Punk 57

March 2nd, 2025 Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cry: 😭😭 Spice: 🍆🍆

"We are all ugly, Ryen. The difference is, some hide it and some wear it."

"She can be a nightmare, but it still feels better than any dream."

"I'm going to hell, I'm pretty sure she's going to drag me there herself."

"We were perfect for each other, until we met."

"Misha, my best friend who got into my bed and fucked me with a lie."

Let me tell you what readers, I am on a Penelope Douglas High right now. To me, this wonderful woman can do no wrong. I don't understand the other readers out there that bitch and complain about her books? She fuckin fantastic. This book is so fuckin good, and I love that it had tie ins with another series of hers as well. So, let's get into this 4-star read, shall we?!

Misha, and Ryen have been pen pals since they were like 8. It was a case of mistaken identity. Misha's teacher that Ryen was a boy and Ryen's teacher thought Misha was a girl and so they paired them up as pen pals. The pen pal thing was only supposed to last a year but because Ryen and Misha became best friends, they just kept writing each other. You know the phrase, " They sound too good to be true?" Welcome to a whole ass book of nothing but the explanation of this phrase, literally.

Penelope really reaches the dynamic of friends and what that actually means. She approaches some hard-hitting topics, such as bullying, and being scared to be accept yourself, and others for who they are. And she really nails the social dynamics in high school and how everything and everyone is split into cliques, and the non-existent budging room to be yourself, or letting others be themselves. 

Misha thinks that Ryen is the perfect girl for him, it is very obvious that he is in love with her, even if he is not willing to admit it to himself. (The reader always has a sixth sense about these things.) He keeps her letters. He has favorite letters from her that he keeps on his person. He's told Ryen everything about him, the fact that he struggles in his house daily and doesn't have the greatest relationship with his father, and that his sister is the golden girl, who is everything to his dad and him. He told Ryen that he has pushed people away since his mother left them, and how her leaving has affected both him and his sister Annie. Annie deals with the abandonment by being the very best at everything literally. This girl is unstoppable at school she has the perfect grade point average; she excels in sports and various other school activities and she's the very best at home. Always cleaning up the house, doing the laundry and making sure the house has groceries. And on top of that she runs. Annie is the very best at everything, and it is very obvious that she adores her brother just as much as Misha adores Annie.

 Anyway, back to Misha, but keep the stuff I said about Annie in sight it is very important to the story. 

Misha thinks of himself as the black sheep. Where he doesn't actually rebel, he still gets good marks in school and adores his sister and helps around the house and has formed a band with his friends, the only thing he feels is off is himself. Misha believes that he doesn't fit into his family, and sometimes he writes to Ryen and tells her that he feels like his mother ran off and left because of him (that couldn't be farther from the truth.)  The story really starts with Misha opening a letter from Ryen in his truck, as he reads, he's also writing lyrics. Misha often states that Ryen is his muse. The only thing that is weird about Ryen and Misha is that them being pen pals, they only live about 40 miles apart, they promise to keep writing letters, but per Ryen's request she doesn't want to meet in RL because she says that will kill the magic.

 Now I often find a character that I do not like no matter if there is a redeeming arch for them or not and my least favorite character is Ryen. I know she's like the other half of this book but Jesus Christopher! (Compliments to my 12-year-old for the phrase) She is the biggest fake bitch I can think of. And I'm talking about the Ryen that Misha gets to meet, not the Ryen that Misha knows from the letters. Two very distinct people.

 Misha stops writing letters to Ryen. Its been 3 weeks and Ryen hasn't heard anything from Misha, which for her it's nothing new, Misha is known to go off the grid every once in a while. So she keeps writing letters to Misha. Meanwhile we find ourselves transported to Ryen's town and her life. We get to see that Misha is exactly like how he portrays himself in the letters, but Ryen, I told you guys that I didn't like her!! First of all, in her letters she portrays herself as some nerdy girl ok, like she knows Chewbacca's home planet nerdy (Which if anyone was wondering, Chewies home planet is Kashyyyk, yeah, I AM A NERD). And in one of the many letters, she tells Misha that she wishes she could be the cheerleader, but everyone hates the cheerleader, GIRL YOU ARE THE CHEERLEADER, WTF?! She is head cheerleader, and she is the biggest bitch in her school, she doesn't stand up for anyone, she only cares about herself and her looks, she is just a very vapid and cruel individual.

 This book is just a very good depiction of be who want to be or be yourself. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll get mad as hell, you'll get annoyed, and you will absolutely fall in love with both Misha and Masen.

(Ahhh left you on a cliff hanger! WHAT?! Lol)