The Awesome

Synopsis:Seventeen-year-old Maggie Cunningham is tough, smart, and sassy. She’s also not like other girls her age, but then, who would be when the family business is monster hunting? Combat boots, ratty hooded sweatshirts, and hair worn short so nothing with claws can get a grip, Maggie’s concerns in life slant more toward survival than fashion or boys. Which presents a problem when Maggie’s mother informs Maggie that she can’t get her journeyman’s license for hunting until she loses her virginity. Something about virgin blood turning vampires into pointy rage monsters. Maggie’s battled ghosts and goblins and her fair share of house brownies, but finding herself a boy – fitting in with her peers – proves a much more daunting task than any monster hunt. Did you know normal girls don’t stuff their bras with holy water balloons or carry wooden stakes in their waistbands? And they care about things like “matching” and “footwear.” Of course, they also can’t clean a gun blindfolded, shoot a crossbow, or exorcise ghosts from a house. Which means they’re lame and Maggie’s not. Because Maggie’s awesome. The Awesome, in fact. Just ask her. She’d be more than happy to tell you. After she finds herself a date…

Summary:

An incredible debut with a fantastic mix of sex, sarcasm and sass combined with cult classics, pop culture and 90’s supernatural cheese mashed into just over 300 pages. Hysterical and at times inappropriate, this book is a fantastically fresh approach to YA fiction.

My thoughts:

This book was indeed awesome in every sense of the word. We have a bad-ass heroine who is actually confident in her abilities and learns from her mistakes when they happen. An incredible voice that not only entertains but reflects the messed up sweary thoughts of awkward and rebellious teens and then some.

A parent figure who is actually present, has a wicked personality and actual supports their child above and beyond what cliche YA parents seem to do.

We have a huge body positive and feminist message at the forefront without being overly obvious, not often seen in the YA genre, as well as a love interest who reciprocates that.

And the holy grail of it all? Bloody damn good world building that was captivating, believable and highly entertaining.

The writing style perfectly reflects the style and themes of the book, matching it quirk for quirk. The jokes may not be to everyone’s taste but they constantly had me chuckling and shaking my head in disbelief.

The characters and their relationships were incredibly well written, touching upon all sorts of different relationships from ‘using awkward toy boy to become a full time hunter’ to ‘oh my freaking god, there’s a vampire toy boy shagging my mom’.

Maggie, our MC, was the fictional encapsulation of my best friend Kay, no doubt about it. She was sassy, sarcastic and just plain bad-ass who didn’t take s*** from anyone. She was fiercely protective of her mother and they were extremely close and incredibly supportive of each other’s wants, needs and ideas in a way that only being best friends with your mom can bring.

Even better? Maggie wasn’t perfect and she knew it. She openly wore her insecurities on her sleeve(often referring to herself as flabby, among other things) and I respect her for that. She almost uses it as armor but in embracing those flaws she’s adopted a ‘don’t care’ attitude making her a more complex character. She was brutally honest with her friends and family when needed and wasn’t afraid to make bold decisions despite the consequences.

Maggie, though openly a social coach potato, respected the friends she did have(for having the patience to hang out with a weirdo like her). She did have her qualms, for example like being envious of their normal lives, her own sort of overshadowed by her mother’s notorious reputation as a hunter but  for the most part, she was grateful that they were there for when times got rough. Which they inevitably did and her friends were total heroes for sticking by her.

The romance was a weird one. Especially since it begins like a rehash of the DUFF, where Maggie is simply using Ian for sex, the point being that she can’t be promoted to a full hunter until she loses her virginity because virgins drive vampires cray cray. But as the ‘act’ progresses, Maggie is suddenly in two minds about the whole thing, and eventually feels guilty for the whole thing. After a few ‘dates’ she slowly gets to known Ian, and realizes she does kinda like this sweetly and awkward guy. It isn’t an in your face ‘I knew I loved him the moment I met him’ romance and it works. Most books nowadays have whirlwind romances that lose all meaning and logical sense but here Eva has created something unique and relatable even to the point that they didn’t go down the emphatic ‘I love you’ route, they simply enjoyed each other’s company in being an ordinary(as ordinary as it could get) cute couple.

I think the most awesome thing about this book had a little bit of everything. Sarcasm, romance, action, supernatural nasty things, kidnapping, killing, gore, vampire politics, government safe houses, zombies, ghouls, hunter organisations.

There. Is. Just. So. Much. Stuff. And it’s incredible that all these crazy amazing things work so ridiculously well together.

Final Word:

An amazing work of YA fiction which certainly sets the benchmark for not only creative narrative but also supporting and encouraging different opinions and themes within the YA genre. Eva Darrows proves that your book doesn’t have to be literary or meaningful or philosophical, it can just be fun, entertaining and quirky. We definitely need more of this!