ARC Review: The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton
10:00
Series: None
Author: Jamie Pacton
Published May 5th 2020 by Page Street Kids
Goodreads Synopsis
Moxie meets A Knight’s Tale as Kit Sweetly slays sexism, bad bosses, and bad luck to become a knight at a medieval-themed restaurant.
Working as a wench―i.e. waitress―at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.
Company policy allows only guys to be knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But the Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight. As other wenches join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they’ll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval―if they don’t get fired first.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
As soon as I heard about this book, and saw the comparison to A Knight's Tale, I knew it was a book I would like, and as soon as I got the confirmation email through that I was able to review it, I immediately started it, could not put it down! The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly tells the story of Kit, who is working at a medieval-themed restaurant called the Castle as a serving wench. She wants nothing more than to become a knight, like her older brother, Chris, but because of a sexist rule from corporate - enforced by her uncle who is also the manager - she can't. When her brother is one day unavailable to perform in that night's show, she steps in for him, and reveals herself as the 'Girl Knight'. One of her best friends, and secret crush, Jett, had recorded the entire thing, and it's now going viral. Along with her other best friend, Layla, the other wenches at the Castle hatch up a plan to perform in front of corporate, and hopefully get them to change their minds about the sexist policy, and not lose their jobs while they're at it. This is particularly a concern for Kit, whose family is really struggling after her family abandoned them and took all of their money to pay for his habit. She needs her job, as does her brother, and is worried about college next year, and whether they can afford it. Is Kit biting off more than she can chew, or will all her wishes come true?
This book was definitely enjoyable. Yes, there were some moments where I was shaking my head in disbelief, like when she kept going on about how important school was, but kept skipping, or how everything fell into place. But, even with all of that, I still couldn't put the book down. Kit's character, for the most part, was enjoyable, and I appreciated how caring she was, and how it wasn't just all about her that she fighting for, but rather for all of the people she worked with, and who worked in the larger Castle company. She's all about her own family too, trying to protect her brother and her mam, and when her deadbeat dad came back onto the scene, she wouldn't accept his fake apologies or anything.
Money and the lack of it was an important part of the story, with Kit's family being juxtaposed with that of Layla or Jett, but they never made her feel any different from themselves, but it was still a thing she couldn't ignore. When Layla used some of her technological magic to help monetise the videos and everything that included the Girl Knight, and that was really helpful to Kit and her family.
There's also a bit of romance in the book, and though I liked it, I wasn't blown other by it. Kit and Jett had agreed that they would never try anything relationship wise, and also buy their own food when they were out so it didn't feel like a date, but Kit has a big crush on him, that he magically reciprocates the further we get into the book. I liked them together, but never got any major feels from it, and the book probably could've left this out, and it wouldn't have missed anything. All in all, a really good debut, and it's making me want to watch A Knight's Tale now!
Dates Read:
February 22, 2020Rating
4 Stars
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