Punk 57

I haven't read a High School Romance for a while but Punk 57 definitely made me fall inlove with them again. Misha and Ryen became pen pals when they were 11yrs old, it was only supposed to be a school project for each of them but they formed a bond over the course of seven years. They both come to the decision that they should never meet and never check online for eachother, they value what they have with one another and wouldn't want it to change. However when Misha agreed to a gig with his band and Ryen happens to be there, he hears her name and can't help himself, its become more for him then just friendship as the years have passed, what he never expected was to find out that the Ryen he has been speaking to isnt who he was faced with right now. That night sets off a chain of events that will change both Misha and Ryen, their life, their friendship and so much more. I thought Misha was just amazing in this book, he had gone through some hurting times and felt like he no longer had anyone who understood him. His muse to his music had always been Ryen, but after finally meeting her he was disappointed to find out she wasn't who she said she was. Ryen has known what it's like to be bullied, to be the unpopular girl so when given the opportunity to be someone else she jumps at it, not realising that she has to pretend to be someone she isn't as a result. I didn't like Ryen at first, I think I was as angry as Misha was with the way she acted infront of her bratty friends, but she really grew on me as the book went on. Although Misha was desperate to stay away from Ryen, he couldn't resist the pull of her, but before he gave in, he helped to bring out the girl he had been speaking to for all these years, he reminded Ryen of what was important in life and popularity wasn't one of those things if it meant you had to sacrifice you Identity. They were like fire and ice together and I loved it so much, the push and pull, their kisses, it was pure passion and pent up sexual tension that had clearly been bottled up for the last 7yrs. I couldn't get enough of these two and I'm so glad I got round to reading this book. 5 Star Read ❤.

Well what do you say, when you finally read a book and author that everyone has told you about and realise what you've been missing out on. I really enjoyed this brilliant story and the way it completely unfolded. The twists in this book were brilliant and although I predicted some. I didn't predict them all. The characters where fantastic and to say that although this is a young adult book it was still brilliant, for me they really didn't appear that young at all. This book went from Friendship, then hate and then love, it was "mean" girls at its finest in my opinion and when all the cards are laid on the table it makes for a thrilling love story. Misha and Ryen were just brilliant and for me, I would love to see a book of all that happened for them. His rise to fame and them becoming the team that we know that they are. Maybe one day, we can only hope. This book is a total recommend for me. Next up for me is Corrupt.....

This was a hard read for me. Not in a bad way necessarily. And not because I didn’t devour the book in virtually one sitting, or because the intrigue didn’t capture me, or I didn’t like the characters. I did all of those and the book offered it all to me. But for a typical coming of age romance narrative, there was a realness in the characters that hurt. Physically, emotionally. This is the story not unlike ours, the story about the many of us who have experienced an even somewhat typical teenage upbringing. We’ve all been in—experienced or witnessed—similar scenarios. What really hurt was that Ryen, the “anti-protagonist”, spoke from the depths of those insecurities that we take with us beyond those teen years. We grow up and are defined by this period in our lives more than we think. With almost twice the life experience today, I still am my 18 year old self who would have felt a kinship with Ryen, both the good and bad. Ryen isn’t a bad person. But she isn’t good. She embodies the dirty, gritty, indifferent sides of our personas. But she’s been given a chance to redeem herself. She tried to be brave. She does and acts as we might hope to act in her situation. But it isn’t a beautiful budding love. It’s hard hitting. Misha is written well, but some of the angst we experience through Ryen don’t come across quite as well with Misha, and this is my only criticism. Misha has done his growing outside of the narrative, he’s already done a lot of his atoning. Whilst the story outside of the pages would have made this novel the weight of a concrete block, I did wish for more on that front. That all said, I did love the story, and undoubtedly I will come back to it eventually when I’m ready to re-digest that which I missed on my first read through.

I gave this book 3 stars because the writing is good and parts of the book were good but part of me really wanted to give it 2 stars because it was so hard to read most of the time. I'm not happy that it's not explained in the blurb that this is a high-school bully book. The first chapter was awesome and already had me hooked and invested in the main characters but then I get to the 2nd chapter and it goes downhill from there. The two main characters are so unlikable that it just made it hard to get through the book. I mean I actually loathed both of them. He was cruel and somewhat abusive towards her and she was just absolutely cruel to anyone who wasn't in her group and there wasn't even one thing that was likable about her. I kept waiting for them both to change but it didn't happen for a very, very long time. Yes, they both had reasons for the way they were but whatever no one should be able to use an excuse for that kind of behavior. And I disagree with Penelope Douglas in her notes from the author when she said that readers tend to judge the heroines more harshly than they do the heroes because I always hate when an author makes the hero a jerk so yes I do judge the hero just as harshly. But like I said she is a good writer and the book did have some good moments and if you're into bully books then I suspect you will love this book. I just don't enjoy reading about people being cruel to others especially the poor kids who aren't in the in crowd and are always getting bullied by the popular kids. Not my cup of tea and I really think there should be a warning in the blurb. I can't say that I would recommend this book.