Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she’s spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Da Vinci’s footsteps, she’s ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.
Jack is charming, wildly attractive, and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is — and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in her family’s closet tear them apart?
I bought this book in January when I went to Scotland, it has been sitting on my shelf since then, but this is the month where I read all the books (that had been on my shelf for awhile), so I picked it up and OH MY GOD!!! THIS BOOK IS SO DAMN CUTE!
This is so totally adorable! First of all, let me talk about the title. The original title is Night Owls, which is a reference to the bus where Bex and Jack meet, while the US title is The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, which has a lot more to do with the story! But I’m in love with the original UK/Australian cover, so honestly… who cares about the title? Give me the gorgeous cover!
I loved this book, the style of writing, the banter, the humour, the themes, … perfect! I found the writing kind of unique for a YA novel, because it kind of read like a cross between YA and NA and I was all for that. The humour is seriously great and the banter… oh my! This book is about art, and I thought it was brilliant how it showed 2 specific kinds of art that are not often written into books.
Bex is into anatomical drawing, as in, the muscles, bones, veins and arteries, and it’s awesome! She loves her family, she works, she has her own style and knows who she is, and have I mention that she’s awesome?
Jack, on the other hand, is a graffiti artist that only does wording and I found that fascinating, the way he used words in certain locations to convey messages. “Prince” Jack was so great! He was sure of himself, but he was vulnerable at the same time, and he never tried to hide that side of him from Bex, and I appreciated that.
This starts off as insta attraction for sure, but I found it endearing and kind of believable. They didn’t fall into each other instantly, they searched, they met and after all that, they fell. And to be honest, the romance was cute and beautiful and honest. Now, this book is quite steamy for a YA book, but that felt natural and it made so much sense to me. I love that Jenn Bennett wrote those steamy scenes boldly, though not 100% explicitly. I thought it was a great compromise and a fun way to do it.
This book deals several important issues, such as status quo, family and divorce, pride and mistakes, doing the wrong things for the right reasons, but still having to deal with the consequences, schizophrenia, falling in love, …, and I think it’s a brilliant amalgamation of all of this. It deals with these serious issues while being cute and upbeat and uplifting.
Another thing that I really appreciated was the inclusion of the families. Bex and Jack live with their parents, and they are all present throughout the book, and it actually ends with a very cute mention of them, and I loved it.
This was seriously a great read, a great contemporary romance, for the lovers of the genre, art, family, …, for everyone, really! Go read it!
My Tiny Obsessions 