the power Magpie has goes to her head, she decides it is time to punish those who hurt her.

This is a furiously angry book, but portrays Magpie’s pain so well. We are never sure what ‘Near’ really is. The lines between reality and her mind are blurred and I really liked it. Despite wanting to set several people on fire. Yah know - standard.

********************


Library copy available for pick up

I wanted Horrid but this was the only one in the library. But I’m still really intrigued by this one!!

[Katrina Leno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I think the author is just doing her best, and that’s all anybody can do, right?

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free from The NOVL in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book, I had no idea what to expect. But damn, this book was so unique and different that I ended up loving it.

When the book started, I wasn’t super into it since it started off like any other high school drama. There’s the bullied girl who befriends other outcasts, the mean girl, etc. To me it seemed to be going down a path that I’ve seen one too many times.



Then about halfway through, the magical realism element to the story came out and it got weird. But I liked it. As the book progressed, it got darker and even more weird. And I still liked it. A lot. The whole plot and storyline just worked for me.

What really made the book successful was the the writing style. It went so well with the book. It was easy to read and captured the mood and tone of the book perfectly. It had that contemporary feel with more mysterious and darker undertones.

Overall, this is one of those books that you have to read for yourself to see if you like it. It’s so unique and different that it’s hard for me to say who would enjoy it. It may be a bit bizarre for some people, but for me that was what made me enjoy it.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you give a name to an impossible thing, does it make the impossible thing any less impossible?

This is a tough review to write, because I genuinely cannot remember the last time I had such mixed feelings about any singular book. There was a lot to love about You Must Not Miss, and a little bit that didn't work for me, and so much that I've yet to make up my mind about, even now, almost a month after finishing it. Yes, that's right, I've been sitting on this for a month in hopes of putting my thoughts together in some reasonable order, and I'm still struggling.

Your despair made Near. You felt so deeply, and for so long, that your very sadness grew limbs and walked away from you.

First, the atmosphere in this book is beyond incredible. There's a thick fog of melancholy and hopelessness overlaying the entire story, even in the happiest moments, and it left me reeling every time I closed the book. It's like some sort of weird trip, and it actually left me in a really bizarre headspace for a few days after finishing it. There's also a dark, creepy vibe to the second half of the book, and if you know me, you know I love unexpectedly creepy twists in otherwise non-threatening stories.

Good. Let it be scared. Let everyone be scared of the things Magpie could do to them.

Next, we have the subject matter and the way it's approached; we're kept in the dark for much of the story about what exactly has happened to ruin Magpie's best-friendship with Allison, her former bestie, and what has turned her into some sort of vague pariah in her school, but we're immediately made aware that her father has destroyed their family with an affair, and her sister has left her high and dry. She's totally alone, and it's painful to read, especially once the "big reveal" occurs (and was precisely what I thought it would be, though it hurt my heart just as much).

It did not escape Magpie that a thing casting a shadow must be a thing with some degree of realness to it.

There's also the downright weirdness of Leno's writing to consider that it makes it even tougher to rate this. The narrative voice reminded me of one of my all-time favorite authors (I try not to name-drop unrelated works in reviews, but I have to say that I think fans of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire would dig this writing style like I did). So, the atmosphere is great, the plot is touching, the writing voice is excellent — oh, AND there's some really great trans rep in the love interest! So... If you're anything like me, at this point of this review, you're probably thinking, "Okay, what's the problem?!"

She hadn't meant it to be so honest, so prickling and sharp, but there it was. Prickling and sharp and oh so honest.

Magpie. Magpie is the problem. I don't believe I have ever so thoroughly enjoyed every single aspect of a book while disliking a main character so much, but here we are. I found her painfully bland in the first half of the story, and cruel in the second. Some of the decisions she makes are brutal and cold-hearted, but I could get behind them — I'll never have a problem with protagonists seeking revenge, to put it bluntly. My issue was how she treated the people who loved her. There were characters in this story who genuinely cared for Magpie and wanted to do right by her and to help her, and she consistently took advantage of them and left them out to dry while she lost herself in her trauma and need for revenge. I want to chalk this up to her mental state and forgive her for it, but in the end, I couldn't do it, and that alone is almost enough to knock this down to 3 stars for me.

