#jennbennet

by Jenn Bennet

Four Stars★★★★☆

Age group/genre: young adult, contemporary

Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

Setting: San Francisco, USA

pages: 272

Edition: paperback

Synopsis:

Beatrix Adams is a bit of a misfit, with dreams of becoming a medical illustrator in an extremely competitive field, so is trying to spend the summer drawing dead bodies at her local university. However after trying to sneak her way into the hospitals Willed Body program she misses the last train home and ends up on the dreaded night bus, called the Owl, where she meets Jack, an infamous graffiti artist. The story starts from there, following the pair on adventures across San Francisco- from midnight buses to city rooftops, where there relationship begins to bloom. However Jack has a family secret, that may have the power to tear the pair apart.

What I thought:

I LOVED this book, it was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. It had a funny and quirky main character, it had family relationships, it portrayed sex in a real light, it felt as if the art world was bursting from the pages and it really did a good job at incorporating the San Francisco setting into the book, which was just brilliant. Honestly I loved pretty much everything about this book.

The main character Beatrix (or Bex) was funny, strange and very lovable, I enjoyed her lively, out going character. Beatrix spent a lot of the novel navigating life with her family, from messy relations with her Dad, to her friendship with her elder brother and learning to be truthful and honest to your Mother while trying to balance experiencing life yourself even if it involves occasionally breaking the rules (something I can totally relate to!). I thought the family relationships explored within this book made the book have really strong foundations and made it very realistic. My favourite bit about Bex was seeing her grow throughout the novel into this independent young adult, it was absolutely lovely to see.

As for the love interest in this book, Jack, I really enjoyed his character. At first honestly I wasn’t quite sure on Jack however throughout the novel I did feel, just like Beatrix, that he very much developed as a character and matured. Jack also bought his own dimensions to the book, with a troubled home life and a close guarded secret, which made the book not only more thought provoking but also interesting. Both Bex and Jack came from very different backgrounds, while Bex goes to the local inner city school- Jack went to a private school and belonged to a very affluent family. I enjoyed that for Bex and Jack that their slightly different backgrounds made no difference to their relationship whatsoever.

I loved the mix of art within this book, it made me feel as if the pages were bursting with colours, it was just so explosive. I felt as if the whole tone of this book had this really warm element to it, made only more interesting by the skilfully woven family relationships in this book. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a well written young adult read, or anyone with a thirst for contemporary fiction.

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