Time for a mini-review! This time – a light and uplifting book called A Random Act of Kindness, which about a girl finding her own place and voice in the world. And of course, with a dash of romance. And everything starts with a good deed… With more good deeds to follow.

A Random Act of Kindness is a wonderful book. It’s not one of those ‘big’ books about some big idea or theme – more like it’s a slice of life story, which is easy to relate to, genuine and warm. And yet, it encompasses so much. There’s topics of struggling with self-esteem, finding your passion and place in life, the power of friendship, and of course romance. But aside from that, there are also side themes, some of which are very deep – like WWII refugee experiences (not to spoil, but I literally cried after one of the passages about that… caught me unawares), lifelong love and talk about ways we protect ourselves from the adversities of life, and how we all have different ways to do that. So many things! It all weaves together and makes for a heart-warming and genuine story.

Something that is truly unique about this book is the main character’s love for fashion and fashion history. We’re not talking about a vain chasing of fads here – for Fern, the main character, as well as for some of the side characters, wearing special clothes is a way to defend against the outside, a sort of emotional armor. Myself, I am simple and practical and I could be said to be the last person to care about fashion. And yet, this reasoning of you becoming someone else as you wear your ‘armor’ really resonated with me. I feel like the love for style and fashion here is presented in a way that is accessible to nearly anyone, and if you’re someone who has never understood why some people think it’s so important, this book could show a whole new outlook on it.

Another thing I loved is how many middle aged or older characters this book had and how it didn’t fear to show friendships between people of very different ages. It’s often a no-no in society, which I don’t really understand. Age shouldn’t be a barrier for friendship. And there’s more than that. I don’t want to go and spoil it, but the book is progressive in an unexpected and heart-warming way. However, the story can be simplistic at times, it does solve some things in an fast and straightforward manner and a questionable outcome. But it’s quite often the way in such books that things get resolved just because they have to, to fit the story, and since I knew the book was meant to be simple and uplifting, I didn’t really mind that.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook through NetGalley in exchange to my honest opinion. Receiving the book for free does not affect my opinion.

Any good light and soft reads you would recommend that you’ve read lately?