Clean Getaway by Nic Stone

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

*THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON AN ARC COPY* 

Synopsis

Will —or “Scoob” as his G’ma likes to call him— is in for a surprise when he decides to go on an unplanned road trip with his dear old grandma. But she has more than just a day trip in store for both of them. With hardly any way of communicating with his father or anyone else, Scoob starts to get worried when his grandma seems as though her memory is failing her even though she’s taking them both down memory lane. 

Confession

This is my second book by Nic Stone. Dear Martin was the first one I read and I have to be completely honest. I didn’t like it. I did like the writing, the character development, the execution of the plots/sub plots…. BUT I have to be honest again. I LOVED this book. I literally could not put it down. I feel like writing young reader books may just be Nic Stone’s thing. 

YASSS

It was well structured. Not as much background info on Scoob’s parents or not much insight on his at home situation as I would’ve liked.  Especially regarding Scoob’s mom. I loved G’ma’s character. She was witty, funny, vibrant and sweet. That small dose of crazy in her was potent, though. It gave this book the edge that it needed. I enjoyed the Black history and the hints of racial elements were relative and what kids nowadays need to be reading about for informative purposes. 

Scoob was also a well written character. He was bright and kind. The internal dialogue for his character was great. I thought this book would be borderline boring once I found out majority of it followed just him and his grandmother. But I was genuinely interested in G’ma’s past and her motives during the trip. The book had this air of mystery that made this read captivating. 

I do feel like we were kinda left on a cliff hanger at the end though; with Scoob not deciding to see his mother just yet. Hopefully that means another adaptation is coming.