Dazzled by Books

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.

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Review:

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton is a fun filled ride. This story is a gender bent take on A Knight's Tale. This story is very pro feminist so because of this, I feel like a lot of things got put on the wayside if it wasn't directly related to the feminist plot line.

I found the book to be quite entertaining, I just felt like it was missing a lot of things. The characters felt really undeveloped. I just wish they were more fleshed out. They were just missing that spark for me. One of the things that really bothered me is it felt like the reader didn't really have a reason to care about Kit's situation. Kit talked about wanting to leave and get out of the job. The patrons and co-workers are mean so why would the reader want her to continue to work at the restaurant.

This book is overly preachy. I don't think it is Kit's privilege that makes her stand up for herself but her bravery. There are plenty of people out there that have privilege and don't stand up. There are people that don't have privilege and they stand up for themselves. That is bravery. I think this book discounts that. I think people are trying to label something it isn't and that really bothers me. I think Kit deserves more credit than "white privilege". Coming from experience it takes a lot of guts to stand up for something no matter the color of your skin. I think people forget that not all white people have had life easy. I think the world has tried so hard to discount things that people go through based on the color of their skin and that is wrong.

I would have really liked this book if the author would have focused more on writing a good book with great characters vs writing their political agendas and pushing feminism and white privilege on the readers. I really liked the idea of this book but it just wasn't executed very well. It was a bit of a disappointment to me. The story could have been handled better. 

Don't stop reading now, I do have some positive things to point out. The book had a bit of a fun tone to it. Sometimes we need that especially during this time. It was definitely entertaining. I loved that the restaurant had a medieval theme. I enjoy Renaissance fairs so I thought this was fun theme for a book. The history facts throughout the book was quite fun as well. There was quite a diverse cast in the book. There were some great things. This just was not the book for me.