published: 2019
read/heard: 4/3-4/2020
book: 28 in 2020
I was smart.SYNOPSIS
I just had a thick layer of stupid that had settled on top of me.
But I was still wild when I needed to be.
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help.
Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth.
Thinking of her dead-end life at home, the life that has consistently disappointed her, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose. Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband. Surprised by her own ingenuity yet unused to the intense feelings of protectiveness she feels for them, Lillian ultimately begins to accept that she needs these strange children as much as they need her—urgently and fiercely. Couldn’t this be the start of the amazing life she’d always hoped for?
THOUGHTS
SHORT VERSION
really liked this read.
I hope to reread it sometime in the future (but less be honest, I probs won't).
Its more than just kids catching fire.
LONG VERSION
what a weird concept.
kids that catch on fire!
this book was another reason I got BOTM finally.
Idk why I didnt just buy it on the side since it had already been out....but anyway....
You meet Lillian and she's, I wouldnt say given up on on life but more so, she knows how it is, so she doesnt ready exert too much when the return isnt going to be worth it.
Shes friends with Madison. Well, that's a long stretch. They were friends in school and now they just keep in touch via letters that are always sent/received at the same time. So when this one arrives out of schedule, it surprises Lil but the idea of getting away from home appeals to her so shes okay with it.
she arrives not knowing what she's needed for but then learns that Mads wants her to take care of her husbands kids and the one catch is that they spontaneously catch 🔥.
She has no kid training whatsoever, but she takes the job.
...and then the story ensues and its heart warming and funny and honest and it takes a turn that I wasnt expecting.
I was thinking "well, a story about kids who catch on fire has to be comedy-ish. Right?"
And it is but it's so much more.
For a small book it packs a punch.
With this job, we learn past truths about their friendship, about who gives and and who takes more and why and we get Lil discovering what her life in this moment is all about.
....and the ending.
it's pretty obvs you have to suspend disbelief with this story (because kids cant really catch on fire! ....right? Lol.) The story couldve kept the whole theme of make believe (I'm not wording this correctly) and made the ending some sort of fairytale solution kinda deal for everything that happened but instead Wilson makes it relatable to real life, I would say.
Sometimes shit hits the fan. Sometimes you get what you didnt even know you wanted but just because you did doesnt mean that you're 100% sure it's what you wanted or what you're ready for.
this book was dope.
(Bahaha)
...and while everyone was great, my fave character has got to be Mary. she was the fucking best. 😂
give that woman her own side story!
I'm really glad I read this.
I'm glad I spent a BOTM credit on this.
I'm glad I own this book.
Have you read this?
Did ya like it?
thx for reading!
jump over for spoilers
#bookslesreads on IG
SPOILERS
Lillian and Madison know each other from a super elite school that Madison goes to because she rich af and Lillian goes to because she won a sorta lotto that allows one "poor" person to attend.
rich kids get away with everything right?
Well, Maddison gets busted with a baggie of coke after another girl rats her out.
In the end, Mads father bribes Lils mom with....Ten thousand dollars over dinner asking her to have Lil take the blame thinking that all they would do is suspend her at most.
Lil didn't want to, the mom made her and she ends up getting expelled.
So mads continues to live her life full of opportunities while Lils just shut.
It's been years and they keep in touch via mail when Lil gets a random note asking her to come work for Mads.
She doesn't learn of the job until shes at Mads house.
Mads hires her to take care of her husbands kids because they catch fire and that cannot leak at all because Jasper (Mads husband) is on track to become some shit high up in the white office (vice president? A senator....idk some shit. I forgot)
So she says yes, she gets the kids and she ends up forging a bond with them.
(In between here, you learn that Lil & Mads sorta but not really but sorta had a sorta relationship...They were I guess you can maybe say in love with each other (more so lil) but they couldn't act on it.....and mads said she couldn't because she wanted to become rich and powerful and being a lesbian ( for lack of better explanation) was not the way to get there.)
(I'm going to skip a lot-ish here because tbh I forgot)
In the end, Jasper gets the spot because the dude who had it ended up passing away so everything moves forward quicker.
They're having a press conference and of course Mads is there with their own kid, Timothy.
Bessie & Roland (the 2 combustible kids) are watching the press conference and I guess get mad and boom out of nowhere, Timmy catches fire.
Jasper was so intent on the fact that the kids catching fire were his ex wife's fault when all along it was his fault.
Mads is a pro so she manages to clean this in the media before it leaks out.
She then calls Lil and tells her that they no longer need her to work for them.
And it turns out that they were going to have the kids committed to some sort of lab thing where they could be "studied ".
Mads was all for it but now that her kid is also like that shes all of a sudden against it.
Mads makes it home and then Jasper and that's when she learns that Jasper was going to have Tim committed as well but Mads is all fuck no and the Bessie & Roland sorta catch the house on fire.
Lil takes off with Bessie and Rolan (she basically kidnaps them) and runs away home since she has nowhere else to go.
Carl (Jaspers right hand man) ends up finding them at her moms....
...and in the end, Lil ends up keeping Bessie & Roland.
Kinda like a forever babysitter.
Theres nowhere for the kids to go or anyone for them to stay with and she'd grown super attached to them so she keeps them.
And she acknowledges that while she is happy to do this, kids were something she never wanted, she cant get rid of B&R.
That while this is what she wants, she isnt fully ready for it.
It ends great.
LOVE THIS BOOK!
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