In the end, I decided to give this 3.5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads' sake. It didn't feel fair to lower this to 3 stars when there was so much I genuinely did like, but the one thing I struggled with made this a slog to read (it took me over a month to finish this book, when it's short enough that I could have read it in a day otherwise!), left me frustrated more often than not, and made me wonder if it's just Magpie's character, or if Katrina Leno's characters in general are going to leave me with this disappointment. I certainly hope not, because her writing voice alone is enough to have me wanting more, but I'm sad to say that You Must Not Miss definitely missed (sorry) the mark on my expectations.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Rue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this line from the book says it all...

��Jesus, are you just around to spout cryptic nonsense while I try to get actual, useful things accomplished?”

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

After thoroughly enjoying Summer of Salt I was interested to see if any of Leno's other work would appeal to me.
Whilst not quite as good as Summer of Salt in my opinion, this was still a great read. The premise was great and the ending even more so.

[Madalyn (Novel Ink) · Rating 4 out of 5]

So so so good. That ending is one of the best I’ve read in ages.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG I LOOOOOOOVED THIS!! Read it in this vlog hereeee: https://youtu.be/a_OEscr29z4

[Kate♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5stars

this got real fucked up but i really enjoyed it

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absolute mind trip. Definitely a lot darker and more Stephen King-ish than I expected. It's just a shame this is the cover Magpie got.

[solanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

You Must Not Miss is, without a doubt, one of the most subtly disquieting books I’ve ever read and to be honest I’m not quite sure how to feel about it.

“If you give a name to an impossible thing, does it make the impossible thing any less impossible?”

Magpie’s life fell to shambles the moment she walked in on her father cheating with another woman. The betrayal cracked the very foundation of her world, bringing it crashing down around her like porcelain struck to the ground. She’s left alone, abandoned by a sister who runs from ugliness, by a best friend who refuses to face a terrible truth, by a mother who would rather chase the dregs at the bottom of a tequila bottle.

The only thing Magpie is left with is the anger simmering in her chest — and justice to exact.

Shortly following her introduction, Magpie discovers a portal in her backyard leading to Near, a universe of her mind’s own creation. It is a world in which anything can be wished into being, into which Magpie can escape her miserable life. A world in which she finally has control.

“Your despair made Near. You felt so deeply, and for so long, that your very sadness grew limbs and walked away from you.”

You Must Not Miss is something of a thriller, slowly allowing us to ease into Magpie’s past. We’re kept in the dark, given the smallest trail of breadcrumbs to follow, just enough to sense the dread steadily closing in — and that, dear reader, is exactly what makes this book so deliciously captivating.

Leno’s writing is gripping to the point of suffocation. Her narration is eerie and visceral, as if, with a head tilted just so, you might catch a glimpse of a shadow’s silhouette in the corner of your eye. Thick with whimsy and heavily atmospheric, I found it to be reminiscent of Seanan McGuire’s unsettling prose and Nina Lacour’s heartache in the very best of ways.

However, despite this book’s promising premise and entrancing writing, I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so utterly conflicted over a book. On the one hand, I believe that the way in which Leno handles Magpie’s trauma is nothing short of masterful. She makes room for distrust and cruelty, allowing Near to become not only an escape for Magpie, but also her catharsis. She doesn’t sugarcoat reality, nor does she attempt to make Magpie into someone she can no longer be. Most of all, Leno recognizes anger and hatred as well their place in victims’ hearts, yet she also recognizes that it is impossible for one to live off of vengeance alone.

But just because I could appreciate this read doesn’t mean I particularly enjoyed it. While I understand the conceptual context behind the world of Near, I found that I couldn’t connect to it no matter how hard I tried. When reading magical realism, I almost always wrestle with the same problem; the magical aspects of the tale are rarely expounded upon. They never have any depth. And despite the fact that this absence of explanation is likely entirely intentional, the story felt lacking in my eyes, almost as if a black, gaping void punctured the very place a beating heart should rest at this story’s core.

