Author’s Spotlight is a recurring feature on The Nerd Daily in which authors are highlighted that might not make it on your radar considering how many amazing novels are published each year!
First things first: There is a plethora of outstanding young adult novels available, yet sometimes it can be tough to find the gems amidst all the rocks. Such a gem I found last year is Jenn Bennett!
If you’re a fan of Morgan Matson, Kasie West, or Jenny Han, Jenn Bennett’s heartfelt contemporaries will become your new holy grail.
Bennett’s female leads are the kind of role models YA needs – strong, independent, smart, and above all, relatable. They pursue out-of-the-box futures, for example Beatrix Adams from Anatomical Shape of a Heart wants to be the next Leonardo Da Vinci of medical illustrations, meaning she spends her night secretly studying cadavers in a morgue. They get roped into anonymous hate-love relationships reminiscent of You’ve Got Mail. They also spend their summer camping with their frenemy who turns out to be quite the hiking expert (though he looks like Edward Cullen during the punk phase he surely had). Whatever Bennett throws in her contemporaries, it is a far cry from ordinary.
Each story brings with it memorable quirks that burrow themselves into your mind – lesbian mothers who own a sex shop, a protagonist who secretly begs doctors to let her inside the morgue to improve on sketching organs realistically, someone who works at a swanky museum only to be stuck in a hot box for the entire summer like a zoo animal, or a guy who tags buildings with extraordinary graffiti in order to make someone special to him smile.
Also, if you’re for the enemies-to-lovers trope, let me introduce to you to her novel Starry Eyes that goes from friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers in one single book! You might end up getting whiplash from all the emotions warring within this protagonist.
Bennett knows how to strike the perfect balance between fun, lighthearted romance and addressing serious issues such as grief, anxiety, and loss. Deep, resonating scenes are paired with laugh-out-loud, slap-your-knees moments. Bennett’s writing is easily accessible but no less engaging for that feature, in fact, her open and sarcastic writing style draws in the reader from the very first page.
A lovely bonus point of Bennett’s novels is that they all tie back together to one theme: hope. Whether that is the hope for a new, real kind of love, for a future in which you can decide where to go and who to be, or the simple hope of surviving even when faced with the worst – these protagonists learn to rely on themselves first, others second. It’s an empowering message, never didactic but always encouraging.
A personal favourite and the one I recommend starting your experience of this amazing author with, is Starry Eyes. Following Zorie, a girl who likes to plan everything and be in control of every aspect of a situation, is thrown into the wilderness (quite literally) on a camping trip with her friends – and the guy she used to spend every minute with until Lennon cut her out of his life without giving her a reason. When they get left behind by their friends and suddenly only have each other for company, old secrets and repressed feelings surface – all while they have to find their way back to reality. With a touch of the star-crossed lovers trope and some witty, biting jabs, this story burrows itself into your hearts.
Jenn Bennett’s new novel Serious Moonlight is set to release on April 16th. Jenn Bennett’s books are available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
