Author:
Laurie Boyle Crompton
Publication
Date: February 1, 2013
Publisher:
Sourcebooks Fire
Blaze
is tired of spending her life on the sidelines, drawing comics and feeling
invisible. She's desperate for soccer star Mark to notice her. And when her BFF
texts Mark a photo of Blaze in sexy lingerie, it definitely gets his attention.
After a hot date in the back of her minivan, Blaze is flying high, but suddenly
Mark's feelings seem to have been blasted by a freeze-ray gun, and he dumps
her. Blaze gets her revenge by posting a comic strip featuring uber-villain
Mark the Shark. Mark then retaliates by posting her "sext" photo,
and, overnight, Blaze goes from Super Virgin Girl to Super Slut. That life on
the sidelines is looking pretty good right about now...
“I
try imagining a superpower that would reduce my attractiveness to pubescent
boys, while inversely making me more alluring to uber-hotties like the cretin’s
coach, Mark. Putting out is likely the missing plutonium to that puzzle. I am,
after all, the Amazing Su-per Virgin
Girl! Fully flowered! With chastity of steel!” – ARC Copy pg. 3
“Growing
up in the country, if you can ride your bike to a girl’s house and that girl
also happens to be in your grade, BOOM!
You have yourself a best friend.” – ARC Copy pg. 33
“One thing’s for sure, I think as I climb
into the driver’s seat, I’ve set my
sights on a really super guy.” – ARC Copy pg. 113
“I
picture the comic cover with Ghost Rider giving Zodiak the penance stare as
Suicide stands by in a rage shouting, ‘Don’t kill him! Kill me!’ I understand that
now. The desire to make all the pain and shame stop happening. To just want
everything to go away. I get that.” – ARC Copy pg. 245
The
main character, Blaze, named after Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze himself, is a
comic book junkie who feels invisible within the halls of her high school.
Blaze makes the mistake of falling for the wrong guy, Mark the Shark, and
starts to lose part of herself and involves herself in things that she wouldn’t
otherwise. She gives in to Mark’s charms and he totally takes advantage of her.
He is the love em’ and leave em’ type, and Blaze’s reputation and her moral
standing are crushed in the process. Mark’s actions are really low especially
when he posts a half-naked picture of Blaze on the Internet. How will our
super-hero girl handle this? Will she prevail over her arch-nemesis, Mark the
Shark?
There
were parts of this book that I loved and others that I didn’t care for so much.
First of all, I would not recommend this book to anyone under the age of
sixteen. You may think this book should be directed at preteens, but I am here
to tell you that some of the language and scenes depicted in this book are way
too mature for thirteen year olds. Secondly, it took me awhile to get into this
book. The introduction took about three chapters, but the buildup was worth it.
Being the feminist that I am, I hated to see Blaze’s character taken advantage
of and hung out to dry. Although, I am not so naïve to know that it doesn’t
happen to young girls all the time. I know because I was a young, naïve girl
once and I had my heart stepped on and squashed into the ground. So for this I
can appreciate Blaze’s real honesty and her truly complex character.
I
LOVED the play on comic book heroes and super-villains. I thought that was very
well done and it made Blaze’s character more relatable. She had such a passion
for them, and even though I know nothing about comic books, it allowed me to
relate with her on a personal level because I could sense the uniqueness of her
character and the awkward, quirky side of her that I loved so much. I hated
Mark’s character and I am sure you all don’t have to wonder why. He was your
typical teenage jerk and took complete advantage of Blaze, even though she
allowed it.
I
am still in the middle as far as the rating of this book goes. I am not totally
downing it, but I am not totally convinced that it was everything I thought it
would be. I enjoyed many parts of it and I would suggest that if you love
quirky, awkward heroines to definitely give this book a try. For a debut novel
it was not bad and I will definitely give this author another try in the
future!
***A
huge thank you to the publishers at Sourcebooks for providing me with a copy of
this book in exchange for my honest review***
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