I think that overall, my dislike of You Must Not Miss is entirely the product of personal preference — I know that this book has struck the hearts of many readers, and that yet others have despised it. Either way, I truly believe it’s worth giving a try and am looking forward to discovering more of this author’s work. Because, believe me when I say that this book has left its mark.

— content warnings: sexual abuse and rape (semi-graphic), cheating, alcoholism, parental neglect, mentions of suicide, anxiety attacks

[Cesar (Inactive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

You Must Not Miss is a strange book to review. Not strange that it's bad, but strange that it could be a hit or miss with some people, even with the messages behind it.

At its core, You Must Not Miss is a magical realism story while also grappling with lies, escapism, and sexual assault. It's a difficult read, but one that challenges the world and how we as people cope with sadness and anger.

CW: Sexual assault.

You Must Not Miss is about Magpie Lewis, a sixteen-year-old girl who is going through a rough patch in her life. Her father cheated on her mother and left, her mother is an alcoholic, and her older sister left for college leaving Magpie behind to deal with the mess. On top of that, she is the school slut after an incident at a party and her best friend stopped talking to her. She wants to escape from it all. From everything. To cope with this, she writes in her yellow notebook about a town named Near, where everything is perfect and she has a happy life. Things start to change when she discovers a door to Near.

Right off the bat when I started the story, I was hit with a lot of sympathy for Magpie. Her sadness and anger are palpable because of how real her situation is. The reality of catching your father cheating on your mom, your older sibling leaving you behind to fend for yourself, and watching your mother become dependant on alcohol is real and heartbreaking knowing that Magpie has to go through all of that at a young age.

Magpie herself is a complicated protagonist. Complicated because her feelings are all over the place. She has no idea if she should be sad that her family life is broken, angry at her best friend for not speaking to her, or happy when she has moments where she begins to make friends and possibly have a relationship with one of her misfit friends. With what has happened to her, it's understandable that she has no real idea of how to feel or express herself.

When Near comes into play, it gives us a broader look on Magpie's internal feelings. She can finally be happy knowing there is a place for her. Where she can be free to do what she wishes without all the negativity she is facing in the real world. And this version of Magpie is one I like as well. She's raw and emotional. She is a complicated character, but a sympathetic one.

My friend Melanie said in her review that this is a huge call out to rape culture and the stigma of sexual assault/rape victims not being believed and are ostracized by their peers and I agree with that completely. While the context may be difficult for someone to read, it shines a light to an important issue of sexual assault and rape. Magpie is angry because of what happened and given how there are rumors about her, it makes things worse for her.

The one minor issue I have is the pacing becomes somewhat slow halfway through. I was still able to get through the story relatively fast but the slow pacing in the second half was a bit troublesome.

Verdict

You Must Not Miss will be a hit or miss with some people if magical realism isn't their favorite genre. But underneath that genre, this is a story of a girl just trying to cope with her life falling apart and finding happiness her own way. Magpie is a sympathetic character whose journey is a tough one. Difficult as it may be, this story has a lot going for it.

Thanks for reading my review!

-Cesar

[Jaye Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhhhh wat.

You Must Not Miss is about Magpie, a girl with a rough life who seeks escape writing in a notebook of a world of her own making, called Near. In her world, everything is perfect- her father didn't cheat on her mother (with her aunt), her sister didn't leave, and her mother isn't a blackout alcoholic. While Magpie can have the perfect life, she can also have the perfect revenge against those who have wronged her.

Oh man, I just don't know?? While I love the idea of this book, the execution and everything else was lacking so much. It's so melodramatic and it doesn't even make any sense. Magpie has an alcoholic mother which sucks but... Magpie herself just endlessly drinks until she passes out and yet that isn't an issue. It's just a quirk? Ha Magpie just drinks straight vodka from the bottle she's so quirky. There is also this talk about her having an eating disorder and how some teacher would walk the school halls staring at girl's bodies just in case they had one and it was so yikes.

There is also a rape apologist and they are barely challenged and somehow end up free and clear. Like seriously, Magpie goes after people for less but this one she lets get away?? Everyone in this book was awful (and weird) and I think that was the point but I couldn't even root for Magpie because I barely knew wtf was going on. Magical realism (I guess that is what this is???) is balls.

