**EARLY REVIEW** Blaze by Laurie Boyle Crompton

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...

Expected Release: February 1, 2013 

Published By: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Copy: ARC 312 pages

So there is no trailer and I don't normally do this

but this song fits somehow.

Review

  What a fun and engaging read.   I was pulled right in by the description and lets face it the cover.  I have always wanted the pink underneath and so between my fantasy and the fact that this seems like a disaster waiting to happen I was hooked.  Needless to say when I requested it, got approved and found it in my mailbox I was giddy and oh so excited to start.  For the most part I got what I had wished for and enjoyed the book from start to finish.  With a few heart stopping moments, ones that you are shocked and some things you just wont expect it was a totally worthy read.

  I loved this story it was unique in its own way and really fun to read.  The characters were so well done that at times it was seriously like watching some bad high school drama unfold.  You know what I mean, the stuff you see coming or the stuff that is whispered about among friends in the bathroom that you catch wind of.   This made everything so much easier to love and enjoy.  To be honest I know where Blaze has been in some aspects so each event and reaction was realistic to me.  Especially with all the people involved and all the possibilities that were there.  There were also some serious moments and a few lessons thrown in for good measure.

  Blaze (yes that is her real name) is the girl that no one really notices but she isn't a loser either.  She just is.  She is a soccer mom, in a not the real mom but sister kind of way.  She loves her brother but kind of doesn't enjoy the driving him and his buddies back and forth to games.  This does however give her time for her passion: Comics.  Reading them, drawing them, writing them.  If it has something to do with comics she's in.  Well that and Mark.  The girl has a serious weak spot for this testosterone high guy. Though he notices her it's not quite why she thinks and well things get a little crazy from there.  This is where the story got real fun.  Blaze was a serious firecracker waiting for the right moment to go off.  When she did there was really no going back for her.

 Her friends though quirky were annoying to say the least.  Well Amanda annoyed me, I liked Terri for the most part.  I will admit though that having Amanda around was almost like being back in high school.  Everyone has that one friend or knows the girl that doesn't care who likes a guy or who is with a guy, when she wants him it's too damn bad.  Also when she doesn't get what she wants it's not her fault but normally the closest friend to the incident! Terri tries to be there but I just felt that when things blew up and they were needed they were really not there.  I mean they pretended to be but they weren't really there.

  The romance part of this book was, well not really a romance.  That's not what this book was about but it was in a way(if that makes sense).  Mark was "the" guy.  The one that everyone seemed to like, the one that got what he wanted, the JERK.  Though once I reflected he didn't make any promises but he didn't try to set things straight either.  There is also another guy that is kind of in play.  Though he is 100% not Mark and really isn't full out going for Blaze but is amazing in his own way.  I'm not going to lie I wanted to shake Blaze, tell her to wake up and smell the awesome guy!  But everything happens for a reason right?

  Overall Blaze was both a fun and meaningful read.  It was like the best of both worlds and I enjoyed every page.  Laurie Boyle Crompton's writing just flowed across the pages and made the read that much more enjoyable.  My only wish is that Mark had gotten more than he did.  Cruel?  Maybe but trust me he deserved it after everything he put poor Blaze through.  If you like contemporary reads I say give this one a go 100%.

Quotes

My dad gave me a cool name, Blaze, but my life is so unexciting that my name is more ironic than the soccer ball magnet I stuck to the back of my minivan--my failed attempt to create visual irony.

I call her the Blazing Goddess and sometimes Blaze for short because, hey, my life may pretty much suck, but my name is still amazing.

He's sitting so close I could reach over and touch him.  It might be kind of hard to explain, and a little weird, maybe, but still... possible.

That is, four layers assuming Mark has on underwear.  I've spent enough time with the male species to know that isn't necessarily a given.