A New York Times Bestseller • A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar
“I can’t believe how good this book is…. It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect…. Wilson writes with such a light touch…. The brilliance of … Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar
“I can’t believe how good this book is…. It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect…. Wilson writes with such a light touch…. The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming. You’re laughing so hard you don’t even realize that you’ve suddenly caught fire.” —Taffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman is in Trouble, New York Times Book Review
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Family Fang, a moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with a remarkable ability.
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help.
Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth.
Thinking of her dead-end life at home, the life that has consistently disappointed her, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose. Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband. Surprised by her own ingenuity yet unused to the intense feelings of protectiveness she feels for them, Lillian ultimately begins to accept that she needs these strange children as much as they need her—urgently and fiercely. Couldn’t this be the start of the amazing life she’d always hoped for?
With white-hot wit and a big, tender heart, Kevin Wilson has written his best book yet—a most unusual story of parental love.
more
I loved every word of this book. One of my top 10 of 2019.
This little book brought me so much joy! Its protagonists — all three of whom are awkward in the most endearing ways — tugged at my heart, made me laugh out loud, and serve as a great reminder that we’re all a little bit weird, and that’s okay.
The story begins with two good friends — Lillian and Madison — who attend the same prestigious boarding school in Tennessee. Lillian is a poor scholarship kid desperate to get out of her small town, and Madison is the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy family whose high-class life is laid out before her. When Madison gets into trouble with drugs, strait-laced Lillian’s life changes course and she ends up living back at her mom’s house working a dead-end job. That is, until Madison reaches out with a job opportunity.
Enter Bessie and Roland: Madison’s socially awkward twin stepchildren who catch on fire when they’re scared or upset. No joke: these kids burst into terrifying flames in lieu of the usual tantrum. Lillian becomes the kids’ caretaker while Madison and her senator husband try to get him elected secretary of state.
Lillian, Bessie, and Roland form their own little family of misfits living in the guesthouse — hidden away from polite society and spending the summer just trying to have some fun without burning things down.
The life lessons Lillian learns from the twins are lasting and memorable, and Lillian — who never really cared about taking care of herself — finds herself fighting tooth and nail to make sure Bessie and Roland receive all the love and protection they deserve.
This lasting, quick read is filled with spunk, sass, humor, and love, and I’ll be gifting it to both friends and family during the holidays this year. Highly recommend.
Terrific book – recommending it to everyone!
“Nothing to see here” by Kevin Wilson was a nice, refreshing change of pace for me. I usually read a lot of heavier sci-fi. Then I saw this on several lists, including the “Read With Jenna” book club byJenna Bush Hager. So, I thought I would check it out and I am glad that I did.
The basic premise is, well, here are two kids that catch fire when they get worked up. They happen to be the children of a Senator and his, now dead, ex-wife. He wants to be seen as a good man and taking care of his kids. Instead, his wife hires her “best friend” from school to come take care of the kids and keep them out of public view. The rest of the story, however, is about Lilian finding common ground with these strange children who, in a way, are much like here. Abandoned, more or less, by their parents, and told to basically stay out of sight. I know that doesn’t do it justice, but I don’t really want to give away too much of the book or its story.
Needless to say – I found this to be an excellent read. I truly enjoy Kevin Wilson’s writing style and the way he wrote his characters. Everyone is flawed, nobody is perfect, and, in the end, it mostly works out for them.
If you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary – this is it.
I can’t think of the right word to describe this book. I’m not even sure what I take away from it, because what does a reader take away from children who catch on fire when they are angry or annoyed? And yet, it’s a great story about making families where none exist, and how love creeps in when you think it couldn’t possibly. Plus, the author is super funny and I love to laugh.
This is about an important political family that has a little problem—their kids catch on fire when they get mad. It’s the perfect blend of the very real emotional family, and the bizarre which lets the author address serious things—life, work, power, ambition, relationships—without getting precious about it. I thought this was a lot of fun on audio.
