Review: Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore

Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have really struggled with rating this one. It's more of a 3 1/2 than a 4 but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and rated it a 4.

This was a nice little book with a bit of mystery and a bit of romance. This appears to be Kristin Gore's effort to move away from the more 'fluffy' writing of her earlier book. This one is much more serious and really focuses on social issues.

Overall, I think this was a nice little book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I really liked the main character, Jiminy. She was a very likeable and genuine character that I enjoyed spending time with while reading. The novel was VERY readable. It had the feeling of a lighter book but really focused on heavier material. I think that Gore did a great job of showing the reader the different mindsets of different generations about social injustice.

I've read more than one reviewer mention how its similar in some respects to The Help. I'm not sure that the two are anything like one another except that they both focus on issues of race and injustice. The tone of each book is VERY different. The execution of The Help is much more effective.

My primary issue with this novel is that it often felt rushed. The pacing felt off in some way and I felt that Gore raced through each and every thing to the point that she lost some of the narrative effectiveness along the way. In addition, the mystery itself wasn't particularly difficult to figure out which made the overall novel less effective. I knew very quickly what had happened and it bothered me a bit. I was hoping for a few more twists and turns. The romance was nice but it could have been great had Gore spent a bit more time fleshing it out. It felt rushed and unsatisfying to me. Overall, I felt that the novel could have been so much more than it ultimately was. I found myself a bit disappointed ... there was so much potential in the material but I felt Gore raced through the novel so quickly that much of that potential was squandered.

I'm glad that I read it and I do think it was an enjoyable book. I just wish it had lived up to its potential a bit more!

NOTE: I received the galley proof of this novel from the publisher for review consideration.

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