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tinytrashqueen's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Stalking and Toxic friendship
Minor: Infidelity
theunfinishedbookshelf's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
elliott_roi's review against another edition
4.5
Thank you to Page Street Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell was a romp from start to finish. I was thoroughly invested from the opening chapter to the final sentence. There was lots of drama (both on and off stage) and a cast of complex and interesting characters. It was also set in Australia, which is always fun!
Noah was a likeable character, and despite the many mistakes he made, I was still rooting for him. I did have some issues with Eli,and how controlling he could be (like screaming at Alex when he was drunk and pressuring Noah to drink when he had said no). I think I would have liked to see more acknowledgement of why that behaviour was awful. But I do like that their relationship was left rather open-ended at the close of the book and I can see there's room for growth for both characters.
The romance was very cute and made me smile. I loved the exploration of both theatre and gaming. It was a lot of fun!
And although this book had an overall lighthearted vibe, it also dealt with some heavy topics such as body image, bullying, and difficult relationships with parents. This would be an excellent read for high schoolers, especially.
Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell was a romp from start to finish. I was thoroughly invested from the opening chapter to the final sentence. There was lots of drama (both on and off stage) and a cast of complex and interesting characters. It was also set in Australia, which is always fun!
Noah was a likeable character, and despite the many mistakes he made, I was still rooting for him. I did have some issues with Eli,
The romance was very cute and made me smile. I loved the exploration of both theatre and gaming. It was a lot of fun!
And although this book had an overall lighthearted vibe, it also dealt with some heavy topics such as body image, bullying, and difficult relationships with parents. This would be an excellent read for high schoolers, especially.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
amobrien's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.
Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell is a YA queer romance that combines theatre and gaming. It's so fun and, at times, incredibly frustrating in the best ways. The characters are still loveable even when you want to shake them and tell them to make better choices. I loved it!
Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell is a YA queer romance that combines theatre and gaming. It's so fun and, at times, incredibly frustrating in the best ways. The characters are still loveable even when you want to shake them and tell them to make better choices. I loved it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol
nemoslittlelibrary's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Happy publication day to Tobias Madden! This has been a highly anticipated release, and I just firstly just want to thank NetGalley, Page Street Publishing and Madden for an earc of this book💖
Noah Mitchell only has one friend, albeit strictly online, the funny and wonderful MagePants69. However, this has not stopped Noah falling absolutely head over heels for him. Noah breaks out of his own comfort zone in an attempt to meet MagePants69 in real life and mission get a boyfriend is underway.
This book has so many wonderful subplots that add to the overall plot equally and bring it all together: we have Spire of Dusk the RPG that Noah plays with his online love, the theatre that he joins to meet MagePants69, divided family tension and the underlying mystery of what the hell happened in Year 9 to make him lose all of his friends and be scared of ever telling the truth?!
Things I LOVED about the book:
✨This story portrays awkward teen years to a T. The nerdy awkward moments, the second guessing every single decision you ever make, the anxiety, the first time love - everything just made my heart melt and reminded me how big of a deal everything is when you’re that age.
✨ The Spire of Dusk world-building. Madden really put his all into describing the game and it was amazing to have this little bit of a fantasy world written into what otherwise is a contemporary YA novel.
✨ Noah’s older sister Charly and demi-god Alex are the most supportive people I have ever come across in a book and every interaction between Noah and them two had me grinning ear to ear.
✨ Showing skinny shaming is STILL body shaming so yeah don’t do that please x
✨ Showing skinny shaming is STILL body shaming so yeah don’t do that please x
✨ Eli and Noah’s relationship forming, however the lying trope did always tainted it for me and broke my heart a little.
I do want to disclaim the lying is throughout the entire book, and not just from our MMC Noah, so if that’s a trope you can’t get behind I would say this isn’t for you. The thing that made this lose a star for me was I just don’t think Noah’s reason was a big enough justification for his actions, but then I have to think of how young he is and how impressionable he was at the time of said action (but I won’t say anymore…go read it and find out what I mean😉)
The whole book is dramatic, I mean we’re combining 17 year olds and theatre…but weren’t we all a little bit like that when we were 17? I laughed, cringed, sighed, smiled and wanted the world to swallow me up along with Noah the entire journey. What a brilliant first read for the new year👏🏼
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Mental illness
Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
shereadytoread's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a fun queer YA rom-com. The basic plot is a bit predictable from the start, but the subplots are really well done and tie into the story in a way that keeps the plot moving at good pace. My only real complaint was that the family conflicts which were very serious and apparent throughout seemed quickly wrapped up and excused toward the end. The banter in this book was fun and quotable in a quirky way. The cast of characters all foiled well. I enjoyed this one.
