summer read no. 1: Bombshell by Rowan Maness

started: March 16, 2020

finished: March 17, 2020

first things first! right off the bat I wanna say, this book is DISTURBING. not the supernatural/unearthly/paranormal type nor the uncanny/gruesome/gory type. it’s more like this-shit-is-scary-because-it’s-true type and I never expected any of that going into this book.

“the main character of this book—Joss Wyatt, (stated on the synopsis) is an ordinary teenager living the “ordinary” teenage life in Arizona with a tight-knit group of friends and a potential boyfriend.

but, online, she’s anyone she wants to be—an art restorer, a model, a beauty queen. She has created multiple alternate lives on the internet and for years she has maintained them. but when she starts receiving anonymous messages threatening to reveal her identity to everyone—both in real life and online, her carefully constructed worlds begin to unravel.”

(mild spoilers ahead) this book deals with a handful of problematic issues; drugs, sex, a teacher-student relationship, mental health, lies, lies, and lies. in a way, it’s understandable that a lot of people don’t like this book and i see why, but personally, this book is actually pretty decent. many also commented on how “juvenile” the writing is but i think the author actually did pretty well in writing about a 16-year-old girl while she’s a married woman.

this book has a complex writing style but as the story progresses, you’d understand why the author wrote each and every line. it’s pretty hard to get through some scenes of this book for me because as i said in the beginning, it is pretty disturbing. our main character faces hallucinations and often has trouble distinguishing reality from a fantasy and every detail of what she goes through is pretty rough (and quite bizarre).

the character development on the other hand is pretty underwhelming AT FIRST. we only see these aspects towards the very end of the book. personally, I would’ve loved to see Joss learn from everything she’s done but then again, as the story progresses, you’d come to understand why she did this and why this happened.

overall, I’d say this book is a 3.5 out of 5 stars. i got the ending i wanted, it didn’t seem forced, issues were resolved, Joss got what she deserved, the element of surprise (err the plot twist) was there and was unexpected, BUT she didn’t get the proper medication she OBVIOUSLY needed because, as i said, she was having hallucinations and was also showing signs of OCD plus I don’t think lying and lying and lying and feeling satisfied of hurting someone and their feelings is normal, especially how Joss does it. still was a fun read tho! even if the coyote on 2 legs creeped me out, if you’re looking for something different, out there, and have something you can be annoyed at (lol), I recommend this book.

March 19, 2020