I can understand how Magpie can want revenge but some of the people she goes after, weren't even that bad and Magpie is just a salty teenager. Even her way of getting revenge using Near made no sense. Maybe I just like magic and things like creating your own world and making doors and the weird shadow friend monster to be explained more than "yeah this is happening lol deal with it".

For being a book with all of these angsty and dramatic things, it doesn't really get as dark as it should have, or the way it seemed to be leading. Something bad happened to Magpie prior and while easy to guess, it takes forever to get revealed but was still a major part of her problems. Also I know this is SO cliche but I would have loved if the book went this way: Just the classic, "all in her head to escape and not actual magic" take. Don't @ me it would have made more sense instead of the nonsense that gets thrown around.

Of course to round out the whole book, the ending made no sense and I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel. So uh... this was indeed a book that I read.

[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I cannot stress this enough
...

WHAT?

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Full review can be found here: https://agingerlyreview.wordpress.com...

**I received an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.**

Ah, magical realism.. how I am not a fan of you. I don’t know why I don’t jive with that genre but I often read it in the hopes that I find one that works for me. Unfortunately this was not one that worked for me.

This was a super, super quick read with some very, very heavy topics. That being said, I do not feel those heavy topics were addressed properly or handled well. Said topics included: alcoholism, eating disorder, bullying, sexual assault, underage drinking, and adultery. That’s a lot, right? The main character, Margaret (aka Magpie, aka Mags), was a sixteen year old girl who came home from school early to walk in on her dad having an affair with her aunt. When he left it was the tipping point for her mom to drink her life away. That lead to her being an alcoholic and Magpie (that’s what she is primarily referred to in the story) found her one day passed out on the floor from drinking too much. On top of all of this, Magpie developed an eating disorder, but it was never said why she did so but it was always mentioned. Her way of escape was often floating in her backyard pool and writing in her yellow notebook. In this notebook she created the perfect town ��� Near. Suddenly one day Magpie found the doorway to Near and she discovered everything she written down was right in front of her. Finally, she had a way to get revenge on everyone that wronged her.

You can see how I was slightly confused because there was just so much going on. It was hinted at throughout most of the book that something really bad happened to Magpie at a party but it wasn’t revealed until about 80% into the book. I cannot stress enough that I feel throwing in a sexual assault at a party should not have been done for the shock factor but I feel that it was. None of these serious topics were addressed properly at all. This teenage girl had an eating disorder and chose to drink until she passed out but it was never talked about as being a bad thing. Same goes for the sexual assault. I felt the author had the right platform to address these serious topics but failed to do so. That did not sit well with me at all.

All of the time Magpie spent in her made-up world of Near was uber confusing. She created this picture perfect world for herself and chose to use it as a way to get revenge on those that wronged her? She lured these people into Near and had them eaten by made up characters? What, and I cannot stress this enough, the heck? That makes zero sense.

I did not like Magpie’s character as I felt she had no character arc and no development. The way she was when the story started was the exact same way she was when the story ended. Nothing changed within her at all, other than she felt she was invincible. I did not like her personality or the way she chose to handle the bad things in her life. Yes, she was dealt a very bad hand but she could have reacted/handled things in a very different way. I kept waiting for something to change or get better for both the character and story but it never happened.

I tried so hard to like this story but it just did not happen for me. The premise sounded amazing and the cover is stunning, but the story between the pages did not work for me. There were too many things skirted over and/or thrown in for shock factor and I do not agree with that. I was just not the right reader for this type of book.

[Amy Risner · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided by The NOVL in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I truly didn’t think I was going to love this book so much. This was my first novel by Katrina Leno and I now want to real ALL her books, please!

This book was so quiet as it built up to one of the most satisfying endings I’ve ever read. And while You Must Not Miss is marketed as a contemporary, I’d like to say it very much has magical realism and subtle thriller elements. Because as we see the things that happen in Near? My heart was racing, and I was also living for all those spooky vibes!

This book is about Margaret (aka “Magpie” according to her family), a high school sophomore who had a major falling out with her best friend, Allison. Her parents are also going through a separation, which has triggered her mother’s alcoholism again. To make matters worse, Magpie caught her father cheating, and she keeps reliving that horrible moment of walking in on him naked.

But Magpie is also harboring another traumatic experience, one so bad she can’t even talk about. So she starts writing a fictional world called Near. This world is perfect; her parents are together, her sister hasn’t abandoned her — her life isn’t in shambles.

And then one day, when she’s feeling so overwhelmed, she notices a door. A door that leads her to Near. Her fictional world became real and she learns she can use it to get anything she wants.

From here things take a much darker turn, but I was LIVING for these scenes. I love how one moment I’m getting The Wayward Children vibes (secret doors!), and the next I’m feeling thoroughly creeped out (people in Near kept winking at Magpie. I don’t know why but that always gave me goosebumps.) I’m not saying this book is horror at all, but I loved how subtly everything built up to the point where I was rooting on Magpie to unleash her revenge.

I also want to gush about the bisexual rep (there is a bisexual male student), and there is a trans boy (my favorite character ever). What I loved is that nobody made a big deal about these characters being who they are. There are no hurtful comments or misuse of gender pronouns by other characters, which is so refreshing! I also loved Magpie’s group of friends so much.

This book also addresses so many hard-hitting themes, such as toxic masculinity, rape culture, victim blaming, feelings of deep-rooted guilt, and reclaiming our bodies. It also heavily revolves around adultery and alcoholism. Please use caution if those are major triggers for you. I know there were a few instances where I had to set the book down due to some of these topics.

I truly hope you pick up this book come April 23rd. I read it in just a few sittings and I cannot stop thinking about it. I would not be opposed to a sequel because that ending really left me wanting more!

Trigger warnings: Sexual assault and rape, abuse from a parent, parental infidelity, divorce, alcoholism, underage drinking, slut shaming, abandonment.

Buddy read with Madalyn!

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[Susana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars ⭐


This book is about:

A teenage girl named Magpie who's going through a difficult time in her life as she's dealing with her father's cheating, her sister abandoning her, her best friend ignoring her and being called a slut in the hallways after Brandon Phipp's party. Now she spends her lunches with a group of misfits like herself.

But with her yellow notebook, Magpie is able to write about a perfect world called Near where she can get everything she wants... even revenge.


Things I Liked:

The entire concept of Near is extremely intriguing, but the place itself is a bit terrifying.

I enjoyed Katrina Leno's writing as it kept me gripped to the story and made me want to keep reading.

Also, I really liked how caring Ben is though it is sad to see how little attention Magpie pays him.


Things I Disliked:

Like I said previously, Near is an aspect of this book I really like, however, I really wish we had got to explore more of it and spend more time there.

I'm someone who prefers when magic is explained thoroughly and I feel that is definitely lacking in this novel. Nevertheless, I know that's a lot of reader's cup of tea so don't let it deter you from picking it up if you fit that group.

Overall, my main issues are that I wanted more from the story and that I didn't feel connected to any of the characters.


Final thoughts:

All in all, in my view, You Must Not Read is targeted towards a specific reader: someone who enjoys reading about weird magical worlds and peculiar protagonists. If the synopsis sounds promising to you and like something you would enjoy, then I'd say give it a try.


Trigger warnings: rape, alcohol addiction, suicide.

[ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

if i had to describe this book in one word, it would be “unsettling.”

[Kayla Brunson · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Your despair made Near. You felt so deeply, and for so long, that your very sadness grew limbs and walked away from you.”

What did I just read? Is this considered Magical Realism? The overall aspect of Near still confuses me. Despite confused, what I can’t deny is that Leno has a way with words. She has a way of weaving words together that hit you hard and make you think.

What I think was a downfall for me was the majority of the characters. Magpie, Allison, and her parents. Even her sister. I didn’t like them, but maybe that was the point. Life isn’t pretty and neither were the actions of these characters.

This book talks about some difficult topics. So be sure that you are in a good headspace for it. I was surprised by the length went to in this book concerning these topics. It made the book come off real and will resonate with so many teens who are going through some of the same issues.

While I don’t think this book will be for everyone, I highly recommend that people give it a try. It mixes reality and hard issues.