Disclaimer: I received a gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Disclaimer: I received a gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
shybookstagramer's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed this book so much! It had so many aspects that kept me on the edge of my seat. I kept wanting to read more because I wanted to see more of the romance, I needed to know what happened with Noah's ex-friends, and I was constantly on edge about when Eli would find out about Noah's big secret. This book had so many reasons for me to keep coming back for more.
I loved Noah and Eli's relationship online and IRL, even though my heart hurt every time Noah lied to Eli, especially online. Even though Noah made a lot of poor decisions, I still couldn't help but love his character. I loved Eli too. There were so many great characters and then there were some that I just wanted to strangle! When you read the book I'm sure you'll know who I'm talking about.
Something I really appreciated and enjoyed was the fact that the author went into detail about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the musical so I felt like I was part of the show. I also liked the gaming aspect. Pretty much I enjoyed the whole story, including the ending! The ending was a mix of emotions but I thought it was perfect!
I can't wait to see what Tobias Madden comes up with next!
audio specific: I loved the narrator so much! one of my favorite narrators! It was perfect. I really liked that they included sounds for the notifications for the online messaging conversations and when characters made phone calls it actually sounded like one voice was being heard over the phone. It added a whole new aspect to the listening experience.
I loved Noah and Eli's relationship online and IRL, even though my heart hurt every time Noah lied to Eli, especially online. Even though Noah made a lot of poor decisions, I still couldn't help but love his character. I loved Eli too. There were so many great characters and then there were some that I just wanted to strangle! When you read the book I'm sure you'll know who I'm talking about.
Something I really appreciated and enjoyed was the fact that the author went into detail about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the musical so I felt like I was part of the show. I also liked the gaming aspect. Pretty much I enjoyed the whole story, including the ending! The ending was a mix of emotions but I thought it was perfect!
I can't wait to see what Tobias Madden comes up with next!
audio specific: I loved the narrator so much! one of my favorite narrators! It was perfect. I really liked that they included sounds for the notifications for the online messaging conversations and when characters made phone calls it actually sounded like one voice was being heard over the phone. It added a whole new aspect to the listening experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Infertility
Moderate: Body shaming
nicolepaul_ine's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
beautifulpaxielreads's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have a couple of confessions to make.
- I'm a total musical theatre nerd. Which was part of the reason I picked up Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell.
- When a book is as fast-paced and easy to read as this one is, I tend to dive in headfirst, ripping through 100 pages in one sitting, losing track of time completely. It's a really bad habit of mine and I need to stop doing it, because I always, always regret that I didn't take the time to fully absorb what I was reading. And that's in part what happened here.
If you've read the blurb for this book, you would know that a large part of the plot involves deception. Our MC, Noah, joins his mother's community theatre production of Chicago because he finds out that his online gaming buddy and massive crush - who he only knows as an avatar on the screen - is in the cast of said production. Noah, who spends most of his time gaming and has no other social life, plans to meet the guy he's fallen for, make the guy fall for him, and then - only then - tell him the truth.
Unfortunately for me, this deception affected my enjoyment of much of this novel, as I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time, waiting for that moment of truth to come.
Now you might look at this review, look at the star rating I gave it, and wonder why I'm being so negative. That's because, in spite of this plot device, this is actually really well-written. Tobias Madden captures exactly the awkwardness of adolescence - the body image issues, the self-esteem, the hormones, and the pressure you feel from peers and family members. It's all there, all in excruciating detail (maybe too much detail, at times). It also really captures the camaraderie of musical theatre folk and the hard work that goes into making a successful production.
I also felt that the climax and ending of this book went some way towards redeeming the issues I had with it. Madden clearly does not condone Noah's deceptive behaviour, and expresses this view through
All in all, a well-written novel with some flaws, and I'm glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Infidelity
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Outing, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy
b_robinson's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol