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    Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
    Unavailable
    Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
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    Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
    Ebook284 pages3 hours

    Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)

    By Laurie Boyle Crompton

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines.

    All she wants is for Mark the Soccer Stud to notice her. Not as Josh's weird sister who drives a turd-brown minivan. And not as that nerdy girl who draws comics.

    What she gets is her very own arch-nemesis.

    Name: Mark Deninger, aka Mark the Shark

    Occupation: Soccer star and all-around lady killer

    Relationship Status: Serial dater

    Group Affiliation: No loyalty

    Known Superpowers: Anti-girlfriend force field, breaking hearts

    Mark may have humiliated Blaze supervillian-style, but what he doesn't know is how geek girls always get revenge.

    #GeekGrlzRevenge

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateFeb 1, 2013
    ISBN9781402273445
    Unavailable
    Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
    Author

    Laurie Boyle Crompton

    Laurie Boyle Crompton is the author of several YA books, including Pretty in Punxsutawney, Adrenaline Crush and Love and Vandalism. Laurie graduated first in her class from St. John’s University with a BA in English and Journalism. She has written for national magazines like Allure, survived a teaching stint at an all-boy’s high school, and appeared on Good Day New York several times as a toy expert. And yes, “toy expert” is an actual profession. She grew up in a small town in western PA and now lives near NYC with her family and three fuzzy “dog toy experts."  

    Read more from Laurie Boyle Crompton

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    Reviews for Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)