TW: Suicide, sexual assault, alcoholism

I received an ARC via The NOVL for an honest review. The Quote was taken from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication.

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[MyTimeOutShelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy Crap that was trippy and crazy and unique! I loved it but this book won’t be for everyone. It’s super dark and the magical realism is strong and that’s exactly why I loved it!! I didn’t give it five stars because I would have liked a little more from the ending.

[Cortney - Bookworm & Vine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As if that cover isn't reason enough to pick up this book! 🤩

I loved Horrid when I read it a few years ago, so I couldn't resist grabbing You Must Not Miss when it came through the bookstore.

Fun, YA Horror revenge story.

[Acqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

You Must Not Miss is a contemporary fantasy revenge story, and one of the most unique YA novels I've read in a while. Unfortunately, I'm individuating a pattern with me and Katrina Leno's novels: I really like their premises, fall in love with the first half, and then everything falls apart in the second one. It's true for this, and it was true for Summer of Salt as well.

I want to start by saying that You Must Not Miss is the kind of book that starts out slowly, very slowly, until suddenly everything happens at once. It does pay off, but I spent some time around the middle wondering whether something was ever going to happen. It's a revenge story, yes, but far from a planned, slow-burn one.

I absolutely loved the main character Magpie. She's a young teen - a sophomore in high school - and her life has fallen apart because of her father's cheating, her mother's alcoholism, sexual assault, and a lot of other reasons. She's in an objectively horrible situation, and she deals with it like someone her age would: she's barely surviving. She treats the people around her increasingly worse as the story goes on, and seeks refuge in the fictional world she invented - Near - which is consuming her in turn. This book never treats her with anything but empathy, and not only it makes you understand her, it also allows her to be bad without ever turning into a cautionary tale.

The way escapism is a double-edged blade - as much a refuge as it is a trap - is a theme that is really important to me, and I think this is one of the reasons the ending didn't work for me. Magpie ends up leaving this world for Near, a fictional world she can control almost every aspect of. And maybe I'm over-interpreting things, because while she's happy, the message of the only way you can be happy if your life is difficult is to leave this world is one I've spent... ten years fighting against? It's not that I don't believe it, it's that I believe it too much, and to me there's nothing as dangerous as an echo chamber when it comes to that.
At the same time, I think this is more about me than the book. I think that for some people, this ending could be comforting or liberating. I would like to read a book about escapism vs. real life in which the main character for once finds a balance, remains in contact with her fictional world but also has real-life friends. This is not that book, and it makes perfect sense for it not to be. Also, it's not like I ever saw a book end like this before, so it was really interesting to read as well.

One thing I really appreciated was how this book explored how terrifying the concept of a teen with magical powers inherently is. I know that if I had had magic at 15 I would have used it for revenge as well! This doesn't shy away from any of that.
This book also underlined just how important it is to have supportive friends in high school, and just how much a bad friendship and a friendship break-up can make things difficult. A lot of YA is focused on the coming and going of romantic relationships, with friends as reliable but not-so-relevant sidekicks, and this is pretty much the opposite. There is a sweet romantic element - and I really liked Ben as a love interest (queer m/f is great! Ben is trans) - but don't expect this to be a romance.

It's also really atmospheric, which I liked a lot. It's not that it's set in a particularly remarkable place, it isn't, but I could see it, and I could see why Magpie felt the need to leave.

Overall, I did like it, but I'm still not completely sure about my feelings on the ending. I recommend it, especially as an audiobook - it was a really good audiobook - but I don't know if I will reach for more by this author.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magpie Lewis has been abandoned. Her father left. Then her sister, Eryn, too. Now it's just Magpie and her mom. Who truly isn't really present, as she drowns herself in booze and a haze of alcoholism. Magpie's sister left the same night as Brandon Phipps's party--after which Magpie's longtime friendship with Allison ended, and Magpie was branded a slut and left to be an outcast at school. So she starts writing in a yellow notebook, creating a world called Near. It's Magpie's magical place, where everything is perfect: no cheating father, no drunk mom, no missing sister, and no horrific school experiences. She thinks up Near so clearly, so fully, that she wills it into existence, and Magpie realizes that in Near, she can have it all: even revenge on those who have hurt her.

