Bacon Pie

Bacon Pie

"Hits the sweet spot!" -New York Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins Lia Abbie has the easy life-kicking it back with old school video games, hanging out with her best friend Barnabas, and alternating her living schedule between the apartments of her two dads and her mom. Kiev Jimenez is a theater geek who loves him some Shakespeare and taking care of his pet armadillo. He has one set goal in life: obtaining the role of Horatio for the Hamlet school play. When a showdown between Lia and Kiev lands them in the principal's office, they're forced into volunteer work at the cringe-worthy Piggy Palooza Festival, or risk being suspended. Lia and Kiev aren't thrilled about the situation, especially when it interferes with Lia's relaxed life and Kiev's theater role. But by working together, they may find more than just bacon-possibly a little love in the air.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Sheila Goicea
Sheila Goicea@foalsfictionandfiligree
3 stars
Dec 23, 2021

See my FULL review of this book on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication. Content Warning: Underaged Drinking and Drunkenness, Profanity, Depression When I first heard the title of this book, I couldn’t help be curious about it. While the Young Adult contemporary genre isn’t really my style, I still wanted to check this book out because I’ve been following (one of) the author(s) since her first book was published. As always, the writing style and quirkiness throughout this book do not disappoint. The reader is able to quickly immerse themselves in the story without much obstructing their path. World Building Bacon Pie is set in a small town in Texas, where the hot and dry climate is palpable. Because the setting takes place in a realistic present-tense, not a lot of world building is necessary to immerse the reader in the plot. Notably, the region is important, as its population has a lot of diversity. Pacing & Readability I find that contemporary books do not require much prompting in order to get the plot moving. The same is true here, as Bacon Pie, from the opening scene to finale feels as though I've stepped into the character's lives and understand exactly where they are at. The pacing remains consistent, with few valleys of slowness here and there. Point-Of-View & Characters The point-of-view alternates between Kiev and Lia. I felt that Kiev was definitely the main character between the two, but they both were well-developed for the plot. Kiev Jimenez comes from Latino origins. At home, he, his father, and sister only speak English, while at school he speaks English. Kiev's mother left a few years ago, and they haven't seen her since. Her leaving caused a fissure between him and his sister Vi. Amidst juggling his strained homelife, Kiev has a deep passion for theater and is rather knowledgeable. His goal is to become Horatio in his school's play. Lia (Ophelia) Abbie has grown up with two dads. Spending most of her time with her close friend Barnabas, she immediately reveals her feelings about Kiev and his close friend Cole. Cole Novotny serves as the comic-relief throughout the story. Constantly stalking the school halls for his next love interest, he relies on Kiev to reign him in. While he is comical (at times), his immaturity is apparent in the way that he handles each and every situation. Monica Serrano serves as a partial antagonist. Interested in Kiev, she causes jealousy to blossom between Cole and Kiev's relationship. Later on, when a certain young woman changes her perspective of Kiev, Monica becomes the "competition." Major Themes ⇒ Diversity Diversity is represented racially and sexually. Majority of the more prominent characters come from families with diverse traits. Kiev and Monica are both Latino/a, and Barnabas comes from a culturally diverse family as well. Lia has two fathers (along with a mother who isn't in the picture much). ⇒ Depression While this isn't as big of a theme, I thought it mentionable. Kiev's mother left his family a few years back, causing a big change to take place in his daily life. His sister Vi was deeply affected and retreated within herself. Struggling to cope with the loss of her mother, Vi spirals into her own bought of depression and harmful coping methods. The repercussions of her methods estrange her from others and make her difficult to interact with. In the end, she was able to reach out to her mother in order to tell her how she felt about the fact that she left them behind. I think the way the affected characters handled this aspect ended in a positive light. ⇒ Assuming Assumptions between characters are constantly causing issues. Because no one directly confronts others, assumptions are made. This is most apparent in Lia's opinion of Kiev. However, when she learns the truth behind what she thought was true, she realized that what she had made to be a big issue, was nothing at all. Overall Feelings Things that I liked: ⇒ The writing is seamless and there isn’t an obvious gap between each writer’s voice. ⇒ It was an easy and quick read. ⇒ The diversity. ⇒ The incorporation of Shakespeare. Things that I didn’t like: ⇒ The language. ⇒ While I liked the comic relief that Cole's character brought to the story, I didn't care for his "mouth." He reminded me too much of those kids back in high school that got away with murder because they were "smooth talkers" even though they weren't (if that makes sense.) ⇒ At times the plot would lag a bit and wasn't constantly engaging me. However, I think this is preferential on my end, rather than it being the fault of the book. ⇒ The underaged drinking. Overall, I thought this was a likable read. While I don't normally read Young Adult Contemporary, I find that when I do, they serve as great palette cleansers between dense and lengthy books. It's nice to be able to pick up a book and finish it in nearly one sitting, due to its likable characters and dash of quirkiness. While I didn't care for the amount of language used, and Cole's (sometimes obnoxious) personality, it didn't sway me from appreciating the easy flow of conversation and plotline. Vulgarity: Quite a lot. 113 words total. Sexual content: Kissing and some references to more. Cole is in general quite sexual with his speech. Violence: There are two scenes: one where (view spoiler)[Lia punches Kiev, and then another scene where Kiev punches Cole. (hide spoiler)] My Rating: ★★★ My Blog ¦ Bookstagram ¦ Twitter ¦ Pinterest ¦ Facebook

Photo of Candyce Kirk
Candyce Kirk@thebookdutchesses
4 stars
Dec 9, 2021

This was the first time I read a book by either author and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Bacon Pie is a Young Adult Contemporary novel. I enjoyed that this book has a mixture of romance, humor and a little adventure. This book is about Kiev and Lia. Kiev loves the theater and is preparing for a role in the school's next play. Horatio is a character he has invested in and is crushed when he finds out this part is already taken. Theater seems a way for him to deal with his emotions surrounding his home life. Lia loves her old school video games and her life involves spending time gaming, with her best friend Barnabas and living with her mom and two dads. She doesn't see herself as a girly girl and is happy with her Nintendo. Bacon Pie is a fast paced book that is told from Lia and Kiev's POV. I loved this aspect of the story. It's a lot of fun to see how they're both thinking. This story seems to be a enemies to lovers type of story, but that makes it so much fun. When Lia punches Kiev they're forced to volunteer at the Piggy Palooza Festival. Neither of them want to be there. I loved seeing the characters change as they got to know each other. They don't want to like each other, but they can't stop the fact that they get along and are starting to like each other. The fighting and joking between them is a lot of fun. Bacon Pie had me laughing out loud quite often. On top of the fun relationship between Lia and Kiev, I loved the other aspects of this book. Kiev has a pet armadillo, how unique is that? Lia's dads are a lot of fun and Barnasbas is his own unique self. In all honesty, I didn't care for Kiev's best friend most of the story. He grew on me near the end though! There were certain aspects of this story that weren't as worked in the story as others. The fact that Kiev loves the theater really isn't in the story much except for him running lines, his family life clearly had some stuff going on and seemed solved all of a sudden and I would've liked a bit more closure with Barnanas and Sophie. I got invested in that storyline! All in all, Bacon Pie is a really fun book! I couldn't tell this was written by two authors and I always see that as a compliment to the people who write together!