Review: Blaze by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Publication Date: February 1, 2013
Page Count: 256
Format: ebook
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire

Synopsis From Goodreads:

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...

Even though I'm not a geek girl or comic book fan myself, I was really looking forward to reading Blaze. I loved the synopsis, and I thought it would have a strong female protagonist who kicked some serious butt. What I got instead was just an ordinary girl who had to live with the results after making some really bad decisions.

Blaze, who's father named her after a comic book hero, is really into vintage comic books. It's a love that has expanded since her father left the family to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. Blaze feels connected to her father because of their shared love of comic books. There are tons of references to comic books, and Blaze pretty much relates everything in her life to a plot or a character from a comic book. This was very different, and it didn't bother me at first. But as the story progressed, I found that it lost it's appeal. Blaze's personality started being less her own as she attempted to take on personality traits of comic book characters. It was really hard to like Blaze because I was never sure how she would act, or what she was going to do next. She made a real mess of things by acting in a rash and immature manner.

I did enjoy Blaze's younger brother, Josh, and his friends. They all had terrific personalities and I really enjoyed their witty banter. Mark was a self-centered player, and everyone knew this except Blaze because she was blinded by her infatuation with him. Blaze had an odd relationship with her 2 best friends. One was truly what you would want in a friend, but the other was really more of a frenemy. It made for some very interesting scenarios.

I feel this book was supposed to show us Blaze's growth and maturity, and how she overcame obstacles, but it didn't ring true to me. Blaze was so misguided, and made some really terrible decisions. After her constant mistakes throughout the story, I couldn't tell if she had really learned her lesson by the end. I do know that I couldn't feel sympathy for her. Not a drop. I think she needed to get her mind out of her comic book world and learn how to deal with situations in a more mature manner.

Overall, I thought that Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) had a lot of potential. But Blaze was so shallow and self-centered that it took away from my enjoyment of the story. The writing itself is pretty good, and I think the author did a great job. I am definitely interested in reading this author's future books. Due to sexual content, I would recommend this for older or more mature teens. On a really shallow note - I love this cover because it captures the character of Blaze perfectly.

eARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review

My rating: 3 of 5 stars