"There was one month left of her sophomore year of high school, and she had decided, after a mountain of evidence to support it, that the entire world was a joke."

I just love Katrina Leno, and her beautiful writing. You Must Not Miss is no exception: it's a poetic, stark take on high school friendship, rape culture, and the ties that bind us. The story is a clever variation of "One for Sorrow." Magpie is our main character and takes center stage: it's hard not to feel sympathetic for this poor abandoned girl--with no family who cares for her and, for a while, no friends.

"If you give a name to an impossible thing, does it make the impossible thing any less impossible?

But then the story takes a dramatic, dark twist--as Magpie creates Near both in her mind and in reality--and as Magpie's portal to another world takes true shape, we see our character find strength before our very eyes. I won't lie, I'm not sure this book is for everyone. It reminded me in some ways of a Maggie Stiefvater novel. It's true magical realism, and there's a suspension of disbelief to be had, to be sure. But it's a book that I feel like Leno was meant to be write. Her way of eviscerating rape culture, misogyny, and more is so adept, so searing. It is a call to arms to those who are not believed, who are ignored and mocked, who are the ones who see their lives ruined when the attackers run free.

In this way, You Must Not Miss is a strong, complex book tackling a tough topic. It may be difficult for some that this topic is underneath the magical world of Near, but I liked how that was what Magpie needed to deal with all that happened to her. Beware, this book is brutal at times (and yes, there's a trigger warning for rape/sexual assault). But it's beautifully written, too. It's complicated, much like its subject matter and its protagonist, who is still trying to figure herself out, as well. It's a different read, but if you're willing to give it a try, I think you'll be glad you did. 4 stars.

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[Charlotte Kersten]

“Because those things…they say way more about the person who said them than they say about you.”

So What’s It About?

Magpie Lewis started writing in her yellow notebook the day her family self-destructed. That was the night Eryn, Magpie's sister, skipped town and left her to fend for herself. That was the night of Brandon Phipp's party.

Now, Magpie is called a slut whenever she walks down the hallways of her high school, her former best friend won't speak to her, and she spends her lunch period with a group of misfits who've all been socially exiled like she has. And so, feeling trapped and forgotten, Magpie retreats to her notebook, dreaming up a place called Near.

Near is perfect--somewhere where her father never cheated, her mother never drank, and Magpie's own life never derailed so suddenly. She imagines Near so completely, so fully, that she writes it into existence, right in her own backyard. It's a place where she can have anything she wants...even revenge.

What I Thought

If you were to combine the “teenage girl silently spiraling due to trauma” aspect of Speak with the “dissociation paradise where all her dreams come true” aspect of Tender Morsels, I think that could get you close to a description of this book. In this case, there turns out to be a dark edge to Magpie’s paradise, she can’t control it as much as she thinks she can, and she ends up staying there instead of embracing the complexity of the real world as opposed to what the characters do in Tender Morsels.

Magpie’s arc is very much a descent into darkness and vengeance instead of moving toward support and healing of any kind even though there is some hope in the relationships she develops with Clare and Ben, both of whom are incredibly sweet and great characters. The bleakness of her character and her descent are definitely well written.

Her confrontation with her ex-friend Allison is also very interesting - it turns out that Allison knows her boyfriend Brandon assaulted Magpie, but she chooses to stay in a relationship with him due to the prospect of marrying into his money and dismisses her own experiences of assault. Allison insists that she and Magpie were never friends, but this is then complicated by the snippet that we see from Allison’s perspective at the end.

As for what I thought of the ending overall, some of the decisions feel somewhat arbitrary - after Magpie ventures into Near, the teacher Magpie killed and Magpie’s father come back after being destroyed, but Brandon doesn’t. I wish we could have seen Magpie’s thoughts behind deciding who to send back and why to punish her teacher and father instead of Allison and her mom. I still am not quite sure what to think of the very end, where Allison decides to enter Near herself, but I’m leaning on the side of liking it and what it means for her to step away from the real world/Brandon and join Magpie. This is a strange one that definitely won’t be for everyone, but I found a lot to appreciate overall.