    4/5

    31 ratings8 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      When I saw the cover of this book and read the synopsis, I just knew I had to read this book. Blaze is a 17-year-old girl who is a senior in high school. She loves comic books and knows everything about them, even creating one of her own. Her love for comics was something she got from her dad, who was an avid vintage comic book collector. Even her name, "Blaze," was after the comic book character Johnny Blaze from Ghost Rider. When her dad dropped out of the picture to pursue an acting career, Blaze stepped up to help her mom as much as she could, now finding herself as a "surrogate soccer mom" to her little brother Josh and his friends. She doesn't mind this at all though, because she is totally crushing on the soccer coach, Mark, who is also a senior in high school. When Mark finally begins to pay attention to Blaze and asks her out, she is elated. Two dates later, and after her friend sends a snapshot of her to Mark, she finds herself in the backseat of "superturd" in a situation that is quickly getting out of hand. Desperate to have Mark as her boyfriend, she and her friends plot and implement a plan to get him back after he begins to ignore her, but Blaze soon finds that she has been played by the player. It is at this time that Blaze, AKA The Blazing Goddess, covertly begins to execute her geek girl revenge on Mark, AKA Mark the Shark. In the meantime, she has started working at the comic book store in the mall with Quentin, who she really likes and has a lot in common with. He loves her comic book, encourages her, and helps her to promote it. Soon the comic has gone viral, and needless to say, Mark the Shark is not a happy camper. When he retaliates, Mark the Shark lives up to his supervillian name and Blaze soon finds herself hated, bullied, and made fun of, now in a place that even The Blazing Goddess can't save her from. I really loved Blaze. I found her to be hilarious and snarky, and the things she was thinking were often funnier than the things that she said. She made some big mistakes, and paid a big price for them, but I really admired her for the way she loved her little brother Josh and did things for him. Josh was a pretty cool kid himself, and despite his age of 13, he also fiercely defended his sister, especially where Mark was concerned. Mark was a hottie, but also a manwhore, and totally filled the shoes of his comic book character "Mark the Shark." I was glad to see that he apologized to Blaze after things happened, unfortunately, it was too little too late and he still reigned in his kingdom of jerkdom. Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillians) was such a fun read, and as entertaining as it is, Laurie Boyle Crompton also addressed some really serious issues, such as cyber bullying, its ramifications and subsequent consequences, and how easily people believe the lies they are fed over the internet, lies which leave the life of the person being lied about in shambles. She also did an excellent job of portraying what a true friend really is, and I quote Quentin, who stood behind Blaze, even after she confessed everything to him......."Haven't you ever heard the line, 'Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds disucss people'?......."Blaze, don't let a bunch of small minds make you question who you are." Well said and excellently done Laurie Crompton. Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillians) is a hilariously fun read that also addresses some serious issues and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it. A few more of my favorite quotes: Mark seems to have some unnamable quality that tunes my whole body to a higher frequency. Like Peter Parker's Spidey Sense, except with a whole different sort of tingling. What can I say? That boy just does it for me. I quickly spot Mark, and everything else fades into the background. He strides easily across the field with a net sack filled with yellow soccer balls slung over one shoulder. I focus on the one bouncing playfully against his butt. Man, how I'd love to be that soccer ball. Walking across the grass toward the soccer field's rusty bleachers, I feel as if the whole world can tell that my jeans are riding uncomfortably up my crotch. There's seriously no way to unobtrusively remove a vagina wedgie. I take a few bowlegged steps before accepting the fact that I'm in for a rough evening, crotchwise.
    • 5/5
      Blaze’s life is pretty ho-hum. She spends most of her free time bussing her little brother and his friends back and forth to soccer practice and games in her brown minivan she’s lovingly named “Superturd”. She has a couple of friends, and goes through the motions at school as someone nobody pays much attention to — not even Mark, a fellow classmate, the coach of her brother’s soccer team and the guy Blaze has a mad crush on. The one thing Blaze is passionate about is comic books. She’s a Marvel girl and knows them backward and forward. She even has her own character, The Blazing Goddess, that she draws during her down time.When Mark asks for a ride after one of the soccer games, Blaze finally gets the chance to spend some time with him, and when he asks her out, she is over the moon. But after Blaze gives up her V-card, the Superman of her dreams turns into more of a Super-douche. What’s a girl to do? Write a comic about his skeezie ways and distribute it online and around school of course. But when the revenge plan backfires, Blaze finds herself wishing she could go back to being the invisible girl she once was.This is a contemporary novel, and takes place in a small Pennsylvania town that could really be anywhere. It feels familiar and relatable. The small-town vibe works really well with Blaze’s desire to be something bigger. It’s also a nice contrast to Blaze’s larger than life, comic-inspired voice.I loved Blaze. She was funny, a non-conformer, a bit self-deprecating and had a huge heart. I was 100% invested in her and her story. She grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. I also liked that each of the characters (and there were a lot of them) were distinct and served a purpose. Josh, Blaze’s little brother, and his friends, were your typical, rowdy, horny fourteen-year-olds. Teri and Amanda, Blaze’s friends each had their own personality and role in the story that helped define Blaze. Mark, the douche of the decade, was especially charming and hot in the beginning, but you know he’s up to no good.Ms. Crompton’s writing is excellent. She captured Blaze’s voice perfectly and I love how she infused it with lots of comic book inspired lingo. It was totally authentic. She definitely has a unique style, and I loved it. The ARC I read was an electronic version and I noticed several grey boxes that obviously were meant to hold something. About halfway through the book, I knew I loved it enough that I wanted my own copy, so I ordered one. When I got it, I was pleased to see that those holding boxes were placeholders for comic art. The art is fantastic and adds an even deeper layer to the story.The only thing that I struggled with was the amount of bullying Blaze receives after her revenge plan goes wrong. I’ve seen something similar happen before, but it didn’t end up quite as bad as it did with Blaze. In the book, it seems that pretty much everyone — even people she’d never met — were suddenly hating on her in extreme ways. I just didn’t feel like it would have gone THAT far.Fresh, funny and a great read, Blaze is the perfect book for contemporary fans. It’s well-balanced with plenty of humor, heartache and romance to please everyone. Even if you’re not a comic book geek, you’ll get a kick out of this one. