Genre: 

Young Adult, shop Contemporary

Pages: 

336 pages

Part of a Series?:

Standalone

Release Date: 

April 5th, 2016

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

iBooks

Author Website

GoodReads Summary: 

Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can’t quite seem to catch a break. It’s not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells “Prom” in sparklers on her lawn…and nearly burns down her house.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank’s dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him—and his “work.” The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.

My Review:

I absolutely loved Robin’s debut release and I am so grateful for the Ontario TBF for introducing me, yet again, to awesome authors. I’m afraid I would have never picked up Robin’s book if I hadn’t met the lovely lady herself at TBF.

Moving on, I think Robin wrote an absolutely compelling debut novel. From page one to the very last, I was completely hooked. I think, lately, there has been a sort of repetitive nature to contemporary YA and I’ve really strayed from it because I feel like I’m reading the same stories over and over again, and that the trope of the manic pixie dream girl is starting to just drive me absolutely nuts. It was so refreshing and perfect to have a unique story with two equally awesome characters. It was great to read a story where I really wasn’t sure at all where we’d end up at the last page and I love a story that can surprise me and keep me hooked the entire story. Robin has a fresh voice and a fresh story and this is what will keep readers coming back for more.

I also will say that I laughed so much in this book. There are moments of seriousness for sure, but the voices of Hank and Peyton felt like best friends and they both had moments that had me literally laughing out loud, not just an lol ;) These two are just fantastic and Peyton’s character alone is what kept me addicted to this book from beginning to end.

I think that Robin writes a fantastic debut novel that has all the wonderful things that comes in a really great contemporary YA novel. She makes me laugh, she makes me think, she makes me wonder what is going to happen next, she makes me remember high school, she makes me remember my bad days and how I pushed through them, she makes me remember the first time I fell in love and it felt like the most overwhelming, encompassing feeling in the world. I think that a book that can make you feel all of that is something that you should pay attention to. :)

Rating: 

4 out of 5 stars