This novel is a quirky dramedy about twin children—with the unusual ability to catch on fire—and their relationship with a down-on-her-luck woman hired as a nanny to take care of them, away from the spotlight of their politically ambitious father and stepmother. The nanny and stepmother, Lillian and Madison respectively, were friends at a prestigious private high school before Madison’s father paid Lillian’s mother to have Lillian take the fall for Madison’s drug bust. Fifteen years later, Madison calls Lillian out of the blue with a lucrative job offer to be the “governess” of her unusual step-children, Bessy and Roland, and keep them secluded as their father is up for position of Secretary of State. Lillian has no experience watching kids (including ones with unusual, supernatural powers), but she takes the job anyway as she has nothing better going on. I listened to the audiobook edition narrated by Marin Ireland.
I looked forward to listening to this novel as it is categorized as Humorous Literary Fiction, one of my favorite book categories. Being a comic book fan as well, the whacky premise was personally enticing. Were these kids mutants like in the X-Men comic books? The publisher describes the novel as “moving and uproarious” and, although at times humorous, this novel leans more toward moving than laugh out loud funny. Once Lillian gets acquainted with the twins and instills a sense of trust in them, their unusual ability to burst aflame is disregarded for a very long stretch in the middle of the novel, mostly focusing on the growing relationship between the abandoned children and the lowly Lillian, the three finding they are kindred spirits of the overlooked kind. Lillian is a keen observer and her first-person narration is endearing, sometimes funny, insightful, and, also at times, self-deprecating. And although I enjoyed the long stretch of relationship building between her and the twins, it seemed there was a missed opportunity for many more humorous situations involving the kids’ fire ability; there just wasn’t enough of that. But, this long middle stretch was a very, very successful setup for a laugh-out-loud plot twist that I didn’t see coming at all and made me burst out with laughter and surprise. It was a genuinely hilarious plot twist, for sure, as well as a very satisfying one.
I’d like to say that the narrator, Marin Ireland, did a fantastic job of narrating most of the characters and her lilting, Southern accent for some of them was exceptional and imaginative. You may know Marin Ireland from TV shows like The Umbrella Academy or Sneaky Pete, but she is an accomplished narrator in her own right.
As a parent, I related to the relationship Lillian built with the twins and, even though they are initially portrayed as freaks, the three of them are just like the rest of us: unique and hungry for love. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this novel 5 stars.
Did Madison choose Lillian to be her friend because of the differences in their upbringing?
Did Madison choose Lillian to be her friend because it was convenient for her?
Or did Madison choose Lillian to be her friend because she needed a true friend?
The reason wasn’t clear, but in my opinion what Madison did to Lillian was unforgivable even though they did remain friends.
After many years of still staying in touch, Madison offers Lillian a job as the nanny to the children of her husband and ex-wife since their mother died.
Lillian was skepticaL about the nanny job, but also couldn’t believe the luck of being able to live in a mansion’s guest cottage with domestic help.
The only draw back is that the children have some rare disease where they automatically combust when they get upset. Yes…they catch on fire.
Lillian decided to take the challenge because there were many perks to this job.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE has an interesting premise, and the characters are even more interesting.
Lillian didn’t have a good experience the first time she met the children, but she remained calm and hoped for the best.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE is comical as well as heartwarming as Lillian learns to take care of Roland and Bessie and fall in love with these strange, needy, difficult children.
Lillian wants them to do well and to find out a way to help with this unusual problem. The reader will fall in love with Roland and Bessie too.
I never did warm up to or trust Madison…I still felt she was using Lillian and knew she could because Lillian adored her, and Madison had the money to demand what she wanted.
Madison’s husband was even more unlikable. I would catch on fire if I were Lillian because of the anger I would feel toward Jasper and Madison and how they treat people and their own children.
I recommend NOTHING TO SEE HERE just so readers can experience Mr. Wilson’s marvelous writing and storytelling skills.
This book will hold your interest simply because of the unique topic and because of the care and love Lillian gives the children.
I hope you enjoy it if you read it.
This book is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking. 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Five flaming hot, but they won’t burn you stars, okay?