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      Okay, no doubt about it, you must read this if you enjoy contemporary coming of age stories. It's humorous, uplifting, heartbreaking and triumphant all in the same book. Blaze is a girl that has had to grow up faster than the rest of her friends with the disappearance of her father to NYC to pursue his acting career. Being left to be the only breadwinner, Blaze's mother works as a physician's assistant in the ER and Blaze becomes the soccer mom and all around errand runner, chauffeur to her brother Josh's friends and chief cook of burned casseroles. It's no wonder when Mark, cute soccer coach of Josh's team shows some interest, Blaze dreams of a life of her own, one that doesn't involve prepubescent boys and Superturd, her brown mini van. But, when she gets a little taste of the life, she finds she might be in over her head.As Blaze's life spins out of control, she finds herself turning more to her comics and creating The Blazing Goddess vs. Mark the Shark, to get her revenge against Mark. Her brother tried to warn her but...Here is what I love about this book, besides the fabulous plot. Blaze does not care that she has to haul around four 13 yr old boys who are alternately obsessed with her boobs, farting, food and Nintendo. She is protective of them, as much as any mother would be and they play goofy games like Cows in the car. In return, the boys are just as protective of her, especially her brother, Josh. Mom is a bit absent- she's lost her husband to his dreams, thinking he would come back after only a few months. Instead it's been years and life has been hard on her. But she doesn't realize the toll it's taken on Blaze. Until she finds out the mess Blaze is in and realizes she has been more than relying on Blaze. But its not just Mom, Dad's mother MeMa bashes him every chance she gets and whenever they visit it's like a slamfest on her Dad, something Blaze just can't take because she still sees the fun dad, the good times, the guy in the family portrait before things fell apart.It takes a unplanned trip to comic con, four well meaning 13 yr olds and two caring truckers to help Blaze see her way out of the mess she's in and see her father for what he really is, a poor excuse for a dad. I absolutely love the relationship between brother and sister, how she seems to be taking care of him and then all of a sudden he seems wiser than her. I love his friends much more than hers. And mom, who for all her faults, loves her kids and is just stuck. Blaze definitely grows up in this novel for mature readers and shares her wit and knowledge about comics with us as she does.Thanks to Sourcebooks for the review copy (E-ARC) through NerGalley. This in no way influenced my review nor was I compensated for my review.
    • 5/5
      Simple, yet riveting, Blaze should be on everyone's to-be-read piles and wishlists! Laurie Boyle Crompton has written an amazing debut full of teen angst, girl-power and geek fandom!Blaze is a 17-year-old comic-book-geek girly-girl who is smart, snark-y and has a huge heart. Her father has taken off to NYC to pursue his acting career which has left her mother a bit bitter and overworked, so Blaze has had to step-up, pitch-in and play "soccer mom" to her 13-year-old brother and his friends. Since most of her free time is taken up by her brother's soccer practices and games, she spends the time reading her comic books, working on her own comic book stories starring Blazing Goddess, her alter-ego, and dreaming about Mark the soccer coach. And then one day, Mark acknowledges Blaze's existence and Blaze's crush soars into space and she is determined to do whatever it takes to make Mark her boyfriend. While out shopping one day with her friends, Blaze is trying to get their advice as to what she should do to get Mark to realize that she is the one he wants as his girlfriend; in the spur of the moment, her bestie snaps an unforgettable cell phone picture and sends it off to Mark. Of course she has his attention now.... And then she learns, that being super-geeky-boring girl wasn't so bad after all. Well, this book brought back all kinds of high school memories. Although, thank goodness, I never went through any of the bad stuff that Blaze had to endure, I do remember what it was like to have a crush and feel like it would be the end of the world if I couldn't make him mine. Even in my old age now, it is an indescribable feeling to have such a strong need to want someone to like you back as much as you think you like them. You barely know the person, personally. Yes, you see what he likes/dislikes in school, know his schedule by heart, who he's friends with, etc. But you don't really know his personality, what he's like at home, his family, etc. But for some odd reason, you just don't care. He's cute, you like him and no one can convince you otherwise. The things that some girls will go through to prove that they are worthy of a boys attention is heartbreaking. I love Laurie's writing style; Blazes personality shines through - I felt her loneliness, anger, hurt, snark. I loved every single time she geeked-out about comic books and that she used her talent to release her feelings. I adored the way she and her brother, Josh, cared and took care of each other - the relationship that they both had with Josh's friends was amazing and so genuine. I loved how they kidded around with each other, but mostly, how these group of boys looked up to Blaze like she was their big sister too.Plus, all of the comic book mentions (Blaze is a hardcore Marvel fan!) were so fitting and perfect! The ARC did not have any of the illustrations, so I'm sure that with the artwork included this book would easily become a 5-star rating for me.A definite must read for all booknerds, geeks, comic book hero fans and more! Can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy!
    • 4/5
      her gang of thirteen year old superhereos are just adorable, loved the drawings throughout, well written, timely, thoughtful, this is for teens but adults should read it to understand how quickly and how far one mistake can be used to bully a kid in this digital time and just for the heartfelt connections and quirky characters, also love the cover
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing!!!! I was so disappointed when it ended! I hope she writes a second novel to Blaze! I loved the drawings. This could be a great series!!!!!!
    • 3/5
      Review to come. I gotta think about it and weigh my pros and cons. I do NOT think this is a good book for younger teens. It was cute. There are some dead on teenage angst and interactions. But I can't quite figure out my reaction to the book.

