Hi ForeverBookers,
How are you all? Did you have a good Christmas? I hope you did!
I’ve just finished Potkin And Stubbs by Sophie Green and I LOVED it! This story isn’t a romance in the slightest but I found it very entertaining! It’s a middle grade/YA mystery novel about a young girl, Lil who meets this boy Ned or Nedley as he prefers to be known. I don’t love YA/middle grade romances anymore, but I love other genres of this specification, the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, for example. That’s why Potkin and Stubbs worked so well for me, I think.
I read Potkin and Stubbs for two readathons, this time:
Always Fully booked Challenge 2024 - A Staff Pick from a store or library - I can remember when I bought Potkin and Stubbs when it had just been released in 2019, there was a staff write up about it in my local Waterstones! That was part of the reason I bought it as well as it being one of my favourite booktubers favourites when she read it too!
Always Fully Booked - On The Cover Challenge - A writing utensil on the cover - Lil is writing notes in her spiral notebook WITH a pencil!
Spoilers Below…
I don’t want to go too much in depth in this section because I don’t want to spoil the main mystery but Lil meets Ned at a bus station in her home town of Peligan City. At first she’s unsure just who he is and why he’s shocked that she can see him…
“Are any of these by you?”
Lil tried avoiding the question with another snort that she hoped would sound like ‘what do you think?’ But the boy just looked at her blankly so she straightened up and said, “Not yet . . . but one day you’ll see my name in print.”
“Oh,” he said.
“I’m waiting for a big story.” Lil felt as though things had got switched around somehow. It was time to turn the tables. She was stuck in a big mouthful of her to do just that when he spoke again.
“I have a story for you. It’s a Missing Persons case.”
Lil let the breath escape. “Really? Alright, I’ll bite. Who’s missing?”
The boy turned to face her, his gaunt face shaded with grey. “ I am.”
This is what happens when Lil meets Nedley, our male main character. I loved reading their conversations. They were highly entertaining to me. Above, Lil has just met Nedley who tells her what he needs straight away. He needs to be found! That’s what I like in middle-grade. The text is always simple to understand! There aren’t any hidden meanings. I also loved how comedic their relationship was at some points, but how it could be serious/heartfelt too.
“You know, I was invisible until I met you.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re still invisible, Nedley, I don’t know why it is that I can see you, but you should prepare yourself, I might be the only one who can.”
“I know,” he agreed. “But the way I see it, I got lucky there, didn’t I, with you turning up to be an investigative reporter. A normal person might not have been able to . . . you know . . . solve the case.”
Nedley is explaining how he’s pleased Nel was who he met at the bus station. It’s because of her wanting to be an investigator that he’s FINALLY going to get some answers or so he thinks! What answers do he and Nel uncover? You’ll need to read to find out!
There aren’t many characters in Potkin and Stubbs. Lil and Nedley take up most of the book and there’s another significant character in the story of Absolom Mandrel, who is known as Abe. He’s a bit of a hopeless recluse of a journalist. He was entertaining too.
“Absolom Mandrel was grizzled and overweight. His eyes were red-rimmed. He had several days of stubble growing on his chin and some kind of greasy egg stain on his rumpled shirt. His Mac looked like it had once belonged to a tramp, and the rim of his hat was frayed.”
This is the first description we get of Abe. He doesn’t like how annoying Lil is at first. When he gets to know her, he starts to like her more though. They become colleagues for want of a better word, looking into the Ned Stubbs case (Nedley’s case). What do they find? Do they get the answers they’re looking for? You’ll need to read to find out for yourself!
Overall then, Potkin and Stubbs was a great, quick read for me! I read it in the span of two days! I enjoyed the dialogue between the main characters the most, I think, as well as the cute artwork scattered amongst the text. This absorbed me into the plot even more! I can’t wait to hopefully get to the second and third novel sometime next year to see where our characters go!
I’m going to read a couple of manga next which I don’t review here, so you’ll probably hear from me next in 2025!!! Happy New Year!!! I hope it’s kind to you all!
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