I really enjoyed this book. I call it a metaphorical adult fairy tale. The premise of spontaneously combusting kids feeds directly into the parenting metaphor, and the overall story is charming. The writing is also charming. The characters felt very real to me, and the descriptions painted a picture very well without being long and drawn out. The setting, in summer on an estate with lots of swimming and basketball adds to the fairy-tale feeling. This book made me want to go read more of this author's work.