      ********************

      Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillans) by Laurie Boyle Crompton
      Publisher: Harlequin Teen
      Publishing Date: February 1, 2013
      Length: 309 pages
      Editions: Paperback, kindle
      Genre: YA contemporary, coming of age
      Source: Edelweiss

      Synopsis: -Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines.

      All she wants is for Mark the Soccer Stud to notice her. Not as Josh's weird sister who drives a turd-brown minivan. And not as that nerdy girl who draws comics.

      What she gets is her very own arch-nemesis.

      Name: Mark Deninger, aka Mark the Shark
      Occupation: Soccer star and all-around lady killer
      Relationship Status: Serial dater
      Group Affiliation: No loyalty
      Known Superpowers: Anti-girlfriend force field, breaking hearts

      Mark may have humiliated Blaze supervillian-style, but what he doesn't know is how geek girls always get revenge.

      #GeekGrlzRevenge

      -from Amazon.com

      Review:
      I've been eyeing this book for a while and wanted to read it. The cover is cute and I'm a fan of people who aren't afraid to be themselves.


      I liked it. Didn’t LOVE it, but I liked it. I didn’t love it because Blaze pissed me off with her incredibly STUPID actions, which I didn’t expect of her from the beginning. She was instantly likeable in the beginning.

      I think this book is for more mature teen readers, say in the 15 age range. It isn’t that it’s sexually explicit, but there are themes here that can be better discussed with those in that age group. There is a lot I liked and didn’t like about the book. I do not want to spoil it for the reader so excuse me if this comes out a tad cryptic.

      Really liked Blaze in the beginning. She is witty and smart and I found her inner dialogue and fluttering over her crush cute. I like the games she creates to play with her band of Soccer Cretins as she ferries them from games and practices. I like that she seemed pretty self-assured and geeky about her comic books. But then…things took a turn for worse.


      I did NOT like her and her friends slut-shaming and gossiping but I understand that it is the nature of the beast that is TEENAGER. I didn’t like her friends, and while she explains why she is friends with them, I was sneering in disgust. You have spoiled rich brat who tries to move in on the person you like. You have one who constantly asks to have, not borrow, but HAVE your stuff. And then the rich jerk friend sends a sext to her crush which catapults Blaze into unsafe sex before being dropped. And neither of her CLOSEST friends are apologetic in the least. Blaze, sweetie, dearie, honey – get some new friends or go it alone. Seriously. And the bad decisions rolled on from there. Sigh.

