Title: Super Me
Author: Jessica Dazzo
Genre: YA Contemporary Paranormal
Book Blurb:
What does it mean when your mind goes rogue and starts making stuff up? For example, if you were to hear the radio talk to you—say your name and tell you to do something... that couldn’t be a good sign, right? Or when everyone keeps saying your ex-crush’s name in random conversation when you’re just really trying to get over the jerk because he’s actually terrible? Not good.
Seventeen-year-old Faye Aldright has never quite fit in, but when she starts hearing and seeing things all wrong, it makes life so much harder. Faye knows she’s the cause of all of the intense, awkward, and sometimes explosive misunderstandings with her mom, best friend, and the new boy who she definitely hates. She knows it’s all in her mind and that for some reason, it’s turned against her. It’s trying to ruin her life. She just has to figure out how to fight the crazy in order to get her life back on track--in order to find out what’s really going on in her little town, because something supernatural is definitely going on.
But how do you fight your mind? And what kind of person has their own mind as their nemesis?
Editorial Reviews:
Jack Magnus Readers Favorite Review:
★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars
Super Me: Super Series, Book One is a paranormal coming of age novel for young and new adults written by Jessica Dazzo. She wasn't going to have to take the bus to school that morning -- or ever again, Faye realized with delight, and still some disbelief, as she made sure her mom wasn't home, and she turned the key of her "new" old car. It was not the fanciest or sweetest looking car out there; there were even rust spots, dents and dings adorning it, but it was hers. She had bought it through saving bits of cash here and there from her job at the supermarket. Faye's mom had her when she was only sixteen years old, and she had lost the support of her family because of her pregnancy. Brooke now seemed determined to live her life to the fullest and make Faye bear the brunt of what she had had to go through as a teen. Faye had become the adult in the relationship, and even though it was her seventeenth birthday, she seemed to have lost her joie de vivre, if indeed she had ever had it. She was determined to enjoy her seventeenth birthday, however, and even decided to start off the day with a special coffee treat at her favorite coffee house. But from then on, the day only got worse.
Jessica Dazzo's paranormal coming of age novel, Super Me, grabbed me with that first incomparably heart-breaking episode in the coffee house and didn't let go until I finished the last page of the book. Faye is a grand character, Dickensian at times, and so very resilient in the face of everything that happens to her. I couldn't help but feel even more for this girl, who had had her childhood and teen years stripped away by a selfish mother, when she begins to hear things that no one else does; things that make life even more awkward for her than it already is. Dazzo's plot is creative and original, and her characters are credible and alive. I was quite pleased to discover that this is the first book in an ongoing series and am looking forward to reading more about this intriguing and original character. Super Me: Super Series, Book One is most highly recommended.
Award-Winning British Author K.J. Simmill Readers Favorite Review:
★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars
Faye had never felt like an ordinary teenager, but on her seventeenth birthday she began to feel even more like an outcast. All her life she had worked, scrimped and saved every penny after paying the bills and buying the groceries for her and her mother. She never went out, bought new boots, or had much fun, all so she could buy herself a car and no longer had to take the bus to school and work. The day finally came to use it, and it was that day everything started. Humiliated by the actions of her brave new self she speeds away, destroys the car, but more concerning, she's now seeing and hearing things that just aren't there. Then there's the string of obsessive boyfriends around her mother and her own confusion about the new people entering her life. Faye is a teenager all right, but she is about to discover she is so much more.
Super Me by Jessica Dazzo is probably best classed as a paranormal/horror story. Faye is a stubborn, determined character with the emotional ups and downs expected from the average teenager. Drama, questions, suspense, and a touch of the paranormal come together to form a young adult read that will keep you turning page after page until you get the answers you seek. Why is Faye seeing and hearing these things, what secret is Lucan guarding, and why is she having a recurring nightmare?
With a cast of believable characters, settings, and happenings, you'll be sure to enjoy watching events unfold. As the first book in the series, it offers enough intrigue to tempt readers into picking up the next book when it is available.
Reviewed By Francine Zane for Readers' Favorite:
★★★★
4 out of 5 stars
Super Me by Jessica Dazzo is the first book of the Super Series. In it we meet Faye, just the average teenage girl lost in a sea of students who always seem prettier, smarter, wealthier. The product of a single-parent home, Faye works hard to help her mother pay the bills, and what little money she has left, she has saved for a car. Her dreams are cut short when she totals her car. How she managed to escape unharmed is the first clue of many that the unremarkable Faye may be more special than anyone ever imagined. In Super Me, Jessica Dazzo weaves a suspense-filled thread of paranormal intrigue through a quite enjoyable contemporary young adult story. Faye's struggle to balance home life with a job, school, and friends is something that both adults and teens can relate with. Her weirdly budding romance with the new kid in town challenges her to step out of her comfort zone and open up to the promise of a better tomorrow.
I especially liked Faye's relationship with her mother, and how in many ways Faye is more mature and responsible than her caregiver. And whether she realizes it or not, she has the power to effect change. Her journey to self-discovery is pitted with the same mundane misunderstandings of jealousy, humiliation, and reality checks that all high schoolers must face, although the outcome is far more extraordinary. Dazzo has created memorable characters and twisted identifiable drama and angst into a dynamite paranormal novel that is a true pleasure to read.
Buy Links: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FBKGG4H
Author Biography:
Jessica Dazzo is the author of the young adult novels in A Super Series. Book one, Super Me, is now available on Amazon.
A recovering perfectionist and mother of two, she writes during nap time and sometimes at coffee shops. She loves to cook and has an insatiable appetite for recipe collecting. When she's not writing or in the kitchen, she can be found reading with her girls, starting a crafting project she probably won't finish, playing a board game with her husband, or gazing at the Colorado clouds.
She believes in the power of words and has been writing stories, imagining characters, and creating worlds with words since she was a little girl and never stopped. There are always many more stories in the works.
Jessica lives in Longmont, Colorado with her always supportive husband, their two wonderful daughters, and a couple of naughty kitties.
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