Well, that’s a start. I wish I could write this entire review in Lillian’s “voice.” Her sentences punctuated with “okays” and “you knows,” and the constant, no nonsense patter of a person grappling with her thoughts, and differences, and those of her young charges, kept me highly entertained, you know?
See, I’m trying it out.
But really, only Kevin Wilson could do it in his Kevin Wilson way. Now I have to wait for The Family Fang, and just about anything else the man has written to arrive on my doorstep because if those books are anything like this? I will be so happy.
This book made me feel good! I swear to the Almighty endorphins flooded my system as I read. How does someone even come up with the idea for a story about kids who catch fire when they’re emotionally distraught, or anxious? And then package them with a “loser” (she’s not) character like Lillian, who has a friend, Madison, in high places? And makes the kids loveable yet little firebrands of damaged neediness?
Quite honestly, I suspected the ending, and did it detract from my enjoyment? Nope. From the “thing” with the house to the end result with Lillian, it was all I’d hoped for, while the growth/change of each character suited me like my fave pair of shoes. (usually flip-flop Oofahs, and I’m not sure they qualify as shoes, but they ARE very comfortable.)
If you haven’t read Nothing to See Here, run to your nearest book store like your pants are on fire. Highly recommend if your procrastinating over it like I did.
Wow this book was amazing. When I first started reading it I wasn’t sure that I would finish. But then it drew me in and I was hooked. A coming of age story about a girl who takes a job as a nanny. It’s a story of accepting children how they are and loving them no matter what. It’s definitely worth the read.
The cover really drew me in. How is this cover not eye catching? This was a strange book but described a lot in reviews as quirky. So I guess it fits. The cover doesn’t lie. It really is about people catching on fire. Twin ten year olds to be exact and when they get stressed or mad. The neat part is it doesn’t hurt them. I love how the main character grows close to them and takes care of them. There is a lot of cussing. This book isn’t for you if you don’t like that. This book might be considered as dark humor.
Highly imaginative and entertaining. The characters are beautifully drawn. I enjoyed the class distinctions between the 2 female characters.
I think this author could have done so much more with some of his themes (particularly about accepting other’s differences) and characters in this book. I could have used a less self-denigration. I got it that the character had low self-esteem from the first chapter. I did appreciate the character’s development in the book.
A struggling, aimless, young woman is asked to care for ten-year-old twins who spontaneously burst into flames whenever they’re stressed. What can go wrong? Kevin Wilson does a wonderful job of detailing all that goes wrong—and what ultimately goes right—in this offbeat but profoundly satisfying story. This book made many of the ‘best of’ lists a few years back, and I heartily agree. Grab a copy next time you’re headed to the beach.
I loved this book! Great characters. Unpredictable story, very interesting concept.
Nothing to See Here
by Kevin Wilson
This was billed as a “laugh out loud” book in the review but it is certainly not. It is different, amazing, clever, emotional, and very character driven book but not hilarious. I am glad I picked it up even if it wasn’t hilarious.
It’s a story about friends that are opposite and an event that broke them up. Later one of them, Madison, calls the other, Lillian, to come for a job. She comes and it’s to help raise two kids that catch on fire when they are emotional. The kids are emotionally broken but so is Lillian to some extent. The kids and Lillian start healing together.
The book is about friendships, families, trust, and so much more. It’s a very deep book and something I didn’t expect from a book about kids that catch on fire! I really loved how I felt I knew these kids and loved them!
This was certainly an interesting premise–children who go aflame–that was never quite explained. It’s a fairly quick read, with a slow but building storyline. Lillian has certainly had her share of crappy things in her life which has led to, well, a rather crappy life. It was nice to see this crazy opportunity to watch over the fire children bring her to a purpose and eventually to see her come to care about them deeply.
Love the hell out of this strange and funny story.
I really wanted to like this book a lot, but I was disappointed. What a great premise, but I really didn’t like the main character as a person so it was harder to stay invested in the book.
Very quirky, fun read.