Author: Laurie Boyle Crompton
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publish Date: February 1, 2013
Source: Owned
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You're a YA fiction fan.
From Goodreads.com: "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..."
My Two Cents:
"Blaze" is the story of Blaze, a comic book loving/ comic loving girl, who finds out just how quickly a private photo between two people can go viral when things go sour. Even though this is a pretty serious topic, Crompton does a great job of making this cautionary tale into a thoroughly entertaining story that I really enjoyed.
I really liked Blaze. She's quick witted, funny, and sarcastic. She's pretty smart but the mistake she makes in letting her friend take a picture of her in lingerie and sending it to her crush, Mark the Shark, is pretty dumb but I think we've all done something kind of dumb that snowballs into a major chaos situation. I definitely felt for her. She is totally spellbound by Mark. Blaze isn't exactly part of the cool crowd in high school so she's absolutely shocked when Mark, who happens to be her brother's soccer coach, starts showing an interest in her. Even though Blaze is very smart, she is so blindsided by Mark paying attention to her, she does some kind of stupid things. I really felt that Blaze felt like a real character. She's flawed but still very endearing. The dealings between the different characters was one of my favorite things about this book.
I liked that Blaze is independent enough to try to take control of the situation with Mark and also the situation with her absentee father. She doesn't mope too much and wait for someone else to pick up the pieces. You have to admire that.
Overall, this was a good story on an important topic!
Kids today in the age of the internet have to guard against mistakes that can't only be erased, but can also be "showcased" to the multitude on the web. Well, it's not just limited to kids (just ask some politicians), but there's never been a more dangerous time for youthful errors in judgement.
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