Review: Blaze by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Title: Blaze (Or Love in the Time of Supervillians)

Author: Laurie Boyle Crompton

Publisher: Raincoast (Sourcebooks Fire)

Publication date: February 1st, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pages: 309

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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...

After reading the synopsis, I had to pick this book up. I absolutely love the cover, and a girl who draws comics? yay! I, myself, love drawing anime. (Which is very similar to comics, but it's just the japanese style), so I really wanted to see how this character would turn out to be. Blaze, the main protagonist, is a comic crazed fanatic. I think Blaze was a REALLY fun character to read about. She was a normal girl, who had the job of a soccer mom. She was always driving her little brother, and his pack of friends, to their soccer matches. While desperately waiting for them to finish, she draws, while drooling, their hot soccer coach, Mark. When Mark asks her for a drive, that's when their first interaction happens. Blaze is thrilled, and determined to make Mark her boyfriend, that she is willing to do whatever it takes.

I really didn't find Blaze annoying when all she kept obsessing about was Mark, but I found it rather fun. She was making up plans with her friends, and schemes, and all that hilarious girl crush stuff. That was all fun, until Mark pretends like he doesn't know her the next day. It hurt Blaze, and that's when she decided it was time for revenge. For me, I consider revenge books to be REAL fun! All the plotting, and the evil schemes, they're just so much fun to read about! *evil grin* What I really liked about this book were the characters. They were so much fun to read, and I loved how there was so much interaction with Blaze and her family. Family is so important, but I don't know how in some other books, they neglect to mention the family members at all! I also really liked her little brother's group of friends that she always drives around, or whom she likes to call her "Cretins". I really found it super cute.

All the fun stuff aside, there were still parts where you saw the other side of the characters. Fights happen, feelings are told, and we really get to have a clearer idea about who the characters really are. Overall, I think this was such a cute contemporary, and there was so much comic stuff happening, I was totally excited! If you're looking for a fun, funny, and cute contemporary, I would totally recommend Blaze to you!