Sloth Goes Place - Wisconsin

 

Sloth Goes Places is a feature where I share books I have tracked from previous Literary Escapes reading challenge hosted by Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book.

Today we are looking at books set in ....

Wisconsin

Sloth visited Wisconsin just last week. It was his first trip there, and from what I can see, he had a great time. He saw Paramore and enjoyed lots of cheese. When I think of Wisconsin as a book setting, I immediately think of Amy E. Reichert. I am pretty sure all her books are set there, and she does an incredible job featuring the state. This is another state that isn't hard to fulfill for my reading challenge, but it's not common. 

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Lia and Beckett's Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks
Published by Harry N. Abrams on July 5, 2022
Age/Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads

A star-crossed YA rom-com that has the charm of Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes and the magic of Now You See Me

Seventeen-year-old Lia Sawyer is thrilled to get a mysterious invitation from her grandmother to compete in a stage magic contest––even though her parents object. But she’s going to be judged by a bunch of old-school magicians who think that because she’s a girl, her only magical talents lie in wearing sparkly dresses, providing distractions, and getting sawed, crushed, or stretched. And Lia can’t ask her grandmother for help because she’s disappeared, leaving behind only her best magic tricks, a few obscure clues, and an order to stay away from Blackwell boys, the latest generation of a rival magic family. Lia totally plans to follow her grandmother’s rule––until the cute boy she meets on the beach turns out to be Beckett Blackwell, son of the biggest old guard magical family there is. Witty and romantic, Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra is a YA rom-com with a magical twist!

This is by far my favorite book by Parks. I adored the setting, the characters, and the magic. I remember the magic scenes being really captivating. This book had me under its spell, and I loved sharing this magical summer with Lia and Beckett. 

[review]

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The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig by Don Zolidis
Published by Disney-Hyperion on October 2, 2018
Age/Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

Janesville, Wisconsin (cold in the sense that there is no God) 1994

The worst thing that's ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should've gotten together. Craig is an awkward, Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school.

Yet somehow they did. Until Amy dumped him. Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over.

Unfolding during their senior year, Amy and Craig's exhilarating, tumultuous relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future-and adult responsibility-loom on the horizon.

Craig fights for his dream of escaping Janesville and finding his place at a quirky college, while Amy's quest to uncover her true self sometimes involves being Craig's girlfriend?and sometimes doesn't.

Seven heartbreaks. Seven joys.Told nonsequentially, acclaimed playwright Don Zolidis's debut novel is a brutally funny, bittersweet taste of the utterly unique and utterly universal experience of first love.

I feel a little bit bad about the rating for this one. I remember laughing so much as I read this. It was rife with humor, and so many great supporting characters. And, even though the author warned me in the very beginning of this book that this was NOT a love story, I still wanted that HEA. Therein my misery lies. Regardless of my disappointment, I think was a great book about first love and loss and moving on. 

[review]

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Hello? by Liza M. Wiemer
Published by Spencer Hill Press on November 10, 2015
Age/Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

One HELLO can change a life. One HELLO can save a life.

Tricia: A girl struggling to find her way after her beloved grandma's death.
Emerson: A guy who lives his life to fulfill promises, real and hypothetical.
Angie: A girl with secrets she can only express through poetry.
Brenda: An actress and screenplay writer afraid to confront her past.
Brian: A potter who sets aside his life for Tricia, to the detriment of both.

Linked and transformed by one phone call, Hello? weaves together these five Wisconsin teens' stories into a compelling narrative of friendship and family, loss and love, heartbreak and healing, serendipity, and ultimately hope.

Told from all five viewpoints: narration (Tricia), narration (Emerson), free verse poetry (Angie), screenplay format (Brenda), narration and drawings (Brian).

I read this quite a while ago, but I can still remember how much it made me feel. It was a beautiful and touching story about connection and how meaningful it can be. I loved all those emotional parts but also found the way the story was told to be brilliant. I loved the mixed format and thought Wiemer did an incredible job with it. 

[review]

Have you read any books set in Wisconsin?
Let us know in the comments!