      I did want more interaction with Quentin and I think my favorite character is Blaze’s younger brother, who is much more savvy and wise and socially apt than his older sister.

      The book had cute little comic drawings at the end of chapters, reflecting what just happened, and seeing as how Blaze is a comic-geek, I thought this was adorable.

      Some of the transitions seemed a little too short and choppy to me, but I cannot imagine it any other way as it fits what today’s techno society is like, right down to the text speak in Instant Messages despite having a full keyboard at the user’s disposal.

      Some good themes here for teenagers – sexting can make your life hell so don’t do it, unsafe sex is bad (but really, not just pregnancy scare…Mark the Shark is a MANWHORE. She could’ve contracted a STD!), sometimes unfortunately your parent is a self-absorbed poopnose, don’t be a bully including slut-shaming especially when you don’t know the whole story, and even the most devoted clingy loser can turn into your worst enemy just to look cool.
    • 3/5
      I picked up Blaze (Or Love in the Time of Supervillains) because I loved the title and concept. While I felt that there were some definite rough parts of Crompton's debut, I can't say it wasn't unique.My favorite aspect of the novel is the close relationship between Blaze and little brother (and only sibling). The two are extremely close and, though he's younger, Blaze's brother is very protective of her. Their relationship felt realistic and reminded me of my own relationship with my little brother. Blaze's insistence that her crush, Mark, is actually a good guy and that he is genuinely interested in her felt realistic most of the time, but sometime it pushed into less unbelievable territory. Still, I have to consider the fact that, after an individual has convinced themselves of certain things, it can be hard to change perception or admit being mistaken. So I think this played into Blaze's letting things go so far with Mark (or Sleazeball as I like to call him). Throughout the novel, Blaze alternates between embracing her role as "soccer mom," driving her little brother and his friends to soccer and whatnot, and being very bitter towards her adopted role and her single mother who works long hours at the hospital. Blaze romanticizes her absent father, who left the family years before to pursue an acting career in New York City, and often paints him as the hero to her mother's villainy. I know that this may be a typical adolescent point-of-view and reaction to the situation at hand, but, after Blaze realized her father wasn't all she had made him into, I would have really liked to see her apologize to her mother! Or have some type of moment with her. I also found the "guy" humor in the novel to be a bit jarring. I don't consider myself a prude or anything, and I know that teenage boys are smelly and whatnot, but discussion of those smells and all that has never been very amusing to me and for some reason, still doesn't seem like something people should talk about aloud. It doesn't offend me or anything, I just avoid it, but it's unavoidable in Blaze. Maybe I'm just weird and nobody else would be thrown off by this, but it was kind of distracting for me.In comparison, I loved the comic book elements and talk Blaze often slips in and out of or makes reference to. The illustrations within the text are all amazing and were a positive addition to the text. They definitely allowed me to connect more closely with Blaze, who I was feeling some distance to because of the previously mentioned "guy" humor.Lastly, at the end of the book, Blaze's brother and his friends decide to slash Mark's tires. WHAT!? Again, maybe it's just me, but this did not seem like acceptable retaliation or like something Blaze should congratulate them on doing... Maybe this is something kids do these days? As someone who had to replace a tire this week (not even all four tires) and who wanted to cry as I paid the bill, I couldn't help but feel this was over the top and unnecessarily cruel because, in the end, Sleazeball's parents are going to pay that bill. Plus, helloooo, destroying property is not cool. Overall, Blaze (Or Love in the Time of Supervillains) was pretty good, but there were some negative aspects that definitely detracted from my enjoyment. I do, however, think my issues were entirely personal in nature and the next person to pick up the novel may not be fazed at all! Unless you really connected with something in my review that you think you'd find distracting, I recommend giving this debut a try! Don't forget to check out my interview with the author, Laurie Boyle Crompton, here!