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thebumblegirl 's review for:
Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
by Laurie Boyle Crompton
Simple, yet riveting, Blaze should be on everyone's to-be-read piles and wishlists! Laurie Boyle Crompton has written an amazing debut full of teen angst, girl-power and geek fandom!
Blaze is a 17-year-old comic-book-geek girly-girl who is smart, snark-y and has a huge heart. Her father has taken off to NYC to pursue his acting career which has left her mother a bit bitter and overworked, so Blaze has had to step-up, pitch-in and play "soccer mom" to her 13-year-old brother and his friends. Since most of her free time is taken up by her brother's soccer practices and games, she spends the time reading her comic books, working on her own comic book stories starring Blazing Goddess, her alter-ego, and dreaming about Mark the soccer coach.
And then one day, Mark acknowledges Blaze's existence and Blaze's crush soars into space and she is determined to do whatever it takes to make Mark her boyfriend.
While out shopping one day with her friends, Blaze is trying to get their advice as to what she should do to get Mark to realize that she is the one he wants as his girlfriend; in the spur of the moment, her bestie snaps an unforgettable cell phone picture and sends it off to Mark.
Of course she has his attention now....
And then she learns, that being super-geeky-boring girl wasn't so bad after all.
Well, this book brought back all kinds of high school memories. Although, thank goodness, I never went through any of the bad stuff that Blaze had to endure, I do remember what it was like to have a crush and feel like it would be the end of the world if I couldn't make him mine. Even in my old age now, it is an indescribable feeling to have such a strong need to want someone to like you back as much as you think you like them. You barely know the person, personally. Yes, you see what he likes/dislikes in school, know his schedule by heart, who he's friends with, etc. But you don't really know his personality, what he's like at home, his family, etc. But for some odd reason, you just don't care. He's cute, you like him and no one can convince you otherwise. The things that some girls will go through to prove that they are worthy of a boys attention is heartbreaking.
I love Laurie's writing style; Blazes personality shines through - I felt her loneliness, anger, hurt, snark. I loved every single time she geeked-out about comic books and that she used her talent to release her feelings. I adored the way she and her brother, Josh, cared and took care of each other - the relationship that they both had with Josh's friends was amazing and so genuine. I loved how they kidded around with each other, but mostly, how these group of boys looked up to Blaze like she was their big sister too.
Plus, all of the comic book mentions (Blaze is a hardcore Marvel fan!) were so fitting and perfect! The ARC did not have any of the illustrations, so I'm sure that with the artwork included this book would easily become a 5-star rating for me.
A definite must read for all booknerds, geeks, comic book hero fans and more! Can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy!
Blaze is a 17-year-old comic-book-geek girly-girl who is smart, snark-y and has a huge heart. Her father has taken off to NYC to pursue his acting career which has left her mother a bit bitter and overworked, so Blaze has had to step-up, pitch-in and play "soccer mom" to her 13-year-old brother and his friends. Since most of her free time is taken up by her brother's soccer practices and games, she spends the time reading her comic books, working on her own comic book stories starring Blazing Goddess, her alter-ego, and dreaming about Mark the soccer coach.
And then one day, Mark acknowledges Blaze's existence and Blaze's crush soars into space and she is determined to do whatever it takes to make Mark her boyfriend.
While out shopping one day with her friends, Blaze is trying to get their advice as to what she should do to get Mark to realize that she is the one he wants as his girlfriend; in the spur of the moment, her bestie snaps an unforgettable cell phone picture and sends it off to Mark.
Of course she has his attention now....
And then she learns, that being super-geeky-boring girl wasn't so bad after all.
Well, this book brought back all kinds of high school memories. Although, thank goodness, I never went through any of the bad stuff that Blaze had to endure, I do remember what it was like to have a crush and feel like it would be the end of the world if I couldn't make him mine. Even in my old age now, it is an indescribable feeling to have such a strong need to want someone to like you back as much as you think you like them. You barely know the person, personally. Yes, you see what he likes/dislikes in school, know his schedule by heart, who he's friends with, etc. But you don't really know his personality, what he's like at home, his family, etc. But for some odd reason, you just don't care. He's cute, you like him and no one can convince you otherwise. The things that some girls will go through to prove that they are worthy of a boys attention is heartbreaking.
I love Laurie's writing style; Blazes personality shines through - I felt her loneliness, anger, hurt, snark. I loved every single time she geeked-out about comic books and that she used her talent to release her feelings. I adored the way she and her brother, Josh, cared and took care of each other - the relationship that they both had with Josh's friends was amazing and so genuine. I loved how they kidded around with each other, but mostly, how these group of boys looked up to Blaze like she was their big sister too.
Plus, all of the comic book mentions (Blaze is a hardcore Marvel fan!) were so fitting and perfect! The ARC did not have any of the illustrations, so I'm sure that with the artwork included this book would easily become a 5-star rating for me.
A definite must read for all booknerds, geeks, comic book hero fans and more! Can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy!