I had mixed feelings when I began The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank. The reviews I had read were tepid at best. I have not read her first book, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, which got rave reviews, and the comparisons reviewers made were not exactly positive towards her second book. In addition to all this, I discovered after I had the book that this isn't even a novel, rather it is a series of interrelated short stories. I prefer either short stories that are not related, or a novel--sometimes short stories in a novel format are just a little too disjointed and hinder the flow of the book.
That said, I thought this was not a bad read at all. One of the criticisms of this book has been that Sophie, the main character, is just mediocre. I can't say that I disagree. She never seems to excel at much of anything, but she is likeable nonetheless. Plus there are some great lines in the book--Banks is definitely a good writer. Why should characters in books be perfect or have perfect lives or have perfect endings to their stories anyway? I was compelled enough to continue reading despite all the criticism. I am glad, though, that I checked this out of the library rather than bought it in hardcover, and I plan on reading her previous book now. If The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing is so much better, as the reviewers say, I imagine I will enjoy that one even more!