Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

I’ll be completely honest, I picked up this book because of its GORGEOUS cover. I know that you can’t tell from the picture, but the gold on the cover is gold foil, so it’s really shiny, and under the lights and Waterstones, it’s constantly shining and that’s what caught my attention. I AM SO GLAD that I picked this book up.

Beatrix Adams (or Bex) is 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 train home, she meets a boy who turns her plans upside down.

Jack is charming, 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 cloistered. Will his own secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in her family’s closet tear them apart?

Night Owls or The Anatomical Shape of a Heart (as it is called in the U.S) is a smooth, easy read as it’s almost a typical teen fiction novel. I say “almost” because I get a different feel from this book than I do with any other young adult books that I read. One of the things that make me feel like that is that both of the characters have secrets, both of the characters have things that they both have to deal with. Usually, in teen fiction, it’s the brooding, mysterious boy that has all of the problems and the girl just has to deal with it whilst she falls more and more in love with this buy.

In Night Owls, because both of the characters have their own problems that they have to face on their own and together, it makes more an interesting read.

 

“I don’t want my mistakes to affect everyone else in the room,” I said after a moment. “I want to keep to myself and do as little damage as possible.” 

― Jenn Bennett, Night Owls

 

However what I did find quite odd is that when Bex and Jack first meet on the Night Owl bus and they have their connection moment, Jack ends up “stalking” Bex. Everywhere she turns, she’s there. I don’t know how that can be seen as romantic, I’d find it weird and tell him to “get lost”, I wouldn’t care if he was gorgeous or not.

This is one of the things that also annoys me: the number of times that Bennett needs to tell readers how beautiful or gorgeous Jack is, how gorgeous his hands are. Bex is slightly obsessed with the muscle movements of Jack – she likes to draw the human form, so it’s understandable – but with the number of times that we read about how good-looking Jack gets tiring.

Slight moan aside, this book delves into family problems, personal problems and also advertises safe sex which I thought was brilliant. In this book, Bennett looks at the issues of having sex for the first time, the nerves that come with that and also the responsibilities that are attached to the act.

I read this book in five hours; the only time I stopped was to eat and even then I couldn’t wait to finish my food so that I could get back to this book.

Night Owls was a fantastic read and I loved Jack’s story, he was so captivating and so sad that I silently applauded Bennett in my head at how well she had written this book. I cannot wait to read other books that she has written.

I recommend Night Owls to anyone who is looking for a very easy read and something that makes you feel all warm inside, to anyone who wants to go on a beautiful journey with two amazing characters.

 

 

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