Book Review | Breakfast Served Anytime by Sarah Combs

A coming-of-age debut evokes the bittersweet joys and pangs of finding independence in one unforgettable summer away at "geek camp." 

When Gloria sets out to spend the summer before her senior year at a camp for gifted and talented students, she doesn’t know quite what to expect. Fresh from the heartache of losing her grandmother and missing her best friend, Gloria resolves to make the best of her new circumstances. But some things are proving to be more challenging than she expected. Like the series of mysterious clues left by a certain Professor X before he even shows up to teach his class, Secrets of the Written Word. Or the very sweet, but very conservative, roommate whose coal-industry family champions mountaintop removal. Not to mention the obnoxious Mason, who dresses like the Mad Hatter and immediately gets on Gloria’s nerves — but somehow won’t escape her thoughts. 

Beautifully told by debut author Sarah Combs, this honest and touching story of growing up is imbued with the serene atmosphere of Kentucky’s natural landscape. 

Review

This isn't the kind of book that I can fall into, and want to read the whole thing in one sitting. It has some interesting characters, and the idea is pretty good too, but for me there was just a little something lacking, to make me really love it.

It's been a while since I read this (because I'm falling behind on reviews so much!), and it took me a minute or two to refresh my mind about what this book was actually about, and what my thoughts were about it. To me, if I can't recall much about the book a few weeks after I've read it, then there's an issue.

It's not that this was a bad book, there were actually a lot of good moments that when I remembered them, I did actually really enjoy. It's just that overall, this book fell a little bit flat.

There was a running mention, throughout the book, of the coal-industry, but that didn't really seem to come to much.

I did like the relationship between Gloria and 'The Mad Hatter', I thought that was done nicely, and I've got a soft spot for the love/hate relationships. So this worked pretty nicely for me.

Overall, this was an ok book for me, with some interesting parts.

Rating

5/10