Craves The Angst: NEW REVIEW!! PUNK 57 by Penelope Douglas:

"Quote goes here." - Craves the Angst

TITLE: Punk 57
AUTHOR: Penelope Douglas
AGE GROUP: Coming of Age, NA
GENRE: Romance
RELEASE DATE: October 21, 2016
PUBLISHER: Penelope Douglas LLC
PAGES: Approx. 371

COPY PROVIDED BY: Purchased
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 5 Stars!
CLIFFHANGER: No!

BOOK BLURB:
“We were perfect together. Until we met.”

Misha

I can’t help but smile at the words in her letter. She misses me.

In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.

It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…

And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.

Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.

We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?

Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?

F*ck it. I need to meet her.

I just don’t expect to hate what I find.

Ryen

He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.

Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should’ve gotten his number or picture or something.

He could be gone forever.

Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.

5 “You’re my favorite place.” Stars!

Amazing, sexy and edgy with honest characters and a beautiful story you just can’t put down!

The Review:

Penelope Douglas absolutely, hands down, writes the BEST Coming-of-Age-Romance with a sexy-steamy New Adult/Adult slant. The message is always clear but told in a unique, relevant way and with characters you can’t help but fall ridiculously in love with, flaws and all.

Punk 57 was a captivating story about finding yourself through the pressures of being perfect and realizing that for others to love you, you have to love yourself and be true to yourself first. I ADORED this book!

Story/Characters...

Ryen and Misha were strangers who started writing each other when they were eleven years old for a class assignment, but as their letters grew more personal, they realized they connected strongly with one another. So well after their class assignment ended, they continued to write, revealing secrets, emotions, hopes and dream, talking about their daily lives, debating likes and dislikes, including song lyrics and sharing parts of themselves they didn’t feel confident in sharing with others.

They literally grew up together, but remained separated by anonymity.

Seven years later, they have formed a bond like no other, still sharing their lives solely through penmanship. That is, until Misha sees his Ryen across a crowded room at a scavenger hunt his band is throwing, and realizes not everything is as it seems. And when tragedy strikes that same night, he loses himself so wholly, that not even Ryen’s penetrating letters can reach him.

Ryen was a hard heroine to love, especially in the beginning, but I think that’s because she represented a side of ourselves most of us have unpleasantly displayed at some point, however briefly, in our lives. She was desperate to be acknowledged. She didn’t want to go through life being invisible. She wanted friends and she wanted to be loved. All of us have wanted that in our lives. She just didn’t go about getting it in the best way. She was young and she didn't know herself at all. She didn’t know who she wanted to be, who she could be. She was vulnerable and insecure and she let the world influence her in a way that made her hard and a little cruel. We’ve all done that in some way. The world has shaped us, changed us from who we might have originally been if bullying, jealousy, hatred and fear hadn’t intervened in our lives.

I loved watching Ryen grow. She found the support and encouragement she needed, from Misha, to be her true self. Her inner self was good, honorable and trustworthy. She just had to be brave enough to let her own self shine. And she did. All these things, her flaws AND her beauty, made her a heroine we may not have liked in the beginning but loved in the end. And I did. I loved her character by the end of the book.

And Misha. Oh, complicated, mixed up, grief stricken Misha. This author knows how to write a complex, sometimes broken hero. My heart wept for him. He was someone who knew himself well but lost himself after the pain took over. It was beautiful watching him rediscover who he was and what he truly wanted. He found what was important again and he went after it. Even when Misha was being mean, you could tell where it was coming from and it was never really to be malicious. It was to get a reaction and maybe to also let go of some of those heavy emotions bottling up inside him.

Lashing out. This was one of the significant themes this book had. Every character, in some way, did it and it’s very true to human nature. I loved that ... how REAL this book was.

The Wrap Up:

Punk 57 was angsty, sexy, alluring, intense and just plain fun. It had a lot of heart and a lot of emotion between the pages and it had a fantastic, eye-opening story that I won’t ever let go of. I love this author's work. With her amazing and talented writing, she can bring teen and new adult angst to life for any age reader and we’re right there with her characters, on every page, connecting. And when you’re done with one of her books, you just want to start from the very beginning and experience the ride all over again!

This book